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Si' 



BIOGRAPHICAL AND PORTRAIT 



CYCLOPEDIA 



CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



WITH A HISTORICAL SKETCH OF THE COUNTY 



BY 

Hon. OBED EDSON. 



PUBLISHED BY 

JOHN M. aRESHAM & CO. 

EDITED BY 

BUTLER F. DILLEY. 

Nos. 1218 and 1220 Filbert Street, Philadelphia. 



JULY, 1891. 



: Jas. H. Rodgers Printing Company 
Philadelphia. 



INTRODUCTION. 



rTTlIE PUBLISHERS of this vnlunie tnkv pleawiuv ia presenting it to their 
i. patrons in (JhiuitaiKpui County, believing that, biographical ly, it is inucli 
the superior of anything ever oflfereil to the people of Western New York, and 
the mechanical workmanship is so far beyond anything heretofore attempted 
in this county, that no comparison is possible. While we have paid especial 
attention to biographj', the interesting ''Sketch of the History of ('iiautau([na 
County," written by the masterly mind of the Honorable Obed Edson, oi' 
Sinclairville, is the best compact account of the county's early history extant, 
and cannot fail to attract a deep interest. 

It was originally the intention to present the work in the old style, by 
grouping each town, village and city by itself, and to introduce the reader to 
the "History of the County" before reaching the main contents of the book, 
but, after consideration, we decided to depart from the rut ol' custom, and to 
insert the biographical sketches at random in the l)ook, and supplement it 
with the story which tells of early times, the whole to be preceded by a 
comprehensive index, by means of which the reader may turn to any desired 
place at will. 

Our engravings, it ^vill be noticed, are of steel and photographic repro- 
ductions made by the superior half-tone process; no wood cuts are inserted, 
consequently the likenesses presented are accurate and correct. The residences 
portrayed are elegant specimens of Chautau([ua County homes, and the old 
Court House, which has about outlived its usefulness, and is soon to be 
rejilaced, would, without this photograph, soon have remained to memory alone, 



6 PREFACE. 

and the appearance of the building in wliich justice had been administered for 
so many years, would not be known to the coming generations. 

Our biographies are, in the main, correct. We have exercised great care 
in securing accuracy of names and dates, and have submitted, where practicable, 
the manuscript, more than once, for correction. Some of our subscribers failed 
to return corrections, but they were very few. Doubtless some errors will 
appear, but there will not be many. 

UjJon the whole, we have received very hearty co-operation, and we feel 
a just pride in the results of our labors. Our only wish is that the book will 
give pleasure to the present generation and to the generations to come; that 
when the future historian enters Chautauqua County, he can begin where we 
concluded, and carry the chain fifty years farther. 

The Pltblishers. 

I'lULADEM'HiA, Pa., July 20th, 1891. 



LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 



Akirich, John J 8.3 

Reebe, Miltou E. (House) 40 

Brewer, Hon. F. B HI 

Burns, Andrew 194 

Burns, Andrew (Honsel l^*" 

Babcock, Norman 230 

Babcock, Alpheus ■ 235 

Beebe, Milton E 284 

Burgess, Rev. Clialon 346 

Bloomquist, ( )tto L 499 

Chase, Dr. William 73 

C'uriLs, Major E. A 132 

Gushing, Addison C 209 

Carpenter, Col. Elial Foote 301 

Case, Henry R 319 

Corbett, Hon. Charles 11 372 

Cushiug, Com. W. B., U. S. N 483 

Chautauqua County Court-IIouse 670 

Edson, Hon. Obed 220 

Evergreen Cemetery 259 

ICureka Factory (Howes) 16 

Fuller, Frederick A., Jr 253 

Fenner, Hon. M. M 391 

Haywood, Col. Rufus 91 

Howes, Simeon 136 

Howes, Simeon (Residence) 139 

Hooker, Hon. W. B 145 

Huntley, W. W 305 



Hungerford, Sextus H 621 

Kingsbury, Henry C 125 

Lockwood, Clark R 38 

Lord, Bela B 296 

Livermore, Mi-s. R. S 666 

Morgan, Charles W 240 

Morris, Hon. Lorenzo 247 

Ornies, M.D., Cornelius 556 

Ormes, Dr. F. D 560 

Pattersou, Hon. George \V 54 

Patterson, George W 60 

Putnam, Major E. P 59 

Peacock, .Judge William 213 

Record, John G 106 

Ryckman, (i. E 444 

Smith, Hon. Hiram 20 

Stafford, Austin H 24 

Scofield, Carl W 31 

Saxton, Isaac A 1 82 

Sessions, Hon. Frank E 275 

Sherman, Hon. Daniel 431 

Van Dusen, Hon. A. A 64 

Weeks, Charles E 46 

Watson, Albert S 385 

W'aterhouse, Dr. John \ 422 

Waterhouse, Dr. John A. (Residence) 425 

Wright, Reuben G •')36 

Wright, Reuben G. (Residence) 539 



TABLE OF (X)NTENTS. 

Poor-. l^'O^f '■ '^--^ 



A. 

P,ige 

Aldrich, John J. . • «'- 

Abbey, Chauiicey 113 

Aldrich, Seth 217 

Andrus, Wilson S 237 

Anderson, John H 269 

Adams, D. B 281 

Allen, Herbert W 290 

^ Arnold, William H 310 

Appleyard, Joseph 344 

Ames, M.D., Edward 3ti2 

Arnold, Capt. Joseph S 3f)4 

Andrews, George 307 

Allen, Charles G 368 

Albro, Victor A 417 

Abbott, Joseph 436 

Arnold, George M 449 

Alford, Dexter 470 

Avery, Sherman S 479 

Andre^vs, Joseph H 624 

B. 

Bootey, Kdward R 28 

Bemus, M.D., William M 30 

Blackmarr, Hamlin 42 

Breed, DeWitt C 44 

Barrows, Henry R 55 

Barrows, Ransom J 61 

Brownell, Peter R 81 

Burritt, Dr. Franklin 88 

Bemus, M.D., William P 98 

Benson, John B . 99 

Brewer, Hon. Francis B 110 



Boughton, Joseph T 115 

Bolton, Stephen N. . .118 

Burlaund, Gust. . . .127 

Brown, Arthur L 134 

Burlin, Anson A 143 

Bull, Abraham 152 

Barker, Hon. George H'l 

Burns, Andrew 195 

Bratt, Anthony .207 

Bemis, Philander W. 226 

Babcock, Norman 231 

Babcock, Alpheus 234 

Broadhead, William ■ 249 

Butler, Nelson .... . . 261 

Blanchard, Dr. Koberl N 271 

Beebe, Milton E. (Residence, 49) 2S5 

Barlow, Byron A. 294 

Bemis, Harvey 311 

Brown, Nathan 313 

Baldwin, Levi 315 

Blood, Charles 332 

Butler, Capt. James 334 

Burch, Hiram 341 

Bixby, Lewis B 342 

Brownell, Smith II 343 

Burgess, Rev. Chalon 347 

Bird, Alberte 303 

Bennett, Capt. James P 376 

Briggs, Frank 376 

Becker, Ellas 380 

Burton, Hiram A 387 

Briggs, Carey 389 

Bissell, D.D.S., J. E. W 396 



Page 

Brockway, Hon. Charles IS. . . 400 

liaxter, John P 408 

Blanchard, Flint 414 

Brooks, Horatio G 474 

Brown, Marshall 476 

Bacon, George R. . ■ ■ . 486 

Bennett, Lyman 496 

Bloonuiuist, Otto L 498 

Bookstaver, Hon. ^Villiam . . 498 

Beebe, Charles Vincent 501 

Barker, C'orrington 502 

Bentley, Fred. A 543 

Bond, Orlando 551 

Baumgart, Gustav 553 

Bandiualli, Rev. Jolin 582 

Benjamin, M.D., Mirza N 584 

Bourne, John 585 

Bailey, Clayton E 593 

Babcock, Hon. Jerome . . . 001 

Burges.s, Celiu 605 

Blanchard, James C 606 

Brown, Rush 'i07 

Barris, Michael 607 

lirowu, Donald S 60S 

Barnes, Alpha ('09 

Bosworth, William A <)10 

Bilsborrow, George 611 

Baker, Dermouth R 625 

Birdsey, Capt. Comfort .... 625 

Birdsey, Phineas . 626 

Burnmaster, Henry 626 

Barnes, Calvin W 627 



9 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



C. 

Cady, Sylvester S 

C'hace, Dr. William 

Cranston, Fre<leric"k L. . . 

Crandall, VVilliam A 

C'luney, Col. Thomas T. . 

Cobb, Albert S 

Codingtou, SO 

Clark, Hiram C 

Crissey, Samuel Slii'iianl 

Curtis, Major Enocli \ 

Clark, Josephus H. . 

( olburn, Charles D 

Cobb, William J 

Coffin, Benjamin J. . . . . 

Clark, Whitman 

Cushing, Addison C 

Catlin, .\shbill R 

Cobb, ( 'harles E 

Cronyn, Dr. William .1 

Crosgrove, Robert E 

t alhoun, Archibald 

Colburu, Charles R 

Carpenter, Col. Elial Foote . . . 

Caldwell, Samuel 

Clinton, Simeon 

Case, Henry R 

Cochrane, James 

( oveney, Thomas R 

Curtice, Charles S 

Corbett, Hon. Charles H. . . . 

Clark, William T 

Case, Hon. Theodore \ 

Colvin, Joel 

Casselmau, Benjamin 

Candee, William E 

Calvert, Rev. Thomas E 

Crocker, Washington 

Covin, William 

Cushing, Com. Wm. liarker, CS.N 

Culver, Stephen 

Crandall, Jay E 

Crissey, Edward J 

Case, Fred. W 

Cushman, Ma.son 



I'age 

52 
72 



Cole, William H. . 
Crossman, I'hineas . 
Chapman, Charles K. 
Carlson, Samuel S. . 
Collins, John B. . 
Curtis, Rinaldo 1. . 
Cipperly, Clarence P 
Cowing, Ransom F". 
Coates, Leroy P. . . 
Camp, Wilson . . . 
Christy, Henry R. . 
Chapin, Charles B. . 
( 'oleman, William F. 
Crosby, Charles R. . 



Page 
. 506 
.507 
. 508 
.508 
. 509 
.550 

553 
. 599 
. GOO 
. 601 
. 603 

603 
. 604 
. 605 



D. 



Dean, Benjamin S. . 
I Douglas, (ieorge B. 
j Day, Ralph B. . . . 
I Doi-sett, Daniel B. . 



- . . 7S 

... .SO 

. . . .SO 

. . 103 

Dotterweich, Andrew 121 

Derby, Silas S 128 

Douglas, William R 133 

Douglas, Charles M 152 

Dougla.s, George B 153 

Derby, John K 167 

Davis, Gilbert L 286 

DeVoe, Eugene E 329 

Dean, M.D., Hermon J 336 

Dudley, Eugene E 349 

Davenport, Ellen M 366 

Davis, Ely 378 

Dorn, Dexter D 402 

Dawson, John W 403 

Donelson, John 410 

DodJ, M.D., A. ^Vilson 478 

Dewey, Lester R 490 

Davis, Joseph 510 

Dennison, Edward 547 

Dean, Otto K 577 

Doty, Alexander H. 578 

Drake, Edwin 597 

Dickerman, E. H 598 

Dickson, Dwight 598 

Dean, George R 612 



E. 

Ellis, Francis D. . . 
Endresi?, William Fries 
Edson, ( )be(l 
Ewell, Carlos .... 
Evergreen ('emetery 
Edmunds, Fred. W. 

Ely, John H 

Evarts, Dr. Raymond N 
Eaton, Alfred .... 
EULs, Mollis Fay . . 
Ellis, James S. ... 
Edmunds, Joseph Wilson 
Ehlers, Charles .... 
Elkins, Hon. Harvey S. 



Field, Frank B . . 
Fenton, Kinery W. 
Frey, Rev. Andrew 
Fuller, Arad . . . 
Forbe.s, Elias . . 
Fitch, Rufus . . 
Fuller, Frederick A. 
Fink, Ellis .... 
Flagler, James H. . 
Frisbee, Sardius . . 
Fenton, Gov. Reuben 
Fay, Elisha U. . . 
Fargo, Orange A. . 
Feuner, Hon. Milton 
Fenton, Martin L. . 
Fuller, Mathew . . 
Fenton, Bicknell D. 
Forbes, Colonel David S, 
Freeman, Prof. Andrew 
Felton, John W. . 
Falconer, William T 
Fuller, David M. . 
Flisher, Jared B. . 
Fuller, George W. 
Fuller, Guy H. . . 
Faringtou, Daniel M 
Fenton, Rev. William H 



TAHLE OF CONTENTS. 



Fenner, Nathaniel J 573 

Fessenden, Ralpli < ' 574 

Feltoii, Alonzo 574 

Fay, John K 575 

Flahaven, Charles J (512 

Fiuck, Henry 032 

a. 

Green, Eleazer 18 

Griswold, Daniel 97 

Gardner, Roland W 114 

Green, John T 156 \ 

Gifibrd, Frank E 166 ! 

Greene, Leverett B. 175 

GiHord, Sam. J 201 

Green, William F 204 

Grasho, John 233 

Gifford, Dr. Joseph C 244 

Garfield, Joseph 381 

Gifibrd, John 398 

Green, Frederick R 406 

Griflith, Samuel 424 

Garfield, Fred. 11 442 

Godard, Albert H 455 

Griswold, Warren 458 

Gardner, Frederick 1) 481 

Gokey, Noah W 613 

Giles, Abel S 549 

Gay, Henry R 570 

Grover, Horace N 57 1 

Goodell, Harry E 571 

Gage, Seneca H 572 

Gron, Frederick 573 

H. 

Hoyt, Peter H 42 

Holmes, Victor 51 

Hall, William 57 

Hosier, Sidney M 67 

Holstein, Augustus 87 

Haywood, Col. Rufus 90 

Howes, Simeon 137 

Hooker, Hon. Warren B 144 

Hunt, Frank, D.V.S 148 

Hardenburg, John M 150 



I'age 

Hyde, Rev. William L 1.57 

Holt, Walter W 102 

Huntley, Joseph W 1(>4 

Hilliard, John 165 

Himebaugh, William L. . 169 

Hough, Eugene K 227 

Hiler, Orlando J 263 

Horton, Nathan J 269 

Huntley, William \V 303 

Huyck, Andrus M 315 

Hall, Ralph A _335- 

Hurlburt, George F 337 

Haskin, Fernando Cortez .... 339 

Hitchcock, Milo 351 

Hunt, William 352 

Hall, Ralph H 382 

Hall, John A 369 

Hall, Robert M 375 

Hardenburg, Jacob 395 

Houghton, Franklin J 434 

Hall, Hervey 452 

House, David 401 

House, Cyrus 472 

Huyck, Richard 474 

House, John 475 

Hull, Albert W 480 

Horton, Alonzo C 514 

Hale, Elijah E 544 

Hall, Aaron . 507 

Haas, Peter 568 

Harrison, Benjamin L 569 

Hopkins, Newell P 569 

Hopson, M.D., Edwin R 569 

Ilarell, William II 586 

Hiller, Orville M 586 

Hill, Nelson H 594 

Hungerford, Se.xtus II 620 

Hall, Richard A 033 

I. 

Isham, 1 )octor E 440 

Isham, ( ieorge P 51.^) 



,T. 



.James, Israel 



Jones, Thomas C 196 

Jones, Thomas A 239 

Josselyn, George S 204 

Jillson, DeWitt G 300 

Johnson, Jedediah M 340 

Jennier, Elias II 348 

James, Albert A 565 

Jones, Carletou M 565 

Jenks, Lafayette 566 

Johnston, Robert M . 507 

Jackson, Francis B 579 

Jones, George W 618 

Johnson, Oscar W 619 

.Johnson, .lohn 619 

Johnson, Louis L 620 

K. 

Kidder, Samuel 100 

Kingsbury, Henry G 124 

Knox, Melvin J 155 

Kimball, Pearl C 170 

Kelsey, Andrew, Jr 418 

Kane, Robert 446 

Keith, John F 451 

Kirkland, Albert 459 

Kilbourn, Elisha E 467 

Kofod, John 516 

Klawiter, Rev. Anthony ... 583 
Kieswetter, M.t)., Paul 11. . . .611 

Kendrick, Henry L 614 

King, Ephraim T 615 

Knowlton, Hiram L 616 

Kewley, John 017 

Kingsley, Eunnett T 617 

L, 

Lannes, Andrew Julin 33 

Lyon, Charles 36 

Lockwood, Clark R 39 

Lewis, Nathan D 48. 

La Due, Jerome 79 

I>undquist, Olof 96 

Libby, A. H 153 

Lake, Hon. Henry C 160 

Livingston, John J 177 



TAI1LI-: OF CONTEXTfi. 



Luphani, Ariodi . . 
LanJscIioof, Joseiih, Jr. 
I^et, Willis ]). . . 
Imvc, Joy ... 
Lombard, Lucius 

Loi-d, ]'.ela B 

Lambert, Hon. Joliii S. 
Lee, (ieorge . . . • 
Lanphere, Ca|it. Jolin 1 
Langford, John ... 
Lnsoelles, Jjolin IL . . 
Lauphere, Chauncy A. 
Leonard, Clayton D. . 
Lown, Andrew . . . 
Leet, George Edwin . 
Lake, Edwin P. . . . 
Lnnt, Alfred J. . 
Lowell, Albert 1'. . . 
Liverniore, Emory W 



M. 

Martin, Hon. William 
MeDonougl), Michael 
Minion, James H. . . 
Merrill, David E. . . 
Myriek, Cornelius W. 
Maynard, J. D. . . . 
Montgomery, Harvey 
Mulgrew, James . . . 
Morgan, Charles W. . 
Morris, Hon. Lorenzo 
Mawliir, George D. . 
Mawhir, John . . . 
Murray, ( liarlcs I). 
Mericlc, .\ndrew J. . 
Minor, WilliiHH K. 
Martin, William 
Milspaw, Wesley . . 
Maginnis, Henry J. . 
Morian, Alexander 
Mathews, Benjamin 1' 
Mace, William . . . 
Munson, Milton .J. 
Miison, Addison . . . 
Mai-sh, tieorge W. . . 



. 192 
. 200 
201! 
21 T) 
2f;5 
2'.>7 
32'.) 
3S.S 
370 
413 
449 
4o3 
489 
494 
532 
614 
028 
629 
(ifi- 



. 71 
93 
. 94 
. 123 
. 158 
. 1.59 
. 164 
.216 
. 240 
. 246 
. 265 
. 271 
. 277 
. 280 
. 292 
. 309 
. 324 
. 356 
. 358 
. 380 
. 305 
. 395 
. 407 
. 410 



Madigan, .lohn . . 
Mead, AmosT., Jr. 
May, Francis . . . 
Munson, Alson N. . 
Mimson, Henry S. . 
Mahle, Jercmi.ah 
McGinnie,s, Joseph . 
M.aple.s, Chariest;. 
Miniger, William L. 
Merriam, F. T. . . 
Munson, Harry S. 
Morris, John W. 
McFadden, .John 
Maxwell, Robert A. 
Mead, Edmund . . 
Montgomery, W'illiani 
Marvin, Frederick N 
McAllister, James . 
Miniger, Alexander M 
Ma.son, Silas W. . . 
McDauiels, Almeron 
Moore, Israel (i. 
Martin, Jonas . . . 
Martin, George Le Roy 
Moon, Col. Jeffrey T. . 
Mahoney, John . . . 
McCartliv.John . . 



N. 
Nichols, Bcnjaniin . 
Newton, Sherman U. 
Newell, Thomas J. 
Newton, William M. 
Noxon, Matthew S. 
Nichols, Ira C. . 
Northam, Solomon I! 
Newbury, Adelbert A 
Newl.and, Robert 
Newman, Harry J 
Near, Lafayette . 
Nixon, Hon. S. Frederick 
Norton, Sylvanus 
Nobles, George . 
Nevins, Milo P. 
Neill, Hugh . . . 



r-.xgi- 
4-24 
427 
438 
448 
452 
477 
492 
494 
516 
517 
518 
530 
.534 
543 
540 
579 
592 
(■30 
(131 
631 
633 
034 
035 
035 
(SO 
037 
637 



34 

89 
147 
178 
203 
366 
440 
460 
464 
488 
492 
519 
038 
038 
639 
640 



O. 

Page 

Olson, ( )lof A 85 

Ottaway, Arthur I! 94 

O'Brien, John W 108 

Odell, Henry W 520 

( )l.som, Louis 520 

Ormes, M.D., Cornelius .... 5.57 
Omes, M.D., Frank I ). . 501 

O'Connell, John F 590 

Osnier, Richard A 041 

Osborn, Elmer 041 

P. 

Peckliam, \'cruou E 27 

Patterson, lion. Geo. W' 55 

Patterson, George W 61 

Putnam, Major Edgar P. .68 

Phillips, Philip 75 

Pardee, Myron W 109 

Price, Addison A. and Wilson A., 122 

Pennock, Jonathan P 127 

Pitts, John W 147 

Peterson, A. John 149 

Peacock, Judge William .... 212 

Pierce, Levi J 210 

Phillips, Albert L 288 

Pettit, William W 292 

Parker, Amos 357 

Phillips, Brewer D 300 

Powers, William E 404 

Patterson, John K 405 

Palmer, Alfred 411 

Porter, Oscar L 419 

Price, Oscar F 420 

Phillips, Peter G 401 

Post, Daniel Hazeltiue 402 

Perry, William I! 497 

Peacock, Thomas A 521 

Peters, Arthur 521 

Prenderga.sl, Hon. Henry A. . .522 

Payne, Charles S 523 

Peckham, William (i 524 

Phillips, Hurlburt L 525 

Pabody, Ezra F 525 

Parks, George W. 541 



TAHLE OF CONTENTS. 



Preudergast, Dr. William 
Piiiilus, Michael, Jr. . . 
I'ickanl, Major AIouzo . 
I'elton, Marcus Aliihoiizo 
Palmer, Daniel N. . . . 

Peirce, Albert P 

Palmer, K. 11. . . 
Pratli. r, Al.ral.aii, S. . . 



5(!2 

580 
. r,93 

020 
. 042 
. 042 

043 
. 044 



Smith, D.D., Kev. Cl\arles 

Shearman, Col. Silas, R. 

A.P 



R. 

Kecord, l.srael .104 

Record, John! i 107 

Rykert, Gilbert M 108 

Roesch, Lewis 108 

Rugg, Corydon A 199 

Rii.s.sell, David 238 

Rossiter, (leorge I. ...... . 273 

Reynolds, Henry 323 

Rowley, Ira I) 374 

Rathbun, D.DS., Chauni'cy M. . . 399 

Reed, William F. L. F 4Ui 

Root, Will M 428 

Roberts, Thomas IT 439 

Ryckman, G. P^ 445 

Eider, Delos J 480 

Randall, Nelson 487 

Risley, Laurens ( i 045 

Ross, M.D., Artemus 040 

Reed, Richard 047 

Robinson, William 11 047 

Rush, Jolui P. 048 



Smith, Hon. Hiram 21 

Sheldon, Hon. Porter . ... 22 

Stafford, Aastin II 25 

Scofield, Carl W 31 

Strong, M.D., Thoma,s D ... 80 

Simmons, Harvey 101 

Stearns, Crawford 129 

Slotboon, John A 149 

Starring, Alfred A 108 

Skinner, Edward A . . 173 

Slieldon, Hon. Albert B .179 



Sly.W. S 

Severance, Henry . . 
Shattuck, Lawrence E . 
Skidmore, S. M . . . . 
Saxton, Isaac A . . . . 
Sherman, David () . 
Sternclierg, John .1 
Swezey, Samuel N . . . 
Shaw, Horace II . . . . 
Sessions, Hon. Frank E 

Shaw, Robert 

Sterling, Charles II 
Skinner, Homer J . 
Stoddard, Oren ... 
Sturdevant, Charles B . 
Smith, William L . . 
Skinner, George L . . 
Sherman, Winslow . . 
Strong, William C) . . . 
Shaw, Dr. Orriu C 
Swetland, M.D., Benjamin 
Sheldon, Charles E . 
Scott, J. Frank . . . 
Sherman, Judge Dauie 
Shaver, James II . . 
Spencer, Frank G . 
Sherman, Charles II 
Stetson, Oliver . . . 
Smith, MD., Charles 
Scofield, Dr. Era M . 
Snyder, Julius L . 
Simmons, Alexander . 
Sexton, WMlliam . . . 
Sikcs, Iddo A . . . . 

Shaw, Frank E 

Seymour, M.D., (Jeorge W 
Sykes, Lieutenant William 
Stoneberg, John A . . 
Stone, Anson A . . . 
Strong, Walter E 
Sackett, Marcus 
Stebliins, Charles 



I'agf 
E. . . 181 
P. and 

. 189 
. 190 
200 
, i05 
220 
182 
245 
250 
258 
270 
274 
290 
298 
314 
310 
330 
332 
349 
350 
354 
3-55 
359 
300 
427 
430 
4.30 
44J 
455 
458 
405 
473 
491 
490 
522 
520 





Page 


Smith, Daniel C 


. . 641 


Sawln, Horace!! . . 


. . 542 


Stebbins, All)erl 11 


. . 545 


Strunk, WillitUM 1' 


. . .545 


Smiley, John 


. . 548 




. 549 


Sixbey, Herman . . 


. . 504 


Stai)f, Frank V . 


. . 581 


Stapf, John A 


. . .582 


Stearns, Hon. L. F . . . 


. . 688 


Simmons, Franklin . . . 


. . 589 


Solomonson, Andrew, Ji- 


, - .589 


Strong, Gilbert W 


. 044 




049 


Simpson, Rev. Charles 


, . 0.50 


Spear, John T 


. . 050 


Spear, Thomas 


. . 051 


Stearn.s, E. P 


. 051 


Sears, Hiriau 


. •i52 


Smith, I)avid, Jr. . . 




Stevens, M.D., Allen A. . 


. 0.53 


Slocum, Jonathan II. . 


. 053 


Shults, Charles J 


. 054 


Sweeney, Michael W. . . . 


. . 055 




. . 050 


Skinner, l<;iial \\ . . . . 


. - 050 



529 
530 
532 
533 
534 



T. 

Tucker, Rev. ( 'liarles E 34 

Thompson, Norman 1! 35 

Tousley, John II 02 

Thompson, Hugli \V 100 

Taylor, David II 172 

Thomas, I'red. W 172 

Tower, Klish.a, .Ir 223 

Thayer, J. L 232 

Toomey, Daniel F 291 

Tifliiny, Albert J 293 

Talcott, Chauncy Q 308 

Towne, Hon. George E . . . . 325 

Taylor, James 490 

Taylor, John 491 

Taylor, Seymour A 491 

Taylor, Edgar S 491 

Tennaut, Delos < J 552 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



Tennant, Alviu J . 
Tennant, Jolin A . 
Torrey, David A . 

Tellt, Asa 

Thonipsou, Lewis B. 
Taylor, A.M., Almon N. 

Tallman, John 

Tolles, Edgar B. . . . 
/Truesdell, Zebedee . 
Taylor, Erastus II. . . . 



u. 



Page 

. 5.54 
. 568 
. 613 
. G57 
. G57 
. 658 
. 658 
. 659 
660 
, 660 



Usborne, William 06 1 

V. 
Van Dusen, Theodore F . . . . 26 

Van Dusen, George C 32 

Vincent, James 156 

Van Dusen, Hon. Almon A . . 65 
Van Buren, James Lyman . . . 355 
Vandergrift, William K., Jr . . 384 
Valentine, I'eter F . . . . 584 
Vandergrift, Theophiliis J . . G61 



W. 

Page 

Warner, Lucius Bolls 17 

Weeks, Charles E 47 

Walker, William H 163 

Widman, Albert C 165 

Wheeler, Frank S 180 

Waggoner, Daniel L 206 

Wilson, David A 222 

Woleben, Marvin H 225 

Wilcox, Charles N 245 

Wilson, F. B 267 

Weaver, George K . . . 272 

Ward, James H 273 

White, Dr. Squire 288 

Warr, Jesse 311 

Wincli, Jay 321 

Walker, James C 338 

Weeden, Lyman F 353 

Williams, Samuel P 362 

WVtson, Albert S 384 

Wilson, Lydell L 409 

Waterhouse, M.D., John A . . .423 



Page 

Watrons, Justin 493 

Wright, Reuben CJ 537 

Wilson, W. Thomas 563 

White, Charles F 587 

Woodbury, Hon. Egbert E . . . 590 

Wade, Arthur C 591 

Woodward, John 595 

Walter, Joseph M 597 

Wilson, James 623 

Wallace, Matthew 624 

Wicks, Charles H 662 

Wilson, William H 663 

Wiggins, Elmer H 663 

Wood,SamneI 664 



York, Stephen H 437 

Young, William B 434 



Zahn, .John M. 



Sketch of the Early History of CiiAUTAiniUA County 673 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, 



T . UCIUS BOLLS WARXER. It may be 

^~^ said of Lucius Bolls Warner, without 
detracting aught from any other whose name 
stands high on the roll of Jamestown's useful 
citizens, that his honesty and integrity, his career 
of industry and his public-spirited services and 
liberal contributions for the development and 
the prosperity of his town, furnish an example 
that may be profitably followed by every young 
man who aspires to a position of thrift, useful- 
ness and respectability. He was born at Mill- 
ington, Middlesex county, Connecticut, March 
3, 182<S, and is a son of Ephraim and INIary 
SjMDcer (Miner) Warner. 

In 1850 he came to Jamestown, where he es- 
tablished himself in the furniture and chair 
business. After five years of unremunerative 
returns in that line of business, Mr. Warner, 
having faith in a rapid future development of 
Jamestown, resolved to deal largely in lumber. 
He then commenced the planing-mill and lum- 
ber business on Baker street, south of the Outlet. 
After fourteen years of successful business, his 
mill was destroyed by fire, August 23, 18G7. 
He then purchased the property on Baker street 
south of the Outlet, known as the Baker mill, 
where his mill and lumberyards are at present 
situated. 
2 



For over thirty-three years his business has 
increased with the growth of the town, until now 
his lumber plant is one of the important and 
essential enterprises of Jamestown. His plant 
covers three and one-half acres in extent, em- 
bracing large storage yards, a saw-mill, 56 x 90 
feet in dimensions, and a planing-mill 56 x 106 
feet in dimensions. 

One who is well acquainted with Mr. Warner 
and his works states that every facility known 
to the trade is afforded the customei-s of this 
house, and its high rejiutation, maintained for a 
third of a century in the same location, is the 
best evidence of its popularity and stabi]it3^ 

Mr. Warner is a man of good judgment in 
financial matters. In politics he is a rei^ublican, 
but takes no active part in political affairs, and 
desires no office. Unsolicited, he has held a num- 
ber of offices of public trust, where he reudei-ed 
good service with credit to himself. No citizen of 
Jamestown has ever been more interested in its 
prosperity, or contributed more freely to any 
object calculated to advance its material, mental 
or moral welfare than Lucius Bolls Warner. 
Commencing life as a poor boy, he has won both 
ample fortune and honorable position, by ability, 
energy and inflexible honesty. In 1887 he sup- 
plied a great need in Jamestown by erecting 

17 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



wliat is known as the Warner block. It is an 
imposing five-story brick biiikling, of SO x 15(3 
feet in dimensions. It is occupied by kirge 
stores and business offices. He enjoys the 
good will and respect of the citizens of James- 
town, and is recognized by all who know him as 
a public-spirited citizen. He possesses those 
characteristics which clearly define a strong in- 
dividuality, self-reliance, even temper on trying 
occasions, and uniform kindness. Honesty, in- 
tegrity, generosity and public-spiritedne.ss are 
some of the pronounced traits of character on 
which Mr. Warner has built a symmetrical man- 
hood of substantial moral worth. 



Tj^LEAZEK GKEEN, a member of the 
-"■^ Cliautau(|ua county bar, was born at 
Remsen, Oneida county, New York, ]March 
16, 1846, and is the youngest son of Eleazer, 
Sr., and Sylvina (Kent) Green. His paternal 
grandfather, Ezra Green, was a native of 
Litchfield, Connecticut, where he was a hotel 
keeper, served in the Revolutionary war, re- 
moved to Oneida county, N. Y., where he ibl- 
lowed farming, was a Presbyterian and married 
Amy Church of his native State, by whom he 
had thirteen children. His matei'ual grand- 
father, Silas Kent, was born in New England, 
removed to Oneida county, this State, married 
Annis Dayton, by whom he had seven children ; 
he was a farmer and died when comparatively 
a young man. 

Eleazer Green, Sr., was born in Oneida county, 
May 16, 1800, and removed in 1847 to Chau- 
tauqua county, where he died September 12, 
1884. He was a man of intelligence and edu- 
cation, served for several years as superintendent 
of the public schools of Oneida county, and was 
also a teacher for many years in the schools of 
that county. He was one of the early aboli- 
tionists, and after the Republican party came 
into existence he supported its principles. He 
was a prominent and useful citizen of the town 
of Busti, in Chautauqua county, owning a large 



farm in that town, which he managed success- 
fully for many years. He married Sylvina 
Kent, and they passed over sixty years of a 
happily married life together. They were the 
parents of six children : Broughton W., a farmer 
of Busti ; Sophia (deceased), who was the \s ife 
of George W. Smith, of Ohio ; Betsy S., wife 
of Elias Hurlbut, of Kansas; Amy C, wife of 
Amos Palmer, of Jamestown ; William E., who 
died at the age of sixteen years, and Eleazer. 

Eleazer Green was reared in the towns of 
Busti and Harmony, and received his education 
in the common schools and Westfield academy. 
Leaving school in 1867, he entered the Albany 
Law School, graduating therefrom in 1868, when 
he was admitted to the bar; he then entered the 
law offices of Cook & Lockwood, where he read 
for two years; he then opened au office in James- 
town, where he has since practiced his profes- 
sion. In 1882 he became a member of the 
present law firm of Sheldon, Green, Stevens & 
Benedict. In addition to his law practice he has 
dealt in real estate. He is the founder of " Green- 
hurst," ujjon Lake Chautauqua, where the hotel 
known as "The Greenhurst" is situated. 

On November 5, 1873, Eleazer Green mar- 
ried Mary E. Brown, daughter of Samuel and 
Clarissa Brown, who formerly lived at Ashville, 
Chautauqua county. They have three children : 
Edward James, born April 6, 1875; Ella W., 
born November 15, 1876, and Clara L., born 
August 24, 1879. Mr. Green is a republican 
and an attendant at the Congregational church. 

Aside from the duties of his law practice, Mr. 
Green has interested himself in the subject of 
fish culture, and has devoted much time and 
attention to the subject of increasing the supply, 
in Lake Chautaufpia, of the famous food and 
game fish — the muskallonge. The muskallonge 
had never been propagated artificially, and it 
was necessary to study its habits in order to suc- 
cessfully and intelligently do so. Mr. Green, 
believing in the practicability of the idea, raised 
a fund with which to pay the expense of experi- 




:5£/'^ ^//x#- 







OF CHAX-TAUQUA COUNTY. 



ments, contributing iurgely of his own means to 
the enterprise, corresponded with Seth Green, 
one of the fish conunissioners of the State of 
New York, and a noted fish culturist, sending 
]Mr. Green muskallonge, from time to time, for 
his examination, that he might learn more of 
their hal)its, time of spawning, etc., and such an 
interest was awakened that the commissioners 
of fislieries of the State of New York, took hold 
of tlie enterprise, and, with the fund raised by 
Eleazer Green, augmented by State funds, pro- 
secuted experiments until it has been demon- 
strated that muskallonge can be successfully 
hatciied artificialiv. 



HON. HIRAM S3IITir, ex-member of the 
General Assembly of New York and 
a highly respected citizen of Jamestown, is 
a son of Rodney B. and Achsah (Blodgett) 
Smith, and was born in the town of Han- 
over, Chautauqua county. New York, October 
2o, 1819. His paternal grandfather, Isaac 
Smith, of English descent, was a native of 
Massachusetts and removed, in 1802, to the 
town of Gorham, Ontario county. Eight years 
later he came to Sheridan and soon afterwards 
removed to Hanover, this county. He was a 
farmer, served in the war of 1812 and partici- 
pated in the disaster at Buffalo. The forced 
march home from that city induced a fever 
which resulted in his death. He married a Miss 
Morton and had nine children: Henry, Hiram, 
Matilda, Rodney B., Roxanna, Esther, Atilla, 
Benjamin and one whose name is forgotten. 

Rodney B. Smith, the third son, and father of 
Hon. Hiram Smith, was born February 3, 1799, 
in Whately, Hampden county, Mass., and died 
at "Smith's Mills," in May, 1873, aged seventy- 
four years. At fifteen years of age he volunteered 
to take his eldest brother Henry's place in the 
army and was in the battles of Chippewa, Black 
Rock and Williamsvilie. Henry, who was but 
eighteen years of age, returned from the army 
to care for his seven younger brothers and sisters^ 



who were orplianod within one year bv the death 
of both father and mijther. Rodney 1^. Smitii, 
after the war of 1812, engaged in business witli 
good success. In 182-1 he became a sub-eon- 
tractor under Thompson & Bird, for tlie con- 
struction of tlie Black Rock dam, in connectiou 
with tlie Erie canal, and afterwards was a con- 
tj'actor on the canal until its completion. He 
then returned to this count)', where he purchased 
a small mill of his brother and enlarged it into 
what is now known as Smith's Mills. He also 
erected a distillery, tannery and store, and for 
thirty years was actively engaged in these dif- 
ferent lines of business. He was a member for 
several years of tlie ^Methodist Episcopal church 
and a useful citizen of the community in whicii 
he resided, but for the last thirty years of his 
life he became entii-ely liberal in his theological 
ideas. He married Achsah Blodgett, and to 
them were born seven sons and seven daughters, 
of whom four are living: Hon. Hii'am ; Lyman 
B., a lawyer of Buffalo; Myron, an officer of 
the Third Wisconsin Cavalry during the late 
war, and now engaged in farming in Kansas; 
and Byron, who resides on the homestead. 

Hiram Smith was reared on a farm and 
thoroughly trained to an active business life. 
He received his education at Fredonia academy, 
and at an early age entered into the general 
business of milling, distilling, merchandising 
and farming at " Smith's Mills." During the 
late civil war he entered the Federal service, 
was appointed by President Lincoln as a United 
States quartermaster, and at the end of nearly 
four years' active service was honorably mus- 
tered out with the rank of major. After the 
war Major Smith went to St. Louis, where he 
was engaged in business one year. In 1867 lie 
returned to .Jamestown, where he embarked in 
merchandising, whicli he followed during 1867. 
Three years later he engaged in his present 
prosperous and extensive life and fire insurance 
business. 

September 10, 1844, he married Melissa P. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Love, daughter of Major George Love, of For- 
estvillc. They are the parents of two children : 
IMary, wife of Mason M. Skiff, a graduate of 
Union college, and now coiuraissiouer of public 
works ; and Major George R., who graduated 
from West Point Military academy in 1875, 
afterwards married Coriune Barrett, grand- 
daughter of Major Samuel Barrett, of James- 
town, and is now stationed with United States 
troops at Leavenworth, Kansas, iiaving been 
appointed paymaster in the United States army 
by President Arthur in 1882. 

In political opinion Hiram Smith was a dem- 
ocrat until 185C, after which he affiliated with 
the Republican party until 1872. In 1859 
and 1860 he was elected as a member of the 
New York Legislature from the Second Assem- 
bly District of Chautauqua county, and served 
in that body as chairman of the committee on 
roads and bridges, besides being a member of 
the committee on railroads, revision of towns 
and counties, and several other important com- 
mittees. He received the nomination of the 
Democratic party for Congress in 1884, but was 
not successful, as at that time the republicans 
had a majority of ten thousand votes in the 
Thirty-fourth Congressional District. Mr. 
Smith is regarded as one of the reliable busi- 
ness men and substantial citizens of Jamestown. 
In 1890 Mr. Smith was the democratic nominee 
for Congress in tiie Thirty-fourth Congressional 
District. 



HON. PORTER SHELDON is one of 
Jamestown's most distinguished citizens, 
and Chautauqua county's most eminent lawyers. 
With Chief Justice Fuller, of the Supreme 
Court of the United States, Long John Went- 
worth, and other able and talented men, he took 
prominent part through the many .stormy ses- 
sions of the Illinois Constitutional Convention 
of 1861 that gave to Illinois her present State 
Constitution. Porter Sheldon was born at Vic- 
tor, Ontario county, New York, September 29, 



1831, and is a son of Gad and Eunice (Hors- 
ford) Sheldon. The genealogical record of the 
Sheldon family in western New York begins 
with Capt. Sheldon, who was a descendant of 
the Sheldons who emigrated from Germany to 
England, and from thence came to Vermont, and 
afterwards settled in New York. Capt. Sheldon 
(grandfather) was an officer in the war of 1812, 
and after its close removed to Monroe county, this 
State. His son, Gad Sheldon (flither), was born 
in Vermont, reared in Monroe county, and 
early in life became a resident of Ontario coun- 
ty, where he died in 1874. He was a farmer, 
and married Eunice Horsford, a native and 
resident of New York. Their family consisted 
of five sons and one daughter : Mary E. ; 
Charles H., a real estate dealer of Rochester, 
N. Y. ; Carton W., of Rockford, Illinois, and 
secretary of a large insurance company having 
its principal office at that place ; Alexander, a 
prominent lawyer ; Porter and Ogilvie. 

Poi'ter Sheldon received his education in the 
common schools of Ontario county, and Fre-- 
donia academy of Chautauqua county, from 
which he was graduated in the class of 1852. 
After graduation he took up the study of law 
with George Barker, afterwards read with Alvali 
Warden, a jjromineut lawyer of Ontario county 
and a brother-in-law of William H. Seward, 
and was admitted to the bar of the Supreme 
Court at Batavia in 1854. Immediately after 
admission he formed a partnership with his 
brother Alexander, at Randolph, Cattaraugus 
county, where he remained until 1856, when he 
came to Jamestown and opened an office. The 
next year he removed to Rockford, Illinois, 
where he secured a lucrative practice, and at- 
tained such favorable standing with the people 
of Winnebago county that he was elected in 
; 1861 from that county as a delegate to the State 
j Constitutional Convention of that j'ear. He 
' was one of the twenty-two republican members 
of that notable body, which contained many of 
I the leading men and ablest jurists of that State. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Convened amidst the opening scenes of the 
greatest war of modern times, the convention 
was agitated in its deliberations hy the intro- 
duction of sectional topics and the exhibition 
of sectional prejudice. He took a prominent 
part in some of its stormy sessions, and thus 
became well known throughout the State. Five 
years later — in August, 1866 — he returned to 
Jamestown, and formed a law-partnership with 
his brother Alexander, who died shortly after- 
wards. From that time until the present he 
has practiced continuously, but about five years 
ago he retired from the main part of his com- 
mon practice, and since then has only appeared 
in some of the most important cases that have 
come before the courts. In 1868 he was elected 
a member of the Forty-first Congress to repre- 
sent the then Thirty-first District of New York, 
composed of the counties of Chautauqua and 
Cattaraugus. His services in that body were of 
such a character as to win the approval of his 
entire constituency of all parties. 

May 12, 1858, he married Mary Crowley, 
daughter of Hon. Rufus Crowley, of Randolph, 
Cattaraugus county, N. Y., who was a promi- 
nent republican leader of that county, and has 
served several terms as a member of the State 
Legislature. Mr. and Mrs. Sheldon are the 
parents of three children : Cora, wife of Her- 
bert W. Tew, cashier of the City National Bank ; 
Ralph C, engaged in business with his father ; 
and Harry, a clerk in the City National Bank. 

Mr. Sheldon is a large man, of fine personal 
appearance and agreeable manners. He is pres- 
ident of the American Aristotype Company of 
Jamestown, and in various other ways is inter- 
ested in the thrift and advancement of his city. 
No man in the State has made a better reputa- 
tion as a lawyer, and no man in the county is 
more popular with his fellow-citizens thau Mr. 
Sheldon. His reputation is lasting and his popu- 
larity is enduring, for the one is founded on his 
acknowledged ability as a lawyer, and the otiier 
upon his useful services rendered this county. 



TJ USTIN H. STAFFORD, ex-clerk of the 

■'^*- courts of Chautauqua county, commander 
of James M. Brown Post, Grand Army of the 
Republic, and a member of the reliable and 
successful pension attorney firm of Waiter & 
Stafford, of Jamestown, was born in the town 
of Ellington, Ciiautauqua county. New York, 
August 27, 1843, and is a son of Lieut. John 
A. and Polly (Rubblee) Stafford. Among the 
early settlers of the town of Ellington, this 
county, was John Stafford, the paternal grand- 
father of Austin H. Stafford. He was a car- 
penter and contractor and married Sophia Ran- 
dall, who bore him nine children : Abel, Sophia, 
Electa, Isaac, Sally, Oriuda, Russell, Martin and 
John A. On the maternal side, Austin H. 
Stafford's grandfather was Rolli Rubblee, a na- 
tive of Lanesboro', Massachusetts, who settled 
in the town of Ellington in an early day — 1823. 
When he first came he traded his horse on his 
land and then walked ba(;k to Lanesboro' and 
brought out his family. His wife was Betsy Green. 
He was a farmer and one of the founders of the 
old Christian church of Ellington. Lieut. John 
A. Stafford (father) was born in 1817 and died 
in his native town of Ellington in 1844. He 
was a carpenter by trade, a well-respected citi- 
zen of the community in which he resided and 
was a lieutenant in the New York militia. His 
wife was Polly Rubblee, and they had three 
children : Martin J., who enlisted in Company 
A, 112th regt., N. Y. Vols.,' in July, 1862, 
fought at Fort Sumter, in the Wilderness cam- 
paign and at Fort Fisher, and died at home in 
1872 from the effects of exposure ; Joseph, who 
was the first man in April, 1861, to enlist in 
Company H, 37th regt., N. Y. Vols., served 
two years, re-enlisted, became a member of Com- 
pany K, 9th N. Y. Cavalry, served till the close 
of the war and now resides at Midland City, 
Micliigan, where he is an oil producer; and 
Austin H. Mrs. Stafford, after her husband's 
death, married Joseph Nestle, and is now sev- 
entv three vears of age. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Austin H. Stafford received his edueation in 
the coniiiion schools. When a boy he worked 
in a woolen factory until he was thirteen years 
of age. He then learned the carpenter and 
cooper trades, and in 18(j7 became proprietor of 
a butter-tub and cheese-case manufacturing es- 
tablishment at Ellington. In 18(>'J he was un- 
fortunate enough to have his left hand so badly 
crushed in the factoiy as to be unable to work 
any longer at that business. He then engaged 
in the produce business, which he followed until 
1885, when he was elected county clerk by the 
Republican party of Chautauqua county, and 
ran 700 votes ahead of his ticket. He served 
very satisfactorily in that office, and at the end 
of his term in 1888 he took one year's vacation 
from business, which he spent in traveling. In 
January, 1890, he and Joseph i\I. Walter formed 
a partnership under the firm-name of Walter & 
Stafford, and became United States pension at- 
torneys and notaries public in Jamestown. In 
a kw months they have handled a large number 
of cases and have been very successful. 

On February (J, 18G9, he married Louise M., 
daughter of Warren Arnold, of Ellington. They 
have two children: De Leo and James P. 

The military career of Mr. Stafford com- 
menced on August -1, 1862, when he eulisteil in 
Company B, 112th regt., N. Y. Vols. He 
served in the Army of the James, Army of the 
Potomac and under Sherman in i^orth Carolina. 
He participated in many battles and numerous 
skirmishes with his regiment. He was iu the 
very front of the storming of Fort Fisher, and 
Mas honorably discharged June 13, 18G5. When 
the Grand Army of the Republic was organized 
iu the county he became prominent in the move- 
ment and has served as commander of three 
different posts. He is a member of the A. (). 
U. W., Royal Arcanum, Odd Fellows and 
Jamestown Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. 
Stafford has always been a republican, is proud 
of the fact of casting his first vote for Abraham 
Lincoln in 18G4 and has been chosen rejieatedly 



by his party as a delegate to State and county 
conventions. In addition to his Jamestown 
agency Mr. Stafford has a controlling interest in 
a very profitable real estate business in the city 
of Buffalo, jS'. Y. Active, energetic and reli- 
able in whatever he undertakes, he is now iu the 
midst of a verv successful business career. 



nrHKODOKE F. VAX DUSEX, an active 
-'■ business man of Jamestown and one of the 
coroners of Chautauqua count}', is a son of Ben- 
jamin F. and Mehitable (Lovell) Van I)nsen, 
and was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua county. 
New York, June 8, 1846. His remote ances- 
tors on the paternal side were natives of Hol- 
land. Several members of this Van Dusen 
family came from their home in that country 
and settled at an early day at Claverick, in what 
is now Columbia county, Xew York. In 1720 
Abraham Van Dusen, a descendant of one of 
these Van Dusens, went to Connecticut, where 
he settled at Salisbuiy. He was the father of 
John Van Dusen, who was the grandfather of 
Theodore F. Van Dusen. John Van Dusen 
had a son, John Van Du.sen, Jr., who married 
Mary Forbes and reared a family of six chil- 
dren : Alonzo, INIarshall, Harry, Elizabeth, 
Benjamin F. and Edwin, who enlisted as a sol- 
dier in the Federal army during the late war 
and was killed in one of the battles of that 
great struggle. Benjamin F. Van Dusen, the 
fourth sou and fifth child of the family, was 
born in Perry, Wyoming county, New York, 
January 3, 1815. He learned the trade of cab- 
inet-maker and came in 1842 to Jamestown, 
where he was engaged for many j'ears in the 
cabinet-making business and where he has re- 
sided ever since. He is a republican in politics 
and a member of the Baptist church. He mar- 
ried Mehitable Lovell, who is a daughter of 
William Lovell, a native of Maosachusetts. 
Their children are: Judge Almon A., whose 
liiography ap[)ears in this volume in connection 
with the Mayville sketches; Theodore F. and 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



George C, ao attoriiey-at-la\v (see his sketch). 
Theodore F. Van Diisen was reared at James- 
town, wlicre lie received his education, in tiie 
public schools of that city. Leaving sciiool, he 
learned the trade of cabinet-maker with his 
father, and in 1870 removed to Sugar Grove, 
Warren county, Pa., where he embarked in the 
undertaking business. Four years later he re- 
turned to Jamestown, where he formed a part- 
nership with his brother, George C.Van Dusen, 
in their present undertaking business, under the 
firm-name of Theodore F. Van Dusen & Bro. 
Mr. Van Dusen gives a considerable portion of 
his time to his well-established and prosperous 
business, and is amply prepared to furnish any- 
thing to be found in a first-class undertaking 
establishment. He is secretary of the Chautau- 
qua County Undertakers' Association, and was 
elected coroner of the county in 1887. 

He married, February 20, 1866, Frances A. 
Smith, a daughter of Ezra Smith, a farmer of 
the town of Poland. To their union have been 
born four children: Vesta M., Nellie G., Theo- 
dore E. and Alice L., who died young. 

Theodore F. Van Dusen is a member of the 
First Baptist church and a member and Past 
Grand of Ellicott Lodge, No. 221, I. O. O. F. 
In political matters he is a republican. For 
the last ten years he has been a member and the 
secretary of the board of health of Jamestown. 
He is also serving his city, at the present time, 
as register of vital statistics. 



T iERNON E. PECKHA3r, a member of tiie 

''- Chautauqua county bar in successful prac- 
tice in Jamestown, is a descendant, through 
one of bis ancestors, of Capt. John Smith, the 
real founder of the Virginia Colony, and tiie 
first thorough explorer of the New England 
coast, and whose meteor-like career in America 
for the benefit of English civilization made a 
lasting impression on the world's history. 

Vernon E. Peckham was l)orn in Allegany 
county, New York, October 1, 1849, and is a 



sou of Lauriston and Mary J. (Bacon) Peck- 
ham. His paternal grandfather, Joseph Peck- 
ham, '.vas born iu 1786, in Rhode Island, and 
removed iu early life to near Boston, Massachu- 
setts, which he soon left to settle in New York. 
He first located temporarily in Cortland, but 
soon settled permanently iu Allegany county, 
where he died in 1873, at the rij)e old age of 
eiglity-sevcn years. He was a farmer by occu- 
pation, a carpenter by trade, a Baptist in church 
membership, and a republican in political senti- 
ment. He married Julia Smith, who traced 
her ancestry back to Capt. John Smith, the hero 
of Virginia's early history. Their family num- 
bered four sons and four daughters. One of 
these sous, Lauriston Peckham (father), was 
born February 5, 1823, at Homer, N. Y., and 
now resides at Angelica, this State. At twenty- 
one years of age he learned the carpenter's 
trade, but soon afterwards purchased a large 
farm, which he tilled up to 1871, when he sold 
it and retired from active life. He is a re- 
markably industrious and very even-tempered 
man, and supports the Republican party. He 
married Mary J. Bacon, and they have but one 
child, the suliject of this sketch. Mrs. Peck- 
ham is a woman of unusual good judgment and 
business ability, and her husband and sou 
ascribe much of their success in life as due to 
her wise counsels, judicious suggestions and in- 
spiriting words. She was born February 10, 
1824, aud is a daughter of Thomas Bacon, who 
was the sou of a Mr. Bacon, a merchant who, 
in the early histoiy of Boston, had a store on 
Bacon street, now called Becon, although spelled 
Bacon. Thomas was left an orphan at the age 
of nine years and went to sea, which he followed 
for many years, until shipwrecked off the coast 
of Nova Scotia ; he was one of only three of 
the whole crew that succeeded in reaching shore. 
Among the sailors he was known as honest 
Scotch Bacon, and was an houorably discharged 
soldier of the war of 1812. He married Betsy 
Woodcock, of Vermont, and came to Allegany 



28 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



county, this State, where they reared a family 
of six children, one son and five daughters. 
Thomas Bacon was a man of great will power, 
scrupulous honesty and untiring energy. 

Vernon E. Peckham received his education 
in district schools, and the Belfast academy, 
Allegany county, New York. After finishing 
his course in the Belfast Academy, he followed 
teaching for three or four years, and, in 1873, 
commenced the study of law with Hon. D. P. 
Richardson at Angelica, New York, and was 
admitted to the bar on April 7, 1878, at Roches- 
ter, N. Y. In the following August he went 
to Attica, Wyoming county, where he purchased 
the office and books of ex-Judge M. Thrall, 
and commenced the practice of his profession. 
He remained five years, and then was compelled 
to leave a very flattering practice on account of 
failing health. After one year spent at Omaha, 
he returned to his father's, where he continued j 
to gain in health. In Februarv, 1885, he 
deemed himself sufficiently recuperated to re- 
sume his profession, and came to Jamestown, 
where he has been in active practice ever since. 
He is a republican politically, and while in 
Attica, in 1880, he was elected justice of the 
peace, and served for one year, resigning when 
he went to Omaha. He is a Royal Arch Mason, 
and a member of the Presbyterian church, of 
which his wife is also a member. 

January 28, 1880, he united in marriage with 
Helen Cogswell, of Attica, who is a graduate of 
Attica Collegiate Institute, and the Musical 
Conservatory of Cleveland, Ohio. She is a 
daughter of ]Moses Cogswell, who was a station 
agent on the Lake Erie railroad for many years, 
but resigned that position to acce])t the office of 
general freight agent of the T. K. M., having 
his headquarters at the city of Chicago, 111. 
Returning from a visit to his family at Attica, 
he lost his life on the ill-fated passenger train 
that went down on the Ashtabula bridge in 187G. 
Mr. and Mrs. Peckham have two children, Mary 
and John. 



A list of Jamestown's able and successful 
lawyers is almost a catalogue of its entire num- 
ber of attorneys, and among this uncommonly 
able array of legal talent Mr. Peckham has 
found no trouble in securing and holding a high 
rank. He was associate counsel in the noted 
George W. Foster murder trial, and has taken 
part in many other important ca.ses ; he has won 
and retained the good- will and respect of all 
w'ho know him. 



T^^KWARIi K. BOOTEY, who, in addition 
-*"*• to the reputation of being a successful ad- 
vocate, enjoys popular distinction as one of the 
ablest criminal lawyers of western New York, is 
a son of Simon and Ann (Couvoyne) Bootey, and 
was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua county, 
N. Y., April 16, 1839. The Bootey name has 
been well and favorably known for several gen- 
erations in Cambridgeshire, England, while the 
Couvoyne family traces its remote American 
ancestor back to honorable parentage under the 
rule of the " Grand Monarque " of France. 
John Bootey (grandfather) was born and reared 
near Ely, in Cambridgeshire, England, where 
he lived a quiet and honest life, and where he 
died the serene and peaceful death of a Chris- 
tian. His excellent character and consistent 
walk in life so recommended him as being a 
man safe to trust that he was appointed as su- 
perintendent of a large landed estate, which 
position he held until well advanced in years, 
when by an accident he was disabled for the 
remainder of his life. He was a member of 
one of the churches which were in opposition to 
the established Church of England. His c'hil- 
dren were : John, Edward, William, Elizabeth, 
Fannie, Alary, Philis, and Simon. Of these 
Edward and Simon (father) came to the United 
States. Simon Bootey was born in 1801, and 
came in 1834 to Jamestown, where he resided 
until his death in 1875. The farm which he 
owned and tilled is now within the borough 
limits, and most of the laud is covered with 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



buildings. He was an okl-iiue whig until the 
Republican party was organized, when he joined 
its ranks and supported its principles as long as 
he lived. He was a life-long opponent of Jiu- 
niau servitude, denounced negro slavery, and 
was one of the early abolitionists of Chautauqua 
county. He married Ann Convoyue, a daugh- 
ter of Robert Convoyue, and they had seven 
children. The three oldest were named Rebec- 
ca, Nathan and Edward, and, dying in infimcy, 
the next three children were given respectively 
the names of the deceased ones. The seventh 
child was called Mary Ann. 

Edward R. Bootey was reared at Jamestown, 
where he received his education in the academy 
at that place. Leaving school in the spring of 
1860, he entered the office of Cook and Lock- 
wood, and commenced the study of law, whicli 
he had prosecuted but one year, when the late 
civil war burst in all its fury and desolation 
upon the land. When President Lincoln's call 
for troops was issued, Mr. Bootey left the, law 
office, and on September 10, 18C1, enlisted in 
Company C, Ninth New York Cavalry. He 
served in the Peninsular campaign, under Gen- 
eral McClellan, and was honorably discharged 
on December 8, 1862. He then returned home, 
resumed his interrupted law studies, and was 
admitted to the Chautauqua county bar in 1865. 
Immediately after admission he commenced the 
practice of his profession at Jamestown, which 
he has followed ever since. His political career 
commenced with his election, in 1865, as justice 
of the peace, which office his increasing law 
practice soon compelled him to resign. In 1871 
he was elecited by his party as district attorney, 
and at the clo.se of his term of office he was 
placed on what was known as the people's tick- 
et. His personal popularity proved a very im- 
portant factor in the campaign, and he was 
triumphantly re-elected by the largest majority 
of any of the successful candidates in the field. 
When his second term as district attorney ex- 
pired, in 1878, he declined all offers of a renom- 



ination, and resumed his law practice, which 
had then become so extensive as to require 
nearly all of his time. While devoted to his 
profession, and giving his undivided attention 
and be.st thonglit to tiie interests of his many 
clienLs, yet no man lakes a deeper interest in the 
political affairs or the material prosperity of the 
Empire State than Edward R. Bootey. 

In 187G he united in marriage v.ith Emma 
Young, of Busti, this county, and they have 
one ciiild, Edward R. Bootey, Jr., born No- 
vember 25, 1878. 

In politics Mr. Bootey has always been an 
unswerving republican. Not oidy does he com- 
mand the full support of his own party, but he 
also has a strong following independent of po- 
litical consideration, which has been drawn to 
him by his integrity of character, his hone.sty of 
purpose, and his efficient services when em- 
ployed in a public capacity. He is a member 
of James M. Brown Post, No. 285, Grand 
Army of the Republic. As a criminal lawver 
Mr. Bootey has been very successful, and ranks 
with the ablest of that class in the southwestern 
part of the State. For the last score of years 
there has not been an important criminal case 
in the courts of the county but what he has ap- 
peared in for either the prosecution or the de- 
fence. He was district attorney in 1872, at the 
time of the celebrated Charles Marlow trial. 
He thoroughly studies his cases, clearly grasps 
every important point, and closely scans every 
fact however apparently trifling. By these 
means he often constructs a plea of seeming ir- 
resistible force, and with swiftness or ease, as 
the ca.se demands, frequently detects falsehood 
and confounds villainy. His success as a plead- 
er has been remarkable, his standing as a citi- 
zen is very high, and his popularity with the 
people is founded upon the integrity, energy, 
honesty and fearlessness in the cause of right, 
for which he has always been distinguished. 
His hou.se is a pleasant one and ho enjoys life 
abtindantlv. 



30 



BIOGRAPUY AST) HISTORY 



T4^ILLIAM aiARVrV BEMUS, M. D.— 

•** One who has kept pace with the march 
of i^rogress whicli has characterized medical sci- 
ence for tlie last quarter of a century, is William 
Marvin Bemus, M.D., a young and rising phy- 
sician and surgeon of Jamestown, and Chautau- 
qua county. He was born at Meadville, Craw- 
ford county, Pennsylvania, September 2, 1855, 
and is the eldest son of Colonel George H. and 
Julia (Prendergast) Bemus. The Bemus and 
Prendergast families were of New England an- 
cestry, and located in the valley of the Hudson 
river at an early day in the history of its settle- 
ment. Dr. Bemus' great-grandfather, William 
Bemus, was born probably iu jNIassachusetts, 
and served in the Revolutionary war. His 
son, Charles Bemus, was boru on the historic 
battle-ground of Bemus Heights, which Mere 
named in honor of the Benins fiimily. He 
served as captain iu tiie war of 1812. Dr. 
Daniel Bemus (paternal grandfather) was a 
graduate of Pennsylvania Uni\'ersitv, and 
served as a surgeon in the war of 1812. In 
one of the battles along the Canadian frontier 
he was shot through -both knees. He lived to 
be eighty-six years of age. Colonel George H. 
Bemus was born at Russellburg, Warren Co., 
Pa. He read law, was admitted to the ba7", and 
in 1855 located at Meadville, Crawford Co., 
Pennsylvania, for the practice of his profession. 
When the late war broke out lie enlisted in the 
Ninth Pennsylvania Reserves, and wa.s com- 
missioned as first-lieutenant of Company F, of 
that regiment. He was successively promoted 
until he attained the rank of colonel, and was 
placed in command of the Fifty-eighth Regi- 
ment Pennsylvania Volunteers, which made an 
enviable record for bravery aud efficient service. 
After the close of the war he returned to Mead- 
ville, where he has been engaged in the prac- 
tice of law ever since. During his residence iu 
Crawford county he has been seut twice by his 
fellow-citizens to represent them hi the Penn- 
.sylvania House of Representatives. 



William M. Bemus passed his boyhood years 
at Meadville, and received his elementary edu- 
cation in the public schools of that place. At 
si.xteen years of age he entered Allegheny col- 
lege, where he remained two years, and had 
passed into the sophomore class, when he left 
to study medicine with the late Dr. William 
Church, an eminent and highly successful jihv- 
.sician of Meadville. After completing a full 
course of reading under Dr. Church, he entered 
the University of Pennsylvania, in 187(), and 
was graduated from that well-known institution 
in the class of 1878. He then came to James- 
town, where he has practiced his profession ever 
since. In 1887, he was appointed United 
States Pension Examiner for the district in 
which he resides, and at the jjresent time is a 
surgeon and staff-officer of the Fourth Brigade, 
of New York. For the last eleven years he 
has served as health officer of Jamestown, but 
increasing practice has caused him lately to re- 
signjiis insurance positions. He is a member 
of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons, of Jamestown. 

On April 30th, 1881, he united in marriage 
with Minnie M. Barrows, daughter of R. J. 
Barrows, a leading lumber dealer of Jamestown. 
Their union has been blest with one child : 
Selden Bemus, born May 9, 1884. 

Strongly attached to liis profession, and de- 
voting his whole energies to its exacting re- 
quirements, Dr. Bemus has deserved the success 
which he has won by his knowledge aud skill 
as a physician. He has been, during his pro- 
fessional career, an earnest and constant student, 
and has kept well abreast of the rapid advances 
of medical science. Of quick perception and 
sound judgment, he entertains a coutem])t for 
all shams and pretences in his profession. He 
is well read, progressive and successful as a 
physician and surgeon, and the field of his fu- 
ture distinction and usefulness in the medical 
profession will by no means be limited to the 
boundaries of his town or countv. 




CARL W, SCOFIELD. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY. 



ry-XRL, W. SCOFIELD, oue of the most siic- 
^^ cessf'iil business men that the " Empire 
State " has evei* produced and the second 
largest oil producer in the world, is a promi- 
nent and resjjected citizen of Jamestown and 
Chautauqua county. He was born at tiie 
village of Peterboro, ■ Madison county, New 
York, November 21, 1838, and is a son of Rev. 
Abisha and Elizabeth (Marvin) Scofield. Tlie 
Scotield family of New York is a branch of 
the Connecticut Scofield family. David Scofield 
(paternal grandfather) was born and reai'od in 
the vicinity of Stamford in the " Land of 
Steady habits." He was a soldier of the war 
of 1812 and afterwards settled in Greene 
■county, New York, where he died. He was a 
farmer and married and reared a large family 
of children. His son. Rev. Abisha Scofield 
(father), was born about 1805 in Greene county. 
He completed a full academic course and then 
entered one of the foremost eastern colleges 
from which he was graduated with honors. He 
then entered the theological school of Auburn 
and was graduated from that institution with 
high standing in his class. He was ordained to 
the ministry of the Congregational church and 
given a charge. During the early years of his 
ministerial life he met and became acquainted 
with Gerritt Smith, who was then entering 
upon his life-work of proclaiming chattel 
slavery as a sin against God and man and de- 
manding immediate and unconditional enjauci- 
pation of the negroes of the south. Rev. Sco- 
field warmly supported Smith's advanced posi- 
tion on the slavery question. He accompanied 
Smith through the different counties of the 
State where they spoke in denunciation of 
human servitude and formed anti-slavery so- 
cieties. As an abolitionist speaker and lecturer 
Abisha Scofield aided largely in educating the 
public mind in New York and preparing the 
Empire State fjr the important part wiiich it 
was to take in the disruption of tlie Whig 
party on account of its anti-abjiition tendencies 



and tlie establishment of the Republican party 
pleilged to immediate limitation and ultimate 
extinction of slavery. For his radical course 
in agitating the slavery question Rev. Scofield 
was called before the Onondaga conference of 
his church and silenced as a minister of the 
Congregational church. He then began the 
work of organizing independent churches in 
which he was very successful. His learning, 
earnestness and eloquence made him very jiower- 
ful in any cause which he advocated. He now 
resides at Spencerport, west of Rochester, in 
jNIonroe county, on the New York Central 
Railroad, and although eighty-five years of 
age, retains much of his old time vigor and 
energy. He married Elizabeth Marvin, daugh- 
ter of a Mr. Marvin, who was a native of 
Colchester, Connecticut, and served in the war 
of 1812. He was a ship owner and had oue 
of his vessels destroyed by the English while 
he was in the service of the United States. 
Mrs. Scofield died in 1842 and left three child- 
ren : Henry, Carl W., and William. Rev. 
Scofield for his second wife married Jeannette 
Marvin, sister to his former wife. By his 
second marriage he has six children. 

Carl W. Scofield obtained a common school 
education and at fifteen years of age became a 
clerk in a bookstore at a very low salary. At 
eighteen years of age, by careful economy, he 
had saved fifty dollars and with that small sum 
embarked in the book business for him.self. 
His venture was successful and in a few years 
by his business ability, honesty and judicious 
management he had laid the foundations of his 
future financial prosperity. In 1872 he ac- 
cepted a position on the New York Iiulependent 
but soon sought a wider sphere of operations 
than was afforded by his position and organ- 
ized an advertising agency which he rapidly 
developed until it furnished business for over 
8000 newspapers. After six years of unceas- 
ing and toilsome labor in the advertising busi- 
ness his health became inii)aired and he paid 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



a visit to liis i':itlier-iii-!a\v, Elijali Bishop, of 
Jamestown. He then saw the great future 
possibilities of business and wealth that existed 
in the oil fields of western New York and 
northwestern Pennsylvania. Having' success- 
fully demonstrated his capability to organize, 
control and direct a great enterprise of intricate 
combinations, he resolved upon embarking in 
the production of oil upon a large scale. With 
him to think was to act, and he immediately 
removed to Jamestown and engaged in oil pro- 
duction and dealing in oil wells. As he became 
better acfpiainted with the great industry which 
he was developing, he enlarged the field of his 
operations and perfected tlie organization of his 
vast business until to-day in size and import- 
ance his oil interests are second only to those of 
the Standard Oil Company. All his operations 
in oil have been of a strictly legitimate charac- 
ter and will bear the most rigid scrutiny. His 
career has been so far an illustration of the 
wonderful achievements of American ability 
and energy. From the lowest rung of the 
ladder he has pa.ssed, by his own exertions, to 
an honorable and lofty position. 

In 1870 he married Anna Bishop, a daugh- 
ter of Elijah Bishop, of Jamestown. They 
have one child, Carl Wilbour Scofield, mIio was 
born June 11 th, 1873. 

Although not a church member, Mr. Scofield 
aids all the churches and is i)resident of the 
Congregational .society in Jamestown. Being 
a self-made man his sympathies are always en- 
listed in favor of the laboring classes with 
whose true wants he is well acquainted from 
personal experience. 

Mr. Scofield's name has been mentioned as a 
candidate for Congress, and if he could be in- 
duced to Ijirow aside business cares for a time 
and turn his attention to public life, this dis- 
trict might secure a representative in Congress 
of sagacity and enterj)rise. Mr. Scofield, at 
his handsome and elegant country residence, 
" the Bungalow," greets his friends cordially 



and entertains them royally. Decision of char- 
acter, honesty of purpose, tact and sagacity are 
indic^ated in every line of his strong, earnest 
and intelligent face, and he seems to have beea 
a man born to achieve success and to command 
the respect and confidence of his fellow-men. 



^EOIJOK C. VAX DUSEN, a member of the 
^^ Clunitauqua county bar and a resident of 
Jamestown, is a sou of Benjamin F. and 
Mehitable (Lovell) Van Dusen, and was born 
in Jamestown, Chautauqua county, New York, 
December 8, 1851. The Van Dusen family, 
of Chautauqua county, is descended from Abra- 
ham A^an Dusen, who is a descendant of the 
Van Dusen family of Columbia county, New 
York, who came from Holland. Abraham 
Van Dusen removed, in 1720, from New York 
to Salisbury, Connecticut, where he resided 
until his death. His son, John Van Dusen, 
was the father of John Van Du.sen, Jr., 
whose son, Benjamin F. A^an Dusen, now resi- 
dent of Jamestown, is the father of the subject 
of this sketch. For a more detailed history of 
the A-^an Du.sen family, which is one of the old 
families of New York, see the biography of 
Judge Almon A. A^an Dusen, of Mayville, in 
connection with that of Theodore F. A^an Dusen, 
of Jamestown. The Lovells (maternal side) 
are descendants of the Lovell family of New 
England. 

George C. A^an Dusen received his education 
in the High school of Jamestown. He read 
law with his brother, Judge Almon A., was 
admitted to the Chautauqua county bar in 1877 
and commenced the practice of law at Sherman, 
where he remained for ten years. He then 
came to Jamestown (1887) and has continued 
there ever since in the active practice of his 
pi'ofession. He is a member of the First Bap- 
tist church and Olive Lodge, No. 575, F. & A. 
M., at Sherman. On October 27, 1888, he 
united in marriage with Luciuda M. Shelilon, 
daughter of M. B. Sheldon, of Sherman. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



In politics George C. Van Dusen has always 
been a strong democrat. While residing at 
Sherman he was nominated by his party for 
justice of the peace and although the tosvn was 
republican by two hundred majority, yet he 
came within twelve votes of being elected. 
Under President Cleveland's administration he 
served as postmaster of Sherman until 1887 
■when he i-esigued and removed to Jamestown. 
He was elected, in 1882,. as a delegate to the 
Democratic State Convention at Syracuse, and 
has the honor of being one of the sixty-six 
delegates who cast their votes on the first ballot 
for Grover Cleveland for governor of New- 
York. In the ensuing gubernatorial contest 
he took an active part as well as four years 
later when he spoke in the interests of Cleve- 
land for the presidency. In 1888 his time and 
services were freely given in the presidential 
campaign of that year, during which he took 
the stump and made many speeches throughout 
western New York in favor of the claims of 
Grover Cleveland and Allen G. Thurman, for 
the presidency and vice-presidency of the 
United States. In addition to his law practice 
he takes considerable interest in business affairs 
and is a partner with his brother, Theodore F., 
in the undertaking business at Jamestown. 



QNDREW JOHN LANNTES, editor of the 
-"■ Swedish paper, " Our New Home," is a son 
of Andrew and Louise Lannes, and was born 
in the county of Ydre, Sweden, November 8, 
1860. His grandfather, Andrew Lannes, Sr., 
was a native of Sweden, a soldier in the stand- 
ing army of that country, dying on the battle- 
field in the wars against Napoleon I. He be- 
longed like his progeny to the Evangelical 
Lutheran church. He married Margerlta Hak- 
anson, with whom he had six children, all of 
whom, except one son, came to America, where 
the Lannes family is quite numerous in differ- 
ent states. Andrew Lannes (ftither) was born 
in Sweden in 1805, and served during a long 



life in the army <if that country. In 1859 he 
abandoned bachelorship and married Louise 
Larson, by whom he had one child, a son, the 
subject of this sketch. Andrew Lannes (fath- 
er) died in Sweden in 1871, when he was six- 
ty-eight years old ; his widow is in her sixty- 
fourth year and still lives in Sweden. 

Audrew John Lannes receiv^ed his education 
in the colleges of Eksjo and Linkoping, Swed- 
en, and in a three years' course at the Univer- 
sity of Upsala, Sweden. The curriculum fol- 
lowed in these seats of learning, copes suc- 
cessfully with any college in that country, 
both in depth and variety of subject. In 
October, 1885, he emigrated from Sweden to 
the United States, stopping first at Kane, 
McKean county. Pa., where he obtained a po- 
sition as clerk with a dry goods firm, but in six 
or seven months afterward, he moved to Buf- 
fiilo, N. Y., where he followed the trade of 
machinist for three years. In 1889, he re- 
moved to Jamestown, since which time he has 
filled the position of editor of " VaH Nya 
Hem," (ormerly "FolketsEosi" a well-known 
oi-gan of national repute among the Swedish- 
Americans. The " Folhets Rost," or the " Peo- 
ple's Voice" was established in 1874 by a stock 
company composed of prominent Swedes in that 
section of New York. Being a paper of great 
influence, it now follows the principle of inde- 
pendency to any political influence. The paper 
j was published under the title of Folkds Bost 
I for nine years. In 1883 the name was changed 
to Vart Nya Hem, which title it still bears. 
When first issued, it was a folio, seven columns 
to a page, but when the title was changed to 
Our New Home, it was enlarged to a quarto in 
size. It is a large weekly paper and has a 
great circulatioa all over the United States. 
, Andrew J. Lannes is well fitted by educa- 
tion and experience for the position which he 
now occupies as editor of a paper published in 
tiie interests of the Swedish-American citizens 
, in their adopted country. Especially in west- 



BIOGRAPHY AST) HISTORY 



eni New York and western Pennsylvania is its 
influence felt. 



j^i:V. CHARLES K. Tr( Ki:i{. 'From 

> grave to gay, from lively to severe," iias 
been aptly illnstrated in the career of this gentle- 
man, and each phase has been a successful one. 
He is a son of George W. and Mary (Reed) Tuck- 
er, and was born in Bath, Maine, December 26, 
1848. His paternal grandfather, John Tucker, 
was a native of Bath, of Scotch-English par- 
entage, and spent his whole life in the citv 
where he was born. He was a large real estate 
owner there, and in politics was an old-line 
democrat, and in religion a member of the 
Methodist church. He mari-ied a Miss Pavson 
and they had three sons and five daughters. 
Mr. Reed (maternal grandtather) was a na- 
tive and life-long resident of ]\Iaine. He was 
of Scotch descent, was formerly a contractor 
and builder, and in politics a democrat. He 
married and had four sons and two daughters. 
He served in the war of 1812, and his widow 
is still living, at the advanced age of ninety- 
four years. George W. Tucker (father) was 
born in Bath, and spent his life there, where he 
was a large real estate owner. He was a dem- 
ocrat and a member of the Universalist church. 
In 1826, he married Mary A. Reed, and to 
them were born three sons and two daughters. 
One sou, George W., was for many years a sea 
captain in the merchant marine, but has re- 
tired, and resides in Brooklyn, N. Y. Another 
son, Henry S., is a stock broker in Rochester, 
N. Y. 

Charles E. Tucker was educated in the pub- 
lic schools of Bath, and at St. Lawrence uni- 
versity, at Canton, this State. He entered the 
Universalist ministry and occupied pulpits for 
thirteen years, in Maine, Massachusetts, New 
Haven, Conn., and Titusville, Pa. In 1880 
he exchanged theology for business, and en- 
gaged in the production of oil in Bradford, Pa., 
where he remained ten years. In the spring of 



1890 he came to Jamestown, and entered into 
partnership with F. N. Marvin, in the manu- 
t'acture of shoes, the firm name being Tucker & 
Marvin. They manufacture the finest grades 
of ladies and misses' shoes. Mr. Tucker still 
retains his interest in the oil business iu Brad- 
ford, Pa., and also owns a plantation of eight 
hundred and sixty-two acres on the James river 
in Virginia, where he breeds and raises blooded 
stock. 

On December 16, 1874, Rev. C. E. Tucker 
was united iu marriage with Mary DruUard, a 
daughter of Solomon Drullard, of Buffalo, this 
State, who was the first general freight agent of 
the N. Y. C. & H. R. R., occupying that posi- 
tion twenty years, being, also, a member of the 
board of directors, and also engaged in the iron 
business, at which he accumulated a large for- 
tune. This union has been blessed with three 
sons and one daughter : Charles IM., Eddie D., 
Alice and Solomon. 

In politics Mr. Tucker is a prohibitionist, 
and is still a member of the Universalist 
church. He is an accomplished gentleman, of 
easy and pleasing address, suave in manner, 
very approachable, and a genial, interesting, 
entertaining companion, and his life's record 
gives evidence of his great versatility. 



jo EN.TAMIX NICHOLS is a son of Andrew 
■'"^ and Cordelia (Holcomb) Nichols, and was 
born January 1, 1835, in Jefferson county, N. Y. 
His paternal grandfather, David Nichols, was 
also a native of Jefferson county, where he died 
in 1830. He married Jerusha Spinning, who 
bore him these children : Elijah, Andrew (father), 
Lucretia, George, Dimick and Juliann. His 
maternal grandfather, Sullivan Holcomb, was 
born in Guilford, Connecticut, and emigrated to 
Jefferson county. New York, where he resided 
until his death. He was born in 1776. He 
was a farmer by occupation, but served as a sol- 
dier during the war of 1812-15. He was in 
the battles of Lundy'.s Lane and Chippewa, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



being captured by the ciieray in the latter en- 
gagement. He married Abigail Lee, who bore 
him a son and four daughters. The sou, Seth, 
located in Jefferson county. The father of Ben- 
jamin was born in Oneida county, New York, 
in 1806, and removed to Chautauqua county 
about 1870, locating in Poland, where lie is now 
living. He is a farmer by occupation, in poli- 
tics a stanch republican and in religion a Meth- 
odist, being a consistent member of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church. He married Cordelia 
Holcomb, who still lives, aged eighty. They 
had five sons and three daughters, all living 
except the eldest daugliter. Of the others, Ira 
C. is a mill-man, residing in Kennedy ; Seth L. 
is a stock-dealer, who makes a specialty of fine 
horses, in Minnesota ; Andrew, stock-dealer in 
Minnesota, and Isaac C, who lives in Ashland, 
Wisconsin, aud is a miner, owning and operating 
extensive iron-mines. 

Benjamin Nichols was educated iu the com- 
mon schools and in Jamestown acatlemy. Ho 
learned the trade of millwright and labored in 
that vocation from 1852 until 188;{, in the latter 
year engaging in the machinery and foundry 
business in Jamestown, and has been interested 
in that business to the present time. When he 
entered the business he liad as partner a Mr. 
Babcock, whose interest he purchased in 1887, 
his son, C. M., being admitted as partner. Mr. 
Nichols iu politics is a republican and has served 
the city of Jamestown as alderman. He and his 
wife are members of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. jNIr. Nichols located in Jamestown in 
June, 1852, and has been a resident of that city 
ever since, esteemed and respected by all who 
know him. 

On Novemijer 10, 1856, Mr. Nichols married 
Jane A. Taylor, a daughter of Eli Taylor, by 
whom he has had these children : Delia, married 
to Celestus Wilcox, of Kennedy, Chautauqua 
county, by occupation a painter, still residing in 
that town ; Melvin C. (deceased); Charles M., 
in business with his father in Jamestown ; Myr- 



tle ; Maud C. (deceased), who married Selam 
Parker ; and Pearl L., married to F. H. Oaks. 
Grandchild — Maude Allene, daugliter of Selam 
and Maud Parker. 



jA OKM.\N K. T1103IPS0N, a veteran sol- 

4 dier of the Army of the I'dtomac, who 

served his country well and honorably in the 
trying times of v/ar ;ind equally as well iu the 
piping times of peace, is a son of Milliard C. 
and Samantlia (Bailey) Thompson, and was 
Ijorn in Stockton, Chautauqua county. New 
York, Se])tember 10, ISoT. His paternal 
grandfather, Abel Thompson, emigrated from 
the eastern part of New York to Stock- 
ton and erected the first house in that town, 
where he resided until his death. By occupa- 
tion he was a farmer. The maternal grand- 
fatiier of Norman K. Thompson, was a native 
of the central part of New York State, but re- 
moved to aud settled in Stockton where he 
resided until his death. The father of Norman 
R. Thompson was born in 1811, in the central 
part of the State of New York, and was about 
eight years of age when his parents removed to 
Stockton. After receiving such education as 
the common .schools of that day afforded, he 
learned the tailor's trade, continuing in that 
business during his active life. In politics he 
was a stanch republican, and was honored with 
the several offices within the gift of his towns- 
men, conscientiously discharging the duties of 
each. Iu his early youth and manhood, he was 
a Presbyterian, but later became a believer in 
the tenets of the Methodist church. He mar- 
ried Samantha Bailey, and she bore him the 
following children: Harriet C, who married 
W. W. Seele)', a carpenter and joiner, residing 
iu Delanti, N. Y. ; Byron W., who married 
Louisa Bisell, and resides in Spartansburg, Pa. 
He .served three years in the army during the 
Rebellion, enlisting in 1862, in Co. I, 112th 
New York Volunteers, and took part in the 
battles of Cold Harbor, siege of Suffolk and 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



through the campaign in Florida. He was 
wounded in battle, but recovered ; Frederick, a 
clerk in a drygoods store in Cleveland, Ohio ; 
Altnedia R. (dead); Sarah J. (died young); 
Ella M., married to Samuel Riddle, who lives 
in Bradford, Pa., where he is superintendent of 
an oil lease ; Mary F., married to Hiram Hart, 
a painter in Delanti, N. Y. ; George M., mar- 
ried to Hattie Miller, and living in Jamestown, 
where he is a night-watchman; Eva (dead); and 
Norman R. 

Norman R. Thompson acquired his educa- 
tion, mainly at Westfield aeadem}', this county. 
After graduating therefrom, he worked by the 
month on a farm, for a season, and then engaged 
in the more congenial vocation of teaching 
school, in which he continued for forty consecu- 
tive terms. He was appointed superintendent 
of schools of Warren county. Pa., by State 
superintendent J. P. AVickersham, in March, 
1876, to till a vacancy for two years, at the end 
of Avhich time the people were sufficiently 
appreciative of his indefatigable efforts in pro- 
moting the interests of the hundreds of school 
districts, to elect him for the succeeding full 
term. After serving successfully the entire 
term, he removed to Jamestown in 1883, and 
engaged in book-keeping until the spring of 
1890, when he was appointed city treasurer of 
Jamestown. He never aspired to political 
office, believing the office should seek the man, 
not the man the office, and his belief has been 
strengthened by the popular vote in each case 
where he has been an office holder at the re- 
quest of his constituents. In religion he is an 
Independent Congregationalist. His record as 
a soldier is commensurate to that of his life as a 
citizen. He obe^'ed the summons of his coun- 
try when she was in peril, and enlisted in Co. 
G, 49th regt. New York Volunteers, in August, 
1861, Col. D. D. Bidwell commanding, and 
served three years. He entered as a private 
soldier and was soon promoted to sergeant and 
when honorably discharged, was regimental and | 



commissar}' sergeant. He participated in every 
battle from the time of his enlistment, in which 
the Army of the Potomac was engaged, until 
his discharge. Three times he was wounded, 
but he declined to leave his post of duty. He 
several times narrowly escaped being captured 
by the euemy. He is an enthusiastic secret 
society man, being an active member of Mount 
]\Ioriah Lodge, No. 145, F. and A. M., James 
^I. Brown Post, No. 285, G. A. R., Jamestown 
Lodge, No. 34, A. O. U. W., Chaut. Lake Lodge, 
No. 46, Knights of Honor, Eureka Lodge, No. 
20, Royal Templars of Temperance ; all in 
Jamestown. Thus the record of his life offers 
the best evidence of his usefulness as a citizen, 
of his worth as a man, and of the esteem which 
is justly his. 

He married, August 18, 1868, Kate Swift, a 
daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Swift, natives 
of New England, but residents of Carroll and 
Jamestown, Chautauqua county, N. Y., at the 
time of their death. 



^VHARLES LYOX is a son of Alexander and 
^^ Olive (VauBerger) Lyon, and was born 
February 12, 1819, at Oxford, Chenango 
county, New York. His paternal grandfatiier, 
was a native of Washington county, this 
State, but emigrated to Chenango county 
where he died. Charles Lyon's maternal 
grandfather, who was a native of Holland, 
emigrated to America and settled in Can- 
andaigua, this State, where he resided until his 
death. Pie was a patriotic man and served his 
country well and nobly, doing his full duty as 
a soldier during the War of the Revolution. 
He mai-ried Hannah Knapp. Alexander Lyon 
(father) was born in Chenango county, N. Y., 
in 1776, and removed to Tompkins county, 
this State, in 1825, where he died. He was a 
farmer by occupation, and during the exciting 
times following the disappearance of William 
Moi'gan, he was an intense anti-Mason and 
afterward affiliated with the Whig and Repub- 




< <''^. J.^Jl^ 



'i/~z-'~~kXj 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



lican parties, never taking an active part, how- 
ever. In religion he was a consistent member 
of the Baptist chnrch and liekl the office of 
deacon for a score of years. He was married 
but once, and had born to him thirteen children, 
ten sons and three daughters. 

Charles Lyon was educated in the common 
schools, and afterwards tilled his father's farm 
in Tompkins county until the autumn of 1844, 
when he emigrated to Peimsylvania and en- 
gaged in the lumber business. In 1848 he re- 
turned to New York, locating in Jamestown. 
In politics Charles Lyon was a Whig until the 
formation of the Republican party, in 185(), 
when he became a member of that party and 
still continues firmly grounded in. the faith. 
His first vote was cast for Gen. William Henry 
Harrison, of " Tippecanoe and Tyler too'' fame, 
the grandfather of the present president, and he 
has steadily voted the straight Whig or Repub- 
lican ticket ever since. His standard of charac- 
ter is above the average and he has the reputa- 
tion ot fully living up to that standard, exam- , 
plifying in his private and business life all that 
a good citizen of tlie best republic in the world 
should be. 

On September 11, 1839, Mr. Lyon united in 
marriage with Hester A. Chapin, a daughter of 
Roderick and Sarah (Clough) Chapin. She 
was born in 1817. Her paternal grandfather, 
Roderick Chapin, was a native of Washington 
county, this State, and was of English ancestry. 
He removed to Chautauqua county and lived 
with the father of Mrs. Lyon, who came to this 
county and settled in the town of Kiantone 
(then Carroll), in 1828, when there were not 
more than four houses south of the creek that 
runs through Jamestown. He was a farmer 
and extended his usefulness to mankind by 
officiating as a preacher in the Methodist Epis- 
copal church. In the year preceding the War 
of the Rebellion, he was a stanch and uncom- 
promising abolitionist. Mrs. Lyon was one of 
a family of seven children. To their union 
3 



have been born three children, two sons and 
one daughter : thapin J., who died at the age 
of forty-four ; Septimus, who married Charlotte 
Howard, and is now a painter and paper-hanger 
in St. Charles, Iowa; and Sarah, who resides 
with her parents. 



CLARK RAWSOX LOCKWOOD, of sturdy 
and honorable New England ancestry, 
has been for about forty years before the public 
as a prominent lawyer of Chautauqua county, 
New York, where he now resides. He was 
born in tlie town of Schroon, Essex county, 
New York, June 6, 1827, and is a son of Jere- 
miah and Amanda (Rawson) Lockwood. Jer- 
emiah Lockwood, Jr., (for that was his father's 
name) was born at Lanesborough, Berkshire 
county, Mass., May 17, 1797. His mother was 
born at the head of Schroou Lake, Essex coun- 
ty, N. Y., February 4, 1800, and is said to have 
been the first white female child bora in the 
town of Schroon. Jeremiah Lockwood, Sr. 
(paternal grandfather of C. R. L.), came from 
Massachusetts to Schroon in the year 1810. 
His birth-place was Norwalk, Conn., but when 
quite young he moved to Massachusetts, where 
on January 19, 1776, he was united in mar- 
riage with Mehitable Clark. At the time of 
their removal to Schroon they had three sons 
living, of whom Jeremiah, Jr., was one. Jere- 
miah, Jr. and Amanda Rawson were married 
at Schroon Lake about the year 1819, and con- 
tinued to reside in the town of Schroon down 
to the death of Amanda, which occurred June 
22, 1850. The permanent home of Jeremiah, 
Jr., and family was about two miles north of 
Schroou Lake, where for many years they kept 
what was known as " Lockwood's Tavern." 
November 20, 185G, Jeremiah, Jr., married 
Mrs. Margaret McCaftre Allen, a widow lady, 
' with whom he continued to live down to lier 
deatli, which occurred May 15, 1868, and about 
I June 1, 1868, he removed to Chestertown, 
! Warren county, N. Y., where he continued to 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



reside with his daughter Harriet (wlio was the 
wife of Charles Fowler,) dowu to his death, 
which occurred April 19, 1869. Of the nine 
children born to Jeremiah, Jr., and Amanda 
(Rawson) Loclvwood, there are now living : 
Harriet R., Henry F., Pamelia J. and C'larlv 
R. Amanda (Rawsou) Lockwood was the 
daughter of Simeon and Anna (Holden) Raw- 
son, who moved from Shrewsbury, Vt., to 
Schroon, iu the year 1798, and where both re- 
mained dowu to their deaths which occurred 
many years since. There w'ere born to them 
eleven children, the last of whom, Safford Raw- 
son, of Leroy, Genesee county, N. Y., died in 
May, 1891, being ninety-six years of age De- 
cember 9, 1890. If there be credit in adding 
multitudes to the Imman family, then, indeed, 
both the Lockwoods and Rawsons are entitled to 
very much, for from their households have 
sprung numerous children who, to greater or 
less extent, have made their mark in the world. 
Clark R. Lockwood received his early edu- 
cation in the common schools of his native 
town. At the age of about sixteen years he 
entered the wagon-shop of Jonathan Stevens, 
of Castleton, Vt., for the purpose of learning 
the trade. His health was not good, and after 
remaining in the shop about eighteen months, 
he w;is obliged to leave the business, which he 
did and returned to his home. After recruiting 
in health, and as soon as able, he commenced 
attending school with the view of fitting him- 
self for other duties. For several winters he 
taught school in his native district and adjoin- 
ing towns, and summers attended school at Ti- 
conderoga, N. Y. and Poultney, Vt. Consid- 
erable of his time was devoted to the learning 
of the French language ; and hoping to make 
greater proficiency therein, he went to Canada 
where he remained in a French family for quite 
a time, learning to speak the language, which 
he did so well as to enable him to instruct oth- 
ers. During these several years his physical 
health was very much improved, and he re- 



solved to engage iu something for permanent 
business, and through the assistance of Mr. A. 
R. Catliu, then of Jamestown, he secured an 
opportunity for reading law in the office of Or- 
sell Cook, at that time an active and popular 
lawyer also residing in Jamestown. Almost 
penniless and with but little eucouragement, ex- 
cept through his own resolution, in August, 
1849, he left home for Jamestown where he 
arrived August 2-4, and on the next day com- 
menced as a law student with Mr. Cook. This 
proved to be a very favorable opportunity for 
learning law, as Mr. Cook had an extensive cli- 
entage and the field for practice in tiie lower 
courts was such that theoretical and practical 
knowledge were constant aids to each other. 
Mr. Cook, too, was an industrious worker and 
gave to his students the fullest opportunities for 
improvement, so that the main things needed 
ibr professional success, were willingness of and 
actual application, all of which C. R. Lock- 
wood possessed. Poverty of circumstances com- 
pelled constant labor and, after reading and 
office work for less than a year, he commenced 
trying cases in Justice's court, from which he 
derived a sufficiency to nearly support him, iu 
that great economy in dress was exercised, and 
he boarded himself in the office where he kept 
" bachelor's hall" for several years. During 
this time he taught a term of school in what 
was known as the Pine street school-house, then 
located on the corner of Fourth and Pine 
streets in Jamestown. During the winter of 
1852 and 1853, Mr. Lockwood attended the 
Fowler law school at Ballston Spa, X. Y., and 
in the spring of 1853, at a general term of the 
Supreme Court, he was admitted to practice iu 
all the courts of the State, aud subsecjuently in 
the United States Courts. After his first ad- 
mission, in 1853, he returned to the office of 
Mr. Cook where he remained but a short time, 
aud then entered into a law partnership with 
William M. Newton, under the name of " Lock- 
wood & Xewtou." Tills firm lasted to about 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



August 25, 1855, when the former principal and 
student formed a partnership known as " Cook 
& Lockwood." Under this name they prac- 
ticed their profession, down to August, 1880, 
when Mr. Jerome B. Fisher was admitted into 
the firm, which then assumed and continued 
practice, under the name of " Cook, Locicwood 
& Fisher." About tiiis time Mr. Lockwood's 
health l>egan to fail and became so poor that in 
1881, under the advice of iiis physician, he re- 
tired from the firm, and for many months re- 
frained almost entirely from the practice of his 
profession. 

On July 6, 1853, Clark R. Lockwood and 
Miss Eunice E. Wheeler, of the town of 
Schroon, were united in marriage^ and soon 
thereafter they commenced housekeeping in 
Jamestown, where they have ever since resided. 
Nehemiah and Olive (Fentou) Wheeler were 
the parents of Eunice E. Their residence was 
at the head of Parado.x Lake, town of Schroon, 
where Mr. W^heeler had for many years been a 
prosperous, and for that country an extensive 
lumber dealer. Their family consisted of three 
daughters and one son, Eunice E. being the 
oldest. All the children are now living : Car- 
oline F. and Laura W. residing in Jamestown ; 
and Eliza A. and Edward A. residing in Col- 
orado. Their parents died several years since. 
Nehemiah was quite a prominent man in his 
town, for many years holding important offices. 
His wife, Olive Fenton, was a native of Con- 
necticut, and born in the year 1805, March 5. 
To Clark and Eunice E. have been born three 
children : Olive Amanda, wife of A. E. Allen, 
now residing in Jamestown ; Lizzie W., who 
died in her childhood ; and Clark W., who con- 
tinues to live with his parents. 

It was during the year 1881 that Clark R. 
built the " Opera-house block" wliich is located 
on East Second street, Jamestown. This block 
is 87 J feet on East Second street, and extends 
back in depth 150 feet to East First street. On 
East First street it is si.x stories in height, and 



on East Second street four stories. Building is 
of brick and stone, and was constructed under 
the general superintendence of his son-in-law, 
Mr. A. E. Allen. In the block is " Allen's 
Opera-house," which has become quite noted in 
the theatrical world. Indeed the building is a 
bee-hive of industry, and to say that it is an 
ornament to the now " city of Jamestown," is 
no more than its merits deserve. 

After about eighteen months Mr. Lockwood's 
health had so much improved that he re-engaged 
in professional work and, establishing his office 
in his block, he continued in practice under the 
name of different partnerships down to the year 
1888, when he formed a partnership with Fred. 
R. Peterson, under the name of " Lockwood & 
Peterson," which yet exists. Believing in the 
integrity of creation and liberal in opinion, C. 
R. Lockwood has ever repudiated the monstros- 
ities and absurdities of " ]ioj)ular religion," and 
to-day rejoices that advancing years verify his 
belief and justify his course. Unyielding in the 
belief that freedom is the nattn-al and should be 
the governmental right of every American citi- 
zen, regardless of color or sex, he was active in 
republican ranks, and no one more gloried at 
the emancipation of the slave than did he ; but 
when the party repudiated the well-earned and 
equal rights of citizen women, he regarded it as 
having violated plighted faith and no longer 
entitled to the fidelity of one whose principles 
of Liberty knew no distinction of right thereto 
between man and woman. I^atterly he has de- 
voted his energies to " political equality," be- 
lieving it the sublimity of American citizen- 
ship, as it will be the ultimate result from in- 
tellectual growth, personal need and State and 
National demand. 

Though nearly sixty-four years of age, Mr. 
Lockwood has much of mental and physical 
vigor remaining, and with the exercise of ordi- 
nary energy, there is considerable yet in store 
for him to perform ; and judging the future 
from the past, we may rest assured that it will 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



bear the impress of wouted perseverance and 
industry. 



PETER H. HOYT, a prominent and re- 
spected citizen of Jamestown, and who is 
a successful, self-made man, having begun the 
battle of life with comparatively nothing and 
accumulated a comfortable fortune, is a son of 
John and Phoebe (Stiles) Hoyt, and was born 
July 22, 1838, at Mt. Salem, Sussex county, 
New Jersey. His paternal great-grandfather, 
Ebenezer Hoyt, was born iu Stamford county, 
Connecticut, in 1712, and married Mary Green, 
of the same State. He served iu the war of 
1812 and assisted in drawing a chain across the 
Hudson river at Newburg, to prevent the Brit- 
ish vessels further ascending that river. Peter 
Hoyt (paternal grandfather) was born iu Stam- 
ford county, October 24, 1764, and removed to 
Orange county, N. Y., where he died. He was 
a farmer, and married Obedience Haines, a 
daughter of Johu Haines, of Dutchess county, 
this State. Lewis Stiles (maternal great-grand- 
father) was a native of Connecticut and removed 
to Orange county, N. Y., where he died. Johu 
Hoyt (father) was born in Stamford county, May 
7, 1786, removed to Orange county, then in 
1810 to Sussex county, N. J., where he pur- 
chased a tract of three hundred acres of land, 
and two years later enlisted and served iu the 
war of 1812. He was a very active democrat, 
a member of the Baptist church and died in 
1847, at the age of sixty-one years. His brother 
Peter also served in the war of 1812. He mar- 
ried Phoebe Stiles, by whom he had ten chil- 
dren — six sons and four daughters. Of the 
sons, Archibald is a farmer in Orange county, 
N. Y. ; Joel is a merchant in Newj^ort, R, I., 
but resides iu Jamestown ; John T. is a sjjecu- 
lator in live-stock in Orange county ; Peter H. ; 
Jerard R. is also a speculator iu live-stock at 
Clinton, Pa. ; and Louis S. is a coal dealer, iron 
manufacturer and railroad man in Xew Castle, 
Pennsylvania. 



Peter H. Hoyt was educated in the common 
schools of Mt. Salem, N. J., and at the early 
age of fourteen years was left to do for himself. 
After leaving school he began business, at twenty 
years of age, on his own account, and opened a 
grocery in Jersey City, where he remained seven 
years. In 1865 he went to New Castle, Pa., 
and engaged in the dry -goods, carpet and grocery 
business w-ith his brother, L. S. Hoyt, under 
the firm-name of P. H. Hoyt ct Bro., where he 
remained three years. In January, 1869, he 
came to Jamestown and opeued a dry-goods, 
carpet and clothing store at No. 32 Main street, 
which building he now owns. He continued in 
this business until the autumn of 1882, when 
he sold his stock and leased the building, in- 
tending to go to Texas, but abandoned the idea 
and, purchasing some real estate on West Third 
street, built a fine brick block of tenement- 
houses known as the Hoyt block, extending one 
hundred and twenty feet front and forty-five 
feet deep, comprising five four-story houses, each 
containing twelve rooms finished throughout iu 
cherry, maple and oak and supplied with the 
modern conveniences. He has a fine baru in 
the rear and keeps a half-dozen good horses. 
He is somewhat interested iu i"eal estate iu 
Jamestown. In April, 1861, he enlisted in 
Co. C, 2d regt., New Jersey Vols., going out as 
corporal, but was afterwards promoted to first 
lieutenant of Co. K. He participated in tlie 
first battle of Bull Run. Politically Mr. Hoyt 
is a democrat, is at present a memjber of the city 
council of Jamestown and is a member of Blue 
Lodge, No. 243, F. and A. M., at New Castle, Pa. 

In December, 1865, Mr. Hoyt united in mar- 
riage with Jennie E. Hogen, a daughter of John 
D. Hogen, a real estate broker of Patcrson, N. J. 



HA3ILTX BLACIOIARR was a sou of 
Ransom L. and Eliza (Bo we) Blackmarr, 
and was born in Busti, Chautauqua county. New 
York, September 3, 1843, and died February 
25, 1886. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



43 



Hamlin Black iiiarr was a man of good edu- 
cation, which he acrjuired at the Allegheny col- 
lege, in Meadville, Pa., and then engaged in 
the mercantile business in Perrysburg, N. Y., 
with liis father, afterwards going to Ohio, 
where he continued in the same business. Suc- 
ceeding this he returned to Pennsylvania, and 
began drilling for oil, some of his ventures be- 
ing the wonder and admiration of his less astute 
contemporaries. While a member of the Brad- 
ford Oil Exchange, it is recorded that he made 
the heaviest deals on record at that time. His 
ability ranked with the highest, and he was en- 
abled to secure a fortune in a few years. The 
fine residence at No. 417 East Second street, 
where Mrs. Blackmarr now lives, was purchased 
by him. 

lu May, 1870, Mr. Blackmarr united in 
marriage with Mary Gray, a daughter of Dr. 
Henry and Mary (Park man) Gray. This fam- 
ily were natives of New York city, but came to 
Perrysburg, Cattaraugus county, where Dr. 
Gray practiced medicine. He was the father 
of five sons and three daughters. Mr. and Mrs. 
Blackmarr had but one child, Frank Hamlin 
Blackmarr, who was born February 16, 1871, 
and at present is attending the Allegheny col- 
lege, where he is preparing for a professional 
life. 

In political matters Mr. Blackmarr was a 
republican, and a member of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. He stood high in 
his community, and was recognized as a man of 
good business ability. His loss was deeply 
felt by his many friends, and his remains are 
interred in Lake View Cemetery, Jamestown. 



FKjINK B. FIEIjO, of Jamestown, now 
actively engaged in the undertaking and 
picture-frame business, is a son of Chauncey T. 
and Emeline (Rice) Field, and was born in the 
city of Jamestown, Chautauqua county. New 
York, April 4, 1852. His grandfather, Tyler 
Field, was a native of Brattleboro, Vermont, 



from which place he came to Jamestown in 
1829. He was a tanner by trade, but after fol- 
lowing the tanning business in Jamestown for 
some years, he opened a boot and shoe store, 
which he continued until his death. He was a 
democrat, and married a Miss Dean, who died 
and left one child, the flither of the subject of 
this sketch. He married for his second wife a 
Miss Cunningham,, who bore him nine children. 
Chauncey T. Field (father) was born in Ver- 
mont, in 1828. He was reared at Jamestown, 
where he engaged, at an early age, in the mer- 
cantile business. He was successively a mem- 
ber of the dry goods firms of Sawdrey & Field, 
and Field & Ingersoll, on Main street. On 
January 18, 1875, he associated his son, the 
subject of this sketch, with him in the boot and 
shoe business, which he conducted until July 
18, 1885, when he disposed of his stock of 
goods, and retired from active business life. 
He is a democrat in polities, and a prominent 
member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, Free 
and Accepted Masons, of which he was treasu- 
rer for many years. November 25, 1850, he 
married Emeline Rice, and they have two chil- 
dren : Frank B. and M. Genevieve. The lat- 
ter died March 30,189], and Mrs. Emeline 
Field died May 25, 1891. Both mother and 
daugliter were favorably known in the social 
circles of Jamestown, and their death was uni- 
versally mourned. 

Frank B. Field grew to manliood in his 
native city, where he received his education at 
the Jamestown academy. Leaving school he 
became a clerk in a dry goods store, and at 
twenty-one years of age went to Coloi'ado, where 
he spent some time in gold and silver mining. 
He then became a salesman in the wdiolesule dry 
goods house of Field & Lyter (now Marsiiall, 
Field & Co.), of Chicago. In 1875, he returned 
to Jamestown, where he became a partner with his 
father in the boot and shoe business until 1885, 
when they sold their .store, and he engaged as a 
traveling salesman with tiie Jamestown Cune- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



seat Chair Company. In 1890, he left their 
employ, and on IMay 15, of that year, became 
a member of the present nndertaicing and pic- 
ture-frame firm of Reed & Field. In this line 
of business, Mr. Field has been attended with 
his usual good success, and is rapidly building 
up a fine trade. 

On December 21, 1875, Mr. Field united in 
marriage with Kate A. Parsons, daughter of 
Dr. A. B. Parsons. To their union has been 
born one child, a danghter, named Lilla K., 
born December 29, 1876. 

He is a democrat in political opinion, and a 
member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, Free 
and Accepted Masons, of which he was Worship- 
ful Master, in 1885. He is a charter member, 
and was tiie first treasurer of Jamestown Com- 
mandery, Xo. 61, Kniglits Templar, whicii was 
organized in 1887. 



-^E WITT CLINTON BREED came from 
^^ a good old Puritan family. The first and 
only man by the name of Breed (or Bred, as it 
was then spelled) known to have come to America 
was Allen Breed, who emigrated from England 
in 1630 with John Winthrop, the first governor 
of Massachusetts, who, with eleven vessels, 
landed in Salem, Mass., only a decade later than 
the landing of the Pilgrims. Mr. Breed settled 
in Lynn, Mass., a few miles from Boston, which 
is now one of the largest shoe manufacturing 
cities in the world. In Salem he had married 
Elizabeth Knight, and four sons resulted from 
this union : Allen, Timothy, Joseph and John. 
Allen, Sr., received a grant of land comprising 
two hundred acres, which is situated in what is 
now the north side of the city, and is known as 
" Breed's End." His family multiplied greatly 
upon the face of the earth, and a little over two 
centuries from the time he landed in Salem 
(1839), there were two hundred and forty-three 
persons named Breed residing in Lynn, and it 
is a fact that one of the family arose in his seat 
in Representative Hall, in the State House in 



Boston, a few years ago, and, with a twinkle in 
his eye, gravely moved that the city be re-chris- 
tened Breedville. The name was formerly 
spelled Bread, occasionally Breade, sometimes 
Bred, and, back in the sixteenth century, Le 
Bred. During the reign of Canute, of the 
Saxon heptarchy, in 1100, a Breed family left 
Germany and settled in Su.ssex county, England, 
and the place of settlement is still known as the 
town of Breed. Allen Breed's son, Allen, had 
a son named John, who is the ancestor of nearly 
all the Breeds who settled in New York, Penn- 
svlvania, and other Western States. He died 
March 17, 1791, aged ninety. John Breed 
married for his first wife Mary Kirtland. They 
had one daughter. John's second wife was 
Mary Palmer, and she bore him si.x daughters 
and four sons. One of the sons, John, married 
Mary Prentice, and to them were born six 
daughters and three sons. One of the .sous, 
Nathan (great-grandfather of De Witt C), was 
born December 13, 1731, in Stonington, Conn. 
He married Lucy Babcock, of Stonington, and 
by her had four daughters and five .sons. One 
of the sons, Thomas, w^as the grandfather of 
De Witt C. He was born January 3, 1764, in 
Stoniugton, and married Elizabeth Clements, 
settling in Saratoga, N. Y., on the farm famous 
as the place of the surrender of Gen. John Bur- 
goyne during the war of the Revolution. He 
died in 1826, leaving a family of seven sons 
and five daughters. One of the sons was Wil- 
liam, father of De Witt C, and he was born 
December 24, 1795, on the farm in Saratoga. 
The maternal grandfather of De Witt C, 
Solomon Jones, was born in Wadsbnrg, Ver- 
mont, and emigrated to Chautauqua county 
alwut 1810, locating near Stillwater, where he 
purchased a large farm, now known as " the 
ohl Jones Farm." He afterwards moved to 
Jamestown, and engaged in hotel-keeping for 
several years, and served as justice of the peace, 
in those days a much more important and 
honorable office than in the.so latter times. 




^ _(o /hiM^ 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



47 



Politically he was an i)kl-liue whig, and in ivli- 
giou a member of the Congregational church. 
He married Clarissa Howard, and had fourteen 
ciiildren, all living to maturity except one, who 
died in infancy. The father of De Witt C. 
emigrated to Pittsburg, Pa., and from thence 
removed to Jamestown, where he married Clara 
Jones, and engaged in the furniture and car- 
pentering business. At this time (182:'>) James- 
town was a very small village. Politically he 
was a whig, and later was the only abolitionist 
in Jamestown. When the Kepublican party 
was organized, in Fremont and Dayton's time, 
he affiliated with it, and voted that ticket' the 
rest of his life. For .several years he was cap- 
tain of the Lightfoot Infantry of Jamestown. 
He was an active and prominent member of the 
Baptist church. By his marriage he had one 
son and three daughters. 

De Witt Clinton Breed was born in James- i 
town, September 20, 1826. De Witt Clinton. 
Breed was educated iu the common schools of 
Jamestown, and afterward made himself prac- 
tically and thoroughly acquainted with every 
detail of furniture manufacturinsi;, and took the 
business of his father, which he has most suc- 
cessfully managed to the present time (1891). ' 
He makes specialties of chamber suits, side- 
boards and book-cas,es, and employs seventy 
men, besides a half dozen traveling salesmen. [ 
In politics he is a republican, having come from 
the Whig party. He is a member of the Bap- 
tist church, of which he is one of the deacons. 
An honorable, successful business man and a 
respected citizen, he occupies an enviable posi- 
tion in the community in which he resides. 

De Witt C. Breed married for his first wife 
Lucy A. Aldrich, of Kiantone, by whom he 
had four children : Clara I., who married John 
Aldrich, a retail furniture dealer of Jamestown; 
George W., married and resides in Denver, 
Colorado ; Anna L., married to Albert A. Moore, 
a merchant at Rockwell, Iowa; Ida May, mar- 
ried William A. Young, an insurance agent in 



Jamestown, and buok-koeper. For his second 
wife he married Mrs. Mary L. Haughwout, of 
New York cit}^ widow of Rev. B. P. Haugh- 
wout, a noted Baptist minister of Fall River, 
Mass., where he occupied a pulpit for iiftcen years. 



/>'HARLE.S E. WEEKS, an active business 
^^ man and a poj)ular democrat of .James- 
town, was l)orn at Blossburg, Tioga county, Pa., 
December u, 1834, and is a son of James and 
Betsy (Jennings) Weeks. His paternal grand- 
father, Samuel Weeks, who was of English 
extraction, was a resident for many years of 
Vermont and New York. His son, James 
Weeks, the father of Charles E. Weeks, followed 
wool-carding for several years in the " Keystone 
State," at the end of which time he removed to 
New York, where he settled in Orleans county, 
and lived a retired life until his death in 1847, 
at fifty-six years of age. He was a democrat in 
politics, married Betsy Jennings, and reared a 
family of four sons and three daughters: Mary, 
Walter J., engaged in the grocery business on 
the corner of Pine and Second Streets, James- 
town ; Andrew J., a real estate agent of the 
same city ; Charles E., Eliza, Laura and Henry, 
who is in the grocery business in Jamestown 
with his brother, Walter J. 

Charles E. Weeks, although born in Penn- 
sylvania, yet was reared principally in New 
York, where he was educated at Albion academy. 
At the end of his schooldays he determined upon 
a business career, and in 1856 became a merchant 
at Ellington, this county, where he remained 
two years. He then came to Jamestown, which 
he has made his permanent residence and place 
of business until the present time. The principal 
lines of business to which he has devoted his 
attention since becoming a resident of Jamestown 
have been real estate, groceries and manufactur- 
ing. His many real estate transactions and his 
large grocery trade are evidences of his business 
ability and adaptability to commercial pur- 
suits. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



On December 8, 1856, he married Eunice 
Woodworth, daughter of Erast us C. Woodworth, 
a native of Orleans county and resident of Ell- 
ington, now deceased. To Mr. and Mrs. Weeks 
have been born four children, three sons and 
one daughter: Francis (died in infancy), James 
L., Bertha E. and Ciiarles E., Jr. James L. 
completed a high school course^ read law, w'as 
graduated from Albany law school, and married 
Clara C. Kingsbury, of Westfield. He then 
formed a partnership with his former legal pre- 
ceptors, Bootey and Fowler, under the firm name 
of Bootey, Fowler & Weeks, and did the demo- 
cratic party good service as a public speaker in 
the presidential campaigns of 1884 and 1888 by 
stumping the counties of Chautauqua and Catta- 
raugus. Bertha E. is a student at Wells college, 
New York; and Charles E., Jr., is engaged in 
the real estate business with his father. 

As a democrat Mr. Weeks has always held 
firm to the time-honored and cardinal principles 
of his party, whose standard-bearers have never 
failed to receive his earnest support. In July, 
1885, he was appointed by President Cleveland 
as postmaster of Jamestown, and served with 
satisfaction to the citizens of the city during 
his terra of four years and eight months. He 
also served his city as a member of the school 
board and board of trustees. He was nomi- 
nated by his party in 1881 as one of their candi- 
dates for assembly, and notwithstanding tlie 
county was republican that year by a majority 
of twenty-five hundred, yet he lacked but four 
hundred votes of being elected, and carried his 
own city by four hundred and twenty-five 
majority. Owing to his popularity he was made 
the democratic nominee, in 1882, for State 
Senator in the Twenty-second district, composed 
of the counties of Cattaraugus and Chautauqua, 
and although unsuccessful, yet ran far ahead of 
his ticket in the former as well as in the latter 
county, where he not only received his large 
vote of 1881, but almost succeeded in carrying 
Jamestown, which is one of the republican 



strongholds of western New York. Charles E. 
Weeks is ? prominent representative of the real 
estate business of Jamestown, which has been 
commensurable in its increase with the other 
industries of the citv. 



|H ATHAN D. LEWIS, a member of the Cliau- 

\ ^ tanqua county bar and an active prohibi- 
tionist of Jamestown, was born at West Win- 
field, Herkimer county, New York, February 
15, 1842, and is a son of Nathan and Mary 
(Benjamin) Lewis. His paternal grandfather, 
Nathan Lewis, was of New England ancestry, 
and died in Connecticut, where he married a 
Miss Richmond, who lived to the remarkable 
age of one hundred and one years. His mater- 
nal grandfather, Jesse Benjamin, served in wars 
of the Revolution and of 1812. Reserved as a 
musician at Valley Forge and Monmouth, aud 
after the close of the Revolutionary struggle, 
married a Miss Bunn, by whom he had thirteen 
children. He was a native of New York and 
died in Jefferson county, that State, when nine- 
ty-three years of age. Nathan Lewis, the father 
of Nathan D. Lewis, was born in Connecticut, 
where his father died when he was quite small, 
and the young man was reared by his uncle. 
In early life he owned and operated a foundry 
at Clayville, N. Y. In 1859 he came to the 
northern part of the town of Harmony, where 
he purchased a farm which he cultivated until 
his death, in 1881, at seventy-nine 3'ears of age. 
He was a member of the Baptist church and 
voted the democratic ticket until 1844, after 
which year, he supported the Abolition and 
Republican parties. He married Mary Benja- 
min, aud reared a family of four sons and two 
daughters. Two of these sons, Charles C, aud 
Fernando C, served in the Uuion Army during 
the late war, in which the former was a corporal 
in tiie 112th New York, and the latter was for 
two years a member of the 21st New York 
regiment. 

Nathan D. Lewis received his education at 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Arcade academy, in ^yyomi^g county, N. Y. 
He commenced tlie study of law at Arcade in 
1862, but having to make his own way in lite 
he learned dentistry the next year and by fol- 
lowing that profession acquired means enough 
to complete his academic course, and to prose- 
cute his legal studies. He read law with J. L. 
White, of Jamestown, was admitted to practice 
in the United States District and Circuit courts 
of western New York, in July, 1882, and has 
made a specialty of bankruptcy cases. 

On December 28, 1873, he united in marriage 
with Emily Pelton, who is now the matron of 
the W. C. A. Hospital, Jamestown, N. Y. 

N. D. Lewis is a member of the Baptist 
church and a prohibitionist in politics. He has 
been active in the work of his party, whose vote 
materially increased in Chautauqua county 
while he served as secretary of the County Pro- 
hibition Committee (1884-88), and in 1885 
when he was the nominee of his party he re- 
ceived a large vote and carried the town of 
Villeuova. In 1885 he commenced the publi- 
cation of a monthly prohibition paper called 
The Agitator, which he changed during the next 
year to a weekly sheet. In 1 889 he retired from its 
publication, and assumed charge of the temper- 
ance department of the Chautauqua Democrat. 
He is a member of Brooklyn Lodge, No. 416, 
Independent Order of Good Templars, in which 
organization he is a lodge deputy and county 
deputy for Chautauqua county. 



VICTOR HOL,3rES. In the great cause of 
temperance each locality has its advocate 
who stands out prominently as the champion glad- 
iator of the forces arrayed against the Bacchanalian 
devotees. Prominently identified with the tem- 
perance cause through the third party move- 
ment is Victor Holmes, a son of Jens and 
Elizabeth M. (Ailing) Holmes, who was born 
in Denmark, February 18, 1850. His grand- 
father, Jens Holmes, was a native of Denmark, 
where he was born, reared and died, his life 



profession being school teaching. He was con- 
nected with the State church in the latter ca- 
pacity, and was a man of extraordinary educa- 
tion. He married a daughter of Bishop Chris- 
tian Trause, a renowned ecclesiastical scholar 
and a divine of great power. Mr. Holmes was 
well read upon law points, and was in demand 
by the people of his locality as a drawer of 
legal documents. He married and had eight 
children, one of the daughters, Angnethe, being 
the mother of Lucianus Kofod, who became re- 
nowned in Danish politics and the army. He 
served as a member of the Reichstag and is now 
an officer in the Danish Army. The matei-nal 
grandfather, Mongesp Ailing, also lived and 
died in Denmark. He was a farmer and ship- 
per, and reared a family of eight children. 
Jens Holmes was born in Denmark, March 31, 
1819, where he still resides. For many years 
he conducted a mercantile business, but some 
time since retired and is now living at Ronne, 
Denmark. He is a member of the Lutheran 
church, and has been twice married : first to 
Elizabeth M. Ailing, who died in 1878, aged 
sixty-two years. She was the mother of six 
children, three of whom are in Jamestown : a 
son, M. C, is an awning manufacturer in 
this city ; and a daughter, Betty, was married 
to Christian Gronberg, who is deceased ; and 
Victor. Two sons, Peter and 'Valdemar, are 
living in Denmark, engaged in the mercantile 
business. 

Victor Holmes was educated in the schools 
of the Fatherland and came to America in 1873, 
locating at Jamestown, where he has since lived, 
engaged in the sign painting and lettering busi- 
ness. He carries a stock of paints and a fine 
line of artists' materials, which is conducted 
in connection with his manual profession. 

He married Fannie A. Crumb, of Union 
City, Pa., April 22, 1875, and they have had 
three children : Victoria F., V. Frank and V. 
Elucy, who died in infancy. 

Victor Holmes is a member of the Presby- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



terian church, in wliich he is a deacon. He is a 
member of Samaritan Lodge, No. 376, I. Q. of 
G. T., of New York, and is an active supported' 
of the Prohibition party. His connection with 
the Temperance society is one of respousibib'ty, 
and it is largely due to his energetic work that 
the can.se has met with its success in this .sec- 
tion. He attended the State convention held 
at Syracuse, and the Supreme Lodge on three 
different occasions at Saratoga and in 1889 at 
Chicago. Through Mr. Holmes' efforts, a 
German Grand Lodge, in Germany, was organ- 
ized. The society numbers over 700,000 in the 
world. In addition to these societies, Mr. 
Holmes belongs to Ellicott Lodge, I. O. O. F., 
in which he is secretary, and is a member of, 
director and vice-president in the Scandinavian 
Loan & Building As.sociation, which was formed 
in Jamestown in 1890. The society is a strong 
one, numbering a large percentage of the 6000 
Scandinavian population of Jamestown in its 
membership. 



O-YLVESTER S. CA1>Y is one of Janies- 
^^ town's old residents, having begun mer- 
chandising here in 1844. He was born in 
Chatham, Columbia county. New York, near 
the Massachusetts line, June 8, 1817, and is a 
son of Sylvester and Abigail (Adams) Cady. 
His grandfathei", Aaron Cady, came of English 
stock and was related to Judge Daniel Cady, 
an eminent jurist of Albany, this State. In 
politics he was identified with the old-line 
whigs. Sylvester Cady was a native of Chat- 
ham, this State, where he was born March 2"), 
1777. He spent his early life on a farm, and 
in 1845 removed to Kiantone, this county, still 
pursuing farming as a means of procuring a 
livelihood. In 1805 he married Abigail Adams 
and reared a family of eight children, all of 
whom are dead excejjting Sylvester S., and one 
daughter, Mariah, who married Ebenezer Cha- 
pin, a farmer, (now dead) and .'ihe lives in Cali- 
fornia. The names of the others were: Sappro- 



nia, who died in Iowa; Louisa, Ichabod, Ann 
Adelia and Clarissa. In life Mr. Cady was a 
whig and died on his farm at Kiantone, in 
1850. 

Sylvester S. Cady, as will be seen, comes of 
good stock; originally from the English, he is 
thoroughly American. He attended the " Dees- 
trict" schools, two miles from home, and secured 
such knowledge as was usually taught there. 
He was brought up under the old regime of 
farming, by main strength, no foolish machin- 
ery about it, conse<juently, by over-work his 
health failed, and he was sent to Georgia with 
the prospect of dying with consumption ; but 
the climate and favorable treatment restored 
him to good health, and after two years returned. 
Just after his brother's death in Canaan, N. Y. 
In 1844 we find him in tiie grocery business at 
Jamestown, in which he was engaged without 
intermission until 187-3, when he began to de- 
vote his attention to buying and shipping but- 
ter, continuing in this work for about twelve 
years, when he retired from active business and 
has since been enjoying a quiet life, the reward 
of work well done. It must also be mentioned 
that Mr. Cady was the first resident insurance 
agent located at Jamestown. 

On the 1st day of October, 1847, he united 
in marriage with xlnu Eliza Vanderburg, a 
daughter of Mai-tin Vanderburg, and had one 
daughter, Mary E , now dead, who married 
Willis Tew, for some time a banker and now 
vice-president of the City National Bunk, of 
Jamestown ; and a son Jay, who is living in 
New York City. 

Having lived here uninterruptedly fin- more 
than forty-five years, Mr. Cady has had oppor- 
tunities of observing Jamestown's growth, as 
have had few others of her citizens. From a 
country village, he has seen her advance to a 
magnificent city ; from comparative insignifi- 
cance, to her present proud eminence among the 
sisterhood of cities. A republican in ])olitics, 
he is also an active and honored member of 





yZZZ^i 



'l^^L^^^'U 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 145, F. and A. M., 
with which he has been connected for many 
years, and is now enjoying the evening of life 
with his companion of so many years, at the 
beautiful home of their son-in-law, INIr. Tew, 
No. 204 West Fifth street. 



HENllY K. BAKROWS, a representative 
of one of the old and most respected 
families of Chautauqua county, is a son of Levi 
and Abigail Putnam (Ransom) Barrows, and 
was born in Jamestown, Chautauqua county. 
New York, January 20, 1836. His grandflither 
was Abner Barrows, who was a native of the 
Green Mountain State, from which he came to 
this State and located near Saratoga Springs, 
where he farmed until his death. One of his 
sons was Levi Barrows, who became the father 
of our subject. He was born at Luzerne, N. Y., 
on March 26, 1804, and came to Stockton, this 
county, in 1832. He remained at the latter 
place only about one year, and then removed to 
Jamestown, where he resided until his death, 
which occurred March 10, 1863. At the latter 
place he entered into partnership with a Mr. 
Scott, the firm being engaged in the manufacture 
of sash, blinds, doors, etc. They also owned 
and conducted several farms in adjoining towns 
at the same time. Politically he was originally 
a democrat, but when the slavery question arose 
he transferred his sympathies to the abolitionists, 
and was one of the most energetic stockholders 
in the uuderground railroad which ran through 
this county. Later he belonged to the republican 
party. He was popular in his town, and for 
several years held the office of justice of the 
peace. Up to 1861 he was active in the man- 
agement of his business, but advancing years 
coming upon him, he transferred his business 
to his sons, Henry R. and Ransom J., who con- 
tinued it. Mr. Barrows was a deacon in the 
Presbyterian church to which he was attached 
for many years. In 1828 he married for his 
first wife Mrs. Abigail Putnam (Ransom), who 



became the mother of si.\ cliildren : Mary J. 
(deceased) ; Maria (decea.sed), wife of Alexander 
Hawlev, who comes from one of the oldest 
families in Chautauqua county; Ransom J.; 
Sallie (dead) ; Henry R., and Orton, who died 
young. His first wife died in 1846, and he 
then married Sallie Canfield, in 1847, by whom 
he had three children : Halbert A., resides in 
Jamestown ; Herbert L., lives in California, and 
Antoinette (dead). He was on the charter of 
the original Masonic; Lodge instituted in James- 
town, and took an active part in its history. 

Henry R. Barrows was reared in the city of 
Jamestown, and acquired an education fitting 
him to succeed his lather in business, which he 
did when twenty-five years of age, in connection 
with his brother, Ransom J., their association 
lasting twelve years. 

In 1857 Henry R. Barrows married Lucy A. 
Ross, an estimable woman of Jamestown, and 
their union has been blest with three children : 
Abbie, died young; Kittie, wife of Henry C. 
Hitchcock, a prominent manager of a wholesale 
furniture house in Pittsburgh, Pa. ; and Maude 
(dead). 

When the great strife caused our martyred 
president to call on the States for troops, Henry 
R. Barrows enlisted July 29, 1862, in Co. A, 
112th regiment, N. Y. infantry, as a private. 
He soon received promotion to second lieutenant, 
and before being mustered out, on November 
26, 1863, was advanced to first lieutenant. Most 
of his term of service was spent at or near 
Suffolk, Va., and he was three times sun-struck, 
which forced him to resign. Since the war, 
]\Ir. Barrows has been engaged as a carpenter 
and joiner. He is a republican, and a member 
of James M. Brown Post, No. 285, G. A. R. 



HON. GEORGE WASHINGTON PAT- 
TERSON, speaker of the House, lieu- 
tenant-governor and congressman, was born at 
Londonderry, New Hampshire, November 11, 
1799, and died at his home in Westfield, Octo- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



ber 15, 1879. He was a son of Thomas and 
Elizabeth (Wallace) Patterson, and the grand- 
son of Peter and Grisel (Wilson) Patterson, of 
Londonderry, N. H. Peter Patterson, in 1737, 
emigrated from Bush Mills, county Antrim, 
Ireland, to Londonderry, N. H., and was the 
great-grandson of John Patterson, who came 
from Argyleshire, Scotland, in about 1612, 
with a colony of Scotch emigrants. He| and 
his family were at the siege of Derry where 
one of his sons died from starvation. Tlie 
homestead, at Bush Mills, of John Patterson, 
passed from father to son for six generations. 
Many of his descendants of the third and 
fourth generations came to America with the 
Scotch-Irish emigrations. Gov. Patterson's 
paternal ancestors were farmers, linen-weavers 
and dealers, holding prominent local positions. 
They were Scotch-Irish Presbyterians, strong 
in body and mind and able to defend them- 
selves in their opinions. Gov. Patterson was a 
ready speaker and writer, with a wonderful 
memory of facts and dates, full of anecdotes, 
ever cheerful, hoping and lookiug for the right 
to succeed. He was of commanding presence, 
a fine parliamentarian, a particularly good pre- 
siding officer, which position he held two years 
as speaker of the Assembly and two years 
as president of the Senate of New York. 
As a speaker at political camj)aign meet- 
ings, his services were always in demand. 
Among the legislative measures originated 
by him was the free banking law of New 
York, the original bill of which he drew, and 
which afterward became a law. The main 
provisions of the free banking laws of the 
United States, giving the people a secured cur- 
rency under governmental supervision, were 
taken from the New Y'ork law. He closed his 
congre.ssional term in his eightieth year, the 
year of his death. In politics he was a whig 
and a republican. In business he was successful. 
Thurlow Weed, his political and personal friend 
for over half a century, the eminent journalist 



and politician of New York, in an article in the 
New York Tribune, writes: "All the elements 
and qualities, which elevate and adorn human 
life were harmoniously blended in the character 
of George W. Patterson. His life was not only 
entirely blameless, but eminently useful. To 
those who knew him as I did no form of enlo- 
gium will be deemed inappropriate. As a citi- 
zen, as tlie head of a family, and as a j)ublic 
servant, he was a model man. In the discharge 
of legislative duties, he was conscientious and 
patriotic. He was ahvays in his seat, and no 
bad, defective, equivocal, or suspicions bill ever 
evaded or escaped his vigilant and watchful eye. 
He had troops of friends, and, so far as I know 
or believe, was without an enemy. In private 
life he was exceptionally faultless. Without 
making a proclamation of temperance, he was 
always a cold water drinker." 

He married Hannah W., a daughter of John 
Dickey, merchant of West Parish, Londonderry. 
The last of his school education was received at 
the Pinkerton academy, Derry, N. H., and the 
first printed catalogue of this iustitutiou, shows 
his own and (then) future wife's name. He was 
a school teacher at Pelham, New Hampshire, 
in 1817, but in the following year, he engaged 
in the manufacture of fanning mills. In this 
business he was largely interested for twenty- 
six years, in the town of Leicester, Livingston 
count}', N. Y. Here he resided until 1841, 
when he removed to Westfield, to accept the 
agency of the Chautauqua Land Office, as suc- 
cessor of Gov. Seward. When the lands be- 
came reduced by sales, Mr. Patterson bought 
the residue of lands and securities of the Hol- 
land Company, and continued the sales at the 
Westfield office until his death, when the title 
to the unsold lands passed to his only son, 
George W. Patterson. Gov. Patterson com- 
menced holding public office soon after his resi- 
dence began at Leicester, in 1824, and from 
that time until his death, it was the exception 
that he was not in public service. At no time 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



did he ever ask for an appointiueut, or nomina- 
tion, but they came unsolicited. When justices 
of tlie peace became elective, he was chosen to 
that office, which he retained by successive elec- 
tions until he removed to Westfield. He was 
commissioner of highways, school commissioner, 
justice of the peace, brigade paymaster and su- 
pervisor of Leicester ; a member of the Assembly 
of New York for eight years, the last 1839 and 
1840, he was twice speaker of the House. After 
his removal, in 1841, to Westfield, he was ap- 
pointed basin commissioner at Albany, by Gov. 
Seward, harbor commissioner at New York, by 
Gov. Clark, and quarantine commissioner for 
the port of New York by Gov. Morgan ; was 
a delegate to the National convention that nomi- 
nated John C. Fremont for president, and to 
the National llepublican convention that nomi- 
nated Abraham Lincoln; was supervisor of 
"Westfield for three years, president of Westfield 
academy and president of the board of education 
of Westfield for many yeai's ; represented the 
county of Chautauqua in the State Constitu- 
tional convention of 1846 ; was elected lieuten- 
ant-governor of the State of New York in 1848, 
and in 1876 was elected to the Forty-fifth Con- 
gress as a Republican. He was a director in 
the Buffalo and State Line Railroad from its 
organization, in June, 1849, till its consolida- 
tion in May, 1867, and was from that date un- 
til June, 1868, a director in the Buffalo and 
Erie Railroad, now a part of the Lake Shore 
and ^Michigan Southern. 



WILLIAM HAXL was born in Wardsboro', 
Vt., August 17, 1793. He was the sev- 
enth of twelve children born to Wm. Hall and 
Abigail Pease. 

Both his parents were natives of Massachu- 
setts, and were characterized by great energy, 
industry and enterprise. His father was a sol- 
dier in the Revolutionary war, holding the rank 
of captain. 

Soon after he attained his majority he started 



for western New York, where several from his 
native town had already gone. 

He passed his first winter in C'hautauqua 
county, with his older brotlier James, who had 
already located in that part of the town of Car- 
roll which is now Kiantone. 

He at once began to make shingles, working 
far into the night with the frow and shave 
which were the tools then used, instead of the 
modern shingle-machine. 

In the spring he took the products of his 
labor down the river to a southern market, and 
thus began his career as a lumber dealer, a busi- 
ness in which he was quite extensively engaged 
in later years. 

In 1816 he came to Jamestown, which then 
contained less than a dozen families, and was 
for a time connected with the store and hotel of 
Elisha Allen. 

In the year 1822 he bought of Nathan Kid- 
der, for $300, the lot on the corner of Main and 
Third streets, where the Preudergast block now 
stands, on which was an unfinished frame build- 
ing; this he completed and opened as a hotel, 
having entered into partnership with Solomon 
Jones, Esq. 

In the year 1828 he removed to the south 
side of the outlet, where he had purchased a 
farm, but continued the business of a lumber 
merchant, buying large quantities of boards and 
timber, which he sold in southern markets. 

In the year 1857 he bought of A. F. Hawlcy 
the building and lot on the southwest corner of 
Main and Third streets. 

The building, which was of wood, having 
burned in 1860, he replaced it with a substantial 
brick structure now known as the Hall block. 

He was identified with most of the various 
enterprises for improving the business facilities 
of the town in which he lived. 

He was prominent in all efforts to secure rail- 
way communication with the outer world. 

As director and vice-president of the Erie & 
New York City Railroad company, which is 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



now merged in the X. Y., P. & O. Railroad, lie 
S])ent nuicli time and money in the prosecution 
of that enterprise. 

He was a stockholder in the Dunkirk and 
Jamestown Plank-Road compau}-. 

He was also for a number of years a director 
in the Chautauqua County National Eauk, and 
a stockholder in the Cane-Seat Chair company. 

Wlien already far advanced in years he en- 
tered into the project of building an alpaca-mill, 
au enterprise comparatively new in this country. 
This, from a business standpoint, was the great- 
est undertaking of his life. Although not the 
originator of the enterprise, it is safe to say no 
one contributed more to its success than he. 

His knowledge, acquired by long experience 
in building, his sound judgment and energy, to- 
gether with his capital, were all devoted to the 
success of the undertaking. 

^^'hi!e yet a young man he attained the rank 
of colonel in the New York State militia, but 
being M'ithout military ambition, he soon re- 
signed the office. 

Although deeply interested in the politics of 
his country, as every good citizen should be, he 
had no sympathy with the methods of the poli- 
tician, and having acceptably filled the office of 
town supervisor, his political ambition was .sat- 
isfied. 

Personally he was characterized by great 
physical .strength, temperate habits (using neither 
liquor nor tobacco in any form), untiring indus- 
try, indomitable energy and perseverance and 
unswerving integrity ; these, combined with pru- 
dence, economy and sound judgment, achieved 
for him a large measure of success as a business 
man. 

He was a friend of education, of temperance, 
of human rights and religion. 

He contributed libei'ally for the erection of 
houses of worship, and for the support of the 
gospel, and was always, when able, in his seat 
on the Sabbath, in the Congregational church. 

He was greatlv attached to his home and his 



friends, though not wont to make great demon- 
stration of his feelings. 

He was married, July 4, 1824, to Julia, daugh- 
ter of Solomon Jones, Esq., by whom he had five 
children, three of whom, — William C. J., Clara 
M. and Elliot C, — together with his wife, sur- 
vived him., He died July 6, 1880, having been 
a resident of Jamestown sixty-four years. His 
wife followed him to the grave January 18, 1888. 

William C. J. Hall was born in Jamestown, 
N. Y., August 8, 1828; graduated from Yale 
college in 1851 ; was successively a civil engi- 
neer on the Atlantic and Great Western Rail- 
way, principal of the Ellington academy, and a 
druggist and chemist in Jamestown. In 1861 
he entered the army as first lieutenant of a com- 
pany of sharp.shooters. He was appointed major 
of the 23d U. S. Colored Troops, and brevetted 
colonel. After nearly four years' service he re- 
signed on account of his health. He was for a 
time superintendent of the public schools of 
Meadville, Pa., and afterwards returned to James- 
town to engage with his father in the manufac- 
ture of worsted goods. He was a man of ex- 
ten.sive knowledge, and his advice was sought on 
many different matters. He was a member of 
the faculty of Chautauqua university and pro- 
fessor of microscopy. He died October 30, 
1887, leaving a wife and two children. 

Clara M., wife of Rev. William A. Hallock, 
a Congregational minister not in active service 
in the ministry, now resides in Jamestown. They 
have two children. 

Elliot C. Hall was born in Jamestown, N. Y.,. 
Ai>ril 29, 1838 ; graduated from Yale college in 
18G2, and from Union theological seminary, New 
York, in 18C5. After fourteen years' service in 
the ministry he was called home on account of 
his father's feeble heafth, and since his father's 
death has remained in charge of his business 
affairs. Mr. Hall was married, July 24, 1867, 
to Tirzah S., daughter of Prof. E. S. Snell, of 
Amherst College, Massachusetts. They have 
three children, and occupy the family homestead. 




Apo.Qt.^o 



(xZZ^^^^o 



ifX^ 



J3 o.] 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



nANSOM J. IiAl{IU)WS, tlie son of Levi 
C. and Abigail (Putnam) Ransom Bar- 
rows, was born in Luzerne, Warren county, New 
York, August 24, 183L His grandfather, Abner 
Barrows, was a native of Vermont, but removed 
to this State, located near Saratoga Springs and 
pursued farmiug until his death, in 1849. He 
married a Miss Call and had four sons and two 
daughters. Levi C Barrows was born at Lu- 
zerne, this State, in 1804, and came to this 
county in 1832, locating at Stockton for abt)ut 
one year and then removed to Jamestown, wiiere 
he engaged in the lumber business and, in part- 
nership with a Mr. John Scott, under the firm- 
name of Scott & Barrows, manufactured doors, 
sash, blinds and lumber. In {polities he was a 
democrat, but became a whig and later a repub- 
lican, being a strong sympathizer of the aboli- 
tionists. When the underground railway was 
carrying the blacks through to Canada, Mr. 
Barrows took pride in being known as one of 
its conductors and did much in advancing aboli- 
tion principles. For some years he was a jus- 
tice of the peace, serving in that capacity at the 
time of his death, March 10, 1863. In 1861 
he transferred his business to his sons, Ransom 
J. and Henry R., who continued it about two 
years. He was a member of the Presbyterian, 
church — for many years a deacon. In 1828 he 
married for his first wife Abigail (Putnam) Ran- 
som, who bore him six children : Mary J., mar- 
ried to M. W. Hutton, of Jamestown, and is , 
now dead ; Maria, wife of Alexander Hawley 
who is the representative of one of the oldest 
fiimilies of this county; Ransom J., Sallie 
(dead), Henry R., who served as lieutenant of 
Co. A, 112th regt., N. Y. Inflmtry ; and Orton, ■ 
who died young. After Mrs. Barrows' death, i 
in 1846, he married Sallie Canfield and had 
three children : Halbert A., a resident of James- 
town ; Herbert L., who lives in California ; and 
Antoinette (deceased). He was a prominent 
and respected Mason, being one of the organizers 
of the first lodge of that fraternity established 



in Jamestown, and to the time of his death was 
active and entiiusiastic in its woi'k. 

Ransom J. Barrows received a common- 
school education, and married for his first wife 
Mary J. Putnam, daughter of rnioii Putnam, 
of Stockton, in 1854, and she died in 1859, 
leaving two children : Jennie M., wife of M. P. 
Hatch, of Buffalo, and Minnie M., wife of Dr. 
W. M. Bern us, of Jamestown. His second wife 
was Ellen A. Breed, a daughter of Deacon J. 
C. Breed, who died in 1869. In 1873 he mar- 
ried iSIinerva C. Williams, and this last marriage 
has been blest with three children : Ellen A., 
Elma M. and R. Jay. 

He is a Mason, and has held continuous mem- 
bership for thirty-eight years in Mount Moriah 
Lodge, No. 145, of Jamestown. Mr. Barrows 
has held many offices of honor and trust in 
Jamestown, where he has resided for nearly 
sixty years. 



/-VEOKGK W. PATTERSON, one of the 

^^ l)rominent and public-spii-ited citizens of 
Westfield, is a son of Hon. George W. antl 
Hannah W. (Dickey) Patterson, and was bora 
on his father's farm in Livingston county, New 
York, February 25, 1826. His paternal and 
maternal ancestry is given in the sketch of his 
father which is published in this volume. At 
fourteen years of age, he came with his father 
to Westfield where he has remained principally 
ever since. He entered Dartmouth College, 
New Hampshire, from which he was graduated 
in 1848, afterwards read law for two years in 
Buffalo, but with no intention of practicing and 
only as an accomplishment. From 1850 to 
1853, he was engaged in the manufacture of 
.steel tools, and in 1854, in company with J. N. 
Hungerfbrd, organized the Geo. Washington 
bank at Corning, which had a successful career 
until 1873, when it went down with hundreds 
of other banks in the great panic of that year. 
Since 1875 he has resided at Westfield, where 
he has a pleasant home and has given his time 



62 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



to the uianageinent of his lands, fifteen hundred 
acres originally owned by the Holland Land 
Company in Chautauqua county. He is one of 
tiie board of water commissioners of Westfield, 
president of the board and the chief engineer of 
the waterworks. He served as president of the 
board of education. 

On September 17, 1861, he united in mar- 
riage with Frances D. Todd, a native of Todd- 
ville, Otsego county, New York, which was 
founded by her grandfather, Lemuel Todd. 
Their union has been blessed with four 
children: Catherine, a graduate of Vassar col- 
lege, the wife of Frank W. Crandall ; George 
W., born February 1, 1864, who graduated at 
Yale college, and at the Institute of Technol- 
ogy, Boston, and since 1889 has been instructor 
of electrical engineering at the University of 
Michigan ; Hannah W., a graduate of the art 
department of Vassar college; and Frances 
Todd, who was graduated from Vassar in the 
class of 1888. 

Mr. Patterson has beeu for several years a 
vestryman of St. Peter's Protestant Episcopal 
church at Westfield. 



TOHN H. TOUSLEY, a descendant of ante- 
^ Revolution fathers, is living in retirement, 
having disposed of his baking and confectionery 
business about three years ago. His parents 
■were William and Charlotte (Haughton) Tous- 
ley, who reared ten children. John H., the 
subject of our sketch, who was born in Madisou 
county, New York, December 28, 1827, is the 
youngest. John Haughton (maternal grand- 
father) came from England to Madisou county, 
but we have not the date of his arrival, except 
that it was some years before the Revolution— 
probably between 1760 and 1765. At the be- 
ginning of the war for independence he was im- 
pressed in Burgoyne's army, but escaj^ed as soon 
as possible and joiued the colonial troops, serv- 
ing with them, sharing the privations and dan- 
gers of the isolated camp-life and a skulking 



Indian enemy until the close of the war, wheu 
lie returned to his plow and followed it. In 
politics a democrat, he was a warm support(;r of 
Jeffersonian principles. William Tousley was 
born in Connecticut and came of old New Eng- 
land stock, but early in life came to Madisou 
county, this State, where he conducted a black- 
smith-shop and followed farming. He married 
and had a family consisting of three sons and 
three daughters : Sarah (now Mrs. Coman) lives 
in Madison county; Hiram, died in JNIadisou 
county in 1890 ; Lucinda (Mrs. Ames Belknap) 
moved to Michigan, where she died ; Edmund 
O., lived eighteen years in Jamestown, but re- 
moved to Madison county, wiiere he now resides; 
Deborah, married Leonard Leland (now dead), 
of Madison county; and John H. 

John H. Tousley received the usual early 
education of a country boy and afterwards took 
an academic course, and upon leaving school 
learned to be a carpenter, which trade he fol- 
lowed until 1855, when be opened a bakery and 
confectionery store. In 1864 he came to James- 
town and continued his business, following it 
uninterruptedly until 1889, when he was suc- 
ceeded in the business by his sous. 

In January, 1855, he married Mary E. Par- 
ker, of Allegany county, New York. Three 
children have blest this union : Charles P., mar- 
ried to Addie Turlow, is conducting the baking 
and confectionery business in Jamestown ; John 
H., Jr., is also engaged in business with his 
brother and lives at home with his father ; and 
Ruth C, a teacher in the Jamestown public 
schools. 

Of a retiring and modest disposition, Mr. 
Tousley, while being a supporter of the Demo- 
cratic party, has never sought ofBce or permitted 
his name to be used as a candidate, and has now 
arrived at an age where he can take a retrospec- 
tive view of life and feel satisfied with his life's 
work. He is a member of Mount Moriah Lodge, 
No. 145, Free and Accepted Masons, and is held 
in high esteem by the fraternity. 




V^,t4^dAXjSU<A^jL^ 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



TSRAEL JAMES, an asjed geutleman and 
-*- respected citizen of Jamestown, was born in 
Cnmington, Berkshire county, Massacliusetts, 
Marcli 13, 1814, and is the son of Moses and 
Polly (Vining) James. The stock were natives 
of that State for at least two generations prior 
to these mentioned, and may have been among 
the first arrivals. Moses James, Sr. (grand- 
father), was a native of Massachusetts, but 
emigrated to Ohio 1812, and inu'chased one 
thousand acres of land, a part of which he 
cleared and began farming. He was married, 
before leaving Massachusetts, to Rebecca Ketts, 
and reared a family of twelve children, one 
dying while an infant. Mr. James was a whig, 
and took an active interest in the political affairs 
of the early republic. Moses James (fiither) 
was a native of Massachusetts, but went to Ohio 
about 1813, where he followed his trade (tan- 
ning) until he died. He was a whig, and a 
member of the Presbyterian church. He was 
twice married : first in 1813, to Polly Vining, 
by whom he had three children (the name of 
but one is remembered, Israel) ; and after her 
death, in 1822, he married for his second wife 
Catherine Williams, who bore him one child, 
Lucretia, who married Henry Wales. 

Israel James has been an energetic and very 
active business man. After receiving the edu- 
cation commonly given in the schools in the 
early half of this century, he was apprenticed 
to and learned blacksmithing, which he followed 
for a number of years, and then began the 
development of the iron industry, which since 
has grown to such magnitude in Ohio. His 
work in this line was done at Cuyahoga Falls, 
Ohio, it being the manufacture of wrought iron. 
"With the acquisition of experience car axles 
were attempted, and the first that were used by 
the New York, Pa. and Ohio R. R., now a divis- 
ion of the Erie railway, was turned out by Mr. 
James, and used in the manufacture of cars by 
a car-building firm doing business at Cleveland, 
Ohio. Mr. James was engaged in the rolling- 
4 



mill business about thirty-five years, and came 
to Jamestown in 1885, and purchased six acres 
of land, wliich at that time was covered with 
woods, and which he cleared and built upon. 

On September 5th, 1835, Mr. James married 
Hannah T. Steele, who bore him two children: 
the eldest died in infancy; and Henry, a travel- 
ing salesman, who resides in Jamestown, and 
married Kate Bush. Mrs. James died in 1847, 
at Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio, and Mr. James mar- 
ried Mary E. Randall, daughter of Elias Ran- 
dall, of Jefferson county, this State, by whom 
he has two children : Laurel E., married to 
Minnie ]']. Piyor, and resides in Ohio ; and 
Minnie L., wife of E. J. Squire, who is em- 
ployed in a shoe factory in Jamestown where 
they reside. 

Politically Mr. .Tames is a republican, and 
has been since eighteen years of age a member 
of the Methodist church, in which he was a 
steward fqr thirty-eight years at Cuyahoga 
Falls, and has also been a trustee. Many years 
ago he joined the Masonic fraternity at the 
above-named place, which membership he still 
retains. 



HOX. ALMON A. VAX DUSEX, judge of 
the courts of Chautauciua county, New 
York, is the eldest .son of Benjamin F. and 
Mehitable (Tjovell) Van Dusen, and was born 
in Jamestown, Chautauqua county, New York, 
Jan. 3rd, 1843. The family of Van Dusen in 
New York, is descended from ancestoi'S w^lio 
were anciently established in Holland, and came 
to New York, then New Netherlands, some time 
during the eaidy part of the seventeenth century. 
They settled at Claverick, in what is now Colum- 
bia county, and in 1720 Abraham Van Dusen, a 
descendant of one of these Van Du.sens, removed 
to Connecticut where he settled at Salisbury. In 
lineal descent from him was John Van Dusen, 
the father of John Van Du.sen, Jr., whose son, 
Benjamin F. Van Dusen, is the father of Judge 
Almon A. Van Du.sen. John A^an Dusen, Jr. 



BIOORAPIIY AND HISTORY 



(grandfather) resided during the latter part of 
his life-time iu ^Michigan where he died about 
1875. He married Mary Forbes, by whom he 
had thirteen children ; Alonzo, Marshall, Harry, 
Elizabeth, BenjaminF.,Mary, Rachel, Charlotte, 
Emily, Theodore, Eliza, Charles, and Edwin, 
who was killed while serving as a soldier in the 
late civil war. The secoud son, Benjamin F. 
Van Dusen (father), was born iu Locke, Cayuga 
county. New York, June 4th, 1817, and learnetl 
the trade of cabinet-maker. In 1841 he 
removed to Jamestown whore he now resides 
and where he was successfully engaged for many 
years in the cabinet-making business. He is a 
member of the Baptist church and a republican 
in politics. He married Mehitable Lovcll. 
Thev are the parents of three children; Judge 
Almon A., Theodore F., a successful business 
man of Jamestown and George C, a w'ell 
known lawyer of the same city. Mrs. Van 
Dusen is a daughter of Jonathan Lovell 
(maternal grandfather), who was born iu Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts and died in Jamestown, 
N. Y. in 1854, at eighty-five years of age. He 
was a democrat in politics and married Mehita- 
ble Knight, who bore liim seven children : Mary, 
Moses, Jonathan, Cyrus, David, Eliza and 
Mehitable. 

Almon A. Van Dusen was reared at James- 
town and received his education in the James- 
town, academy and Chamberlain institute at 
Randolph, Cattaraugus county, this State. 
Having made choice of the legal profession as 
his life vocation he commenced the study of 
law in 1863 with Alexander Sheldon, of James- 
town and completed his course with the firm of 
Alexander and Porter Sheldon, the latter of 
whom afterwards served as a member of Con- 
gress. He was admitted to the bar on Novem- 
ber 19, 1866. Shortly after this he was 
admitted and licensed to practice in the IJjiited 
States District court for the Northern District of 
New York. After admission to the bar he 
opened an office at Mayville and soon obtained 



a respectable clientage which increa.sed in num- 
bers as long as he was in practice at tlie 
Chautauqua county bar and in the United 
States District court. The Democratic party 
made him their nominee several times for 
county Judge but iu the face of an adverse 
majority of from four to five thousand votes, 
his election u|)on each occasion that he ran, was 
an impossibility although he always reduced 
the republican vote. In 1890, Judge Lambert, 
county judge of Chautauqua county, was 
elected as a justice of the Supreme Court of 
New York and for his position as county judge 
many of the ablest lawyers of the bar were 
applicants. Judge Van Dusen was nominated 
by the democratic party of this county as 
their candidate for county judge iu October, 
1890, to succeed him, and although the coun- 
ty has a republican majority of from 4,000 
to 6,000, he was elected over Jerome B. Fisher, 
republican, by a plurality of 899, for the 
term of six years. 

In February, 1871, he united in marriage 
with Juliet E. Merchant, daughter of William 
G. Merchant, of Boone, Iowa. They have one 
child living, a son : Vernon, who is eighteen 
years of age. 

During the short time Judge Van Dusen has 
been on the bench, he has discharged the many 
important duties of his responsible position in a 
manner that has been acceptable to the members 
of the bar and the general public. He has pre- 
sided over the few courts which lie has held with 
ability, impartiality and faithfulness. As a 
lawyer he has met with good success in both 
the county and the supreme court of the State, 
and at the present time is a retained attorney 
for the W^esteru New York and Pennsylvania 
Railroad company. He takes an active interest 
in educational matters and has served for .several 
years as president of the Sherman and Mayville 
Boards of Education. Socially Judge Van 
Dusen is affable and approachable alike to high 
or low, yet reserved and dignified when the 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTY. 



occasion requires. He has been a democrat in 
politics since 1876. In addition to his profes- 
sion and work in educational matters, he has 
taken a deep interest in the history of the State 
and is a member of the ancient and well known 
Holland Historical Society of New York. 



SIDXKY M. HOSIER, treasurer of Chau- 
tauqua county and a wounded veteran of 
the late civil war, is a son of Isaac and Arvilla 
(Rogers) Hosier, and was born near Blocksville, 
ill the town of Harmony, Chautauqua county, 
New York, October 21, 1843. His maternal 
grandfather, Elisha Rogers, moved to near 
Garrett, De Kalb county, Ind., where lie fol- 
lowed farming until his death. He mar- 
ried and had four children, one son and three 
daughters: Harris, who is engaged in farm- 
ing near Garrett; Arvilla, Sophia and Orrilla. 
Isaac Hosier (father) was born October 13, 1810, 
and died at Boomertowu, this county, April, 1 884, 
aged seventy-four years and six months. He 
was a carpenter and joiner by trade, a repub- 
lican in politics and a member of tiie Methodist 
Episcopal church. His wife was Arvilla Rogers, 
daughter of Elisha Rogers, and to their union 
were born three sons and two daughters : Effie, 
who died in infancy ; Elisha, who was one of 
the first of New York's sons to respond to 
President Liucoln's call for troops in 1801, en- 
listed in Co. B, 72nd regiment New York Vols., 
and was killed in the early part of the Penin- 
sular campaign, at the battle of Williamsburg ; 
Sidney M. ; AValter E., engaged in farming in 
the town of Portland ; and Ada A., wife of M. 
D. Carpenter, of Boomertown. 

Sidney M. Hosier passed his boyhood days 
in his native village and received a good com- 
mon school education. He then, in order to 
more fully fit himself for some business pursuit 
in life, went to Buffalo and entered Bryant and 
Stratton's Commercial and Business college, of 
that city. He learned telegraphy and book- 
keeping and devoted some time to penmanship. 



In the second year of the late war he enlisted 
(August 2nd, 18G2) in Co. D, 112tli regiment, 
N. Y. Infantry, and served iu the many severe 
marches and numerous hard battles of the Army 
of the Potomac until the siege of Petersburg, 
where on the 29th of September, 1864, he lost 
his right arm by a gun-shot wound. He was 
sent to Hampton Roads hos2)ital, where he re- 
mained for sonie time, and then transferred to 
New York Central Park hospital and from 
there to Buffalo High Street hospital, and was 
honorably discharged from the United States 
service at Buffalo, N. Y., on the eighth day of 
July, 1863. He then returned home and be- 
came a telegraph operator at Randolph, on the 
Atlantic and Great Western railroad, where he 
remained for about six months, and then re- 
signed to have an operation performed on his 
shoulder to remove loose bones. After leaving 
the service of that railway company he was em- 
ployed on several other railroads until about 
1872, when he was appointed agent and tele- 
graph operator at Clymer station, on the West- 
ern New York & Pennsylvania railroad, which 
position he held until the spring of 1886, when 
he resigned on account of health. In the fall 
of 1887 he was elected treasurer of Chautau- 
qua county for a term of three years, which 
expired December 31st, 1890. The only office 
previous to this which he ever held was that of 
collector of the town of Harmony, for the year 
1868. 

June 20, 1871, he married Anise E. Gilmore, 
daughter of James Gilmore, of Portage county, 
Ohio. 

Sidney M. Hosier is a member of Mayville 
Lodge, No. 284, Independeut Order of Odd 
Fellows, of Mayville; Chautauqua Lodge, No. 
3, Aucient Order of United Workmen, at West- 
field, and William Sackett Post, No. 324, Grand 
Army of the Republic, of Westfield. He is a 
republican from principle and has always given 
a full and cordial support to his party. As a 
business man he has financial ability and many 



BIOGEAI'IIY AXD HISTORY 



years of commercial experience. As treasurer 
of this county he has discharged the duties of 
his office with fidelity and intelligence, and as 
a Foldier his military record is one of faitiifid 
and willintr service. 



TllTAJOK KDGAK P. PLTX-V3I, clerk of 
4 the courts and county clerk of Chautau- 

qua county and who was an efficient cavalry 
officer under General Sheridan during the war 
of the " Great Rebellion," is a son of James R. 
and Maria L. (Flagg) Putnam, and was born 
in the town of Stockton, Chautauqua county. 
New York, May 4, 1844. James R. Putnam 
was a member of one of the several Putnam 
fomilies who were early settlers of Chautauqua 
county, and who all seem, without exception, to 
have come from Massachusetts, where, in 1740, 
eighty males were registered as bearing the 
name of Putnam, and of whom two, Israel and 
Rufu.s, were conspicuous American generals in 
the Revolutionary war. James R. Putnam was 
a .son of Gilbert Putnam and was born in the 
town of Stockton in 1821. He \vas a farmer 
by occupation and died in Busti when only 
twenty-six years of age. He was a whig in 
politics and married Maria L. Flagg, by whom 
he had one child, the suljjoct of this sketch. 
Mrs. Maria L. (Flagg) Putnam is a daughter of 
Eleazer Flagg (maternal grandfather), M'ho was 
a native of Rutland, Vermont, where he was a 
prominent politician for many years and served 
as sheriff of his county. He removed with his 
family to Chautauqua county, where he settled 
in the town of Stockton. 

Edgar P. Putnam attended the common 
schools until lie was seventeen years of age, 
when he entered the Union army. He enlisted 
on September 11, 18G1, as a private in Co. D, 
9th New York cavalry, and served as such un- 
til 1862, when he was promoted corporal. In 
the same year he became sergeant, and in 1864 
was commissioned first lieutenant of his com- 
pany. In April, 1865, he was promoted to a 



captaincy and commissioned as captain of Co. I 
of his regiment. He was breveted major when 
mustered out on July 17, 1865, as his commis- 
sion states, " for gallant and meritorious ser- 
vices." He participated in the battles of York- 
town, Second Bull Run, Autietam, Fredericks- 
burg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, and was 
with McClellan on the Peninsula. He was on 
detached service and carried important dispatches 
at Chancellorsville and Gettysburg for Generals 
Geary, Slocum and Meade, also in the battles 
of Mine Run and Brandy Station. He partici- 
pated in the terrible battles of the Wilderne.ss, 
Spottsylvania Court-house and Cold Harbor. 
After the last named battle his regiment was 
ordered back to Washington for the protection of 
that city, but was soon after transferred to the 
Shenandoah Vallej' and rendered Slieridan valu- 
able service in the great battles of Winchester, 
Fi.sher's Hill and Cedar Creek. Capt. Putnam 
led his company in Siieridan's raids round Rich- 
mond and in the closing .scene of the war at 
Appomattox Court-house. During his entire 
term of service Major Putnam's regiment was 
in one hundred and fifty -six skirmishes and battles 
in which he was alwa\'s present for duty. He 
was twice wounded in battle, first at Travillion 
Station and second at Five Forks, Va. After 
the close of the war he was appointed as a deputy 
United States surveyor, and had charge until 
1875 of government surveys in Minnesota, 
where his headquarters were at Minneapolis. 
From 1875 to 1888 he was engaged in the book 
and drug business in Jamestown as a member of 
the firm of Henderson & Putnam. In 1884 he 
was appointed postmaster of Jamestown by 
President Arthur. In 1888 he was cho.sen 
clerk of the courts and county clerk of Chautau- 
qua county, New York, for a period of three 
j-ears, by a majority of six thousand votes, and 
entered upon the duties of Ids office January 1, 
! 1889, and has ably and honorably fulfilled the 
same until the present time. 

In 1875 he united in marriage with Eppa 




'^ r/)f^^am^ 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Mace, daughter of William Mace, a merchant of 
Jauie^^towii. They have tme child, a daiigliter, 
named Edua P. 

Major Edgar P. Putnam i.s a membei of the 
Jamestown Club, Knights of Honor, Order of 
Maccabees and James M. Brown Post, No. 285, 
Grand Army of the Republic. He is a member 
of Mount ]Moriah Lodge, No. 145, F. and A. 
Masons, and Jamestown Commaudery, No. 61, 
Knights Templar. He is genial and pleasant 
and hospitable, and has always been public- 
spirited and progressive. In politics he is a 
strong republican, but not an extremist, and has 
some of his warmest personal friends in tiie 
Democratic party. He is an attendant of the 
Protestant Episcopal church, of whicii l;is wife 
and daughter are members and communicants. 
Major Putnam is well informed in regard to 
military matters, and especially upon the history 
of the late war, in which lie was an active par- 
ticipant for over four years. His military record 
is one of remarkable interest for the unusually 
large number of (156) skirmishes and battles in 
which he honorably participated with his regi- 
ment, and for the immunity which he seemed to 
possess against bullets on the battle-field aud 
disease in unhealthy camps. Both as a soldier 
and officer he was faithful in the discharge of 
his regular duties and the performance of any 
special work that was assigned to him. 



HON. AVILT^IAM G. MARTIN, special sur- 
rogate of Chautauqua county and a mem- 
ber of the well known law firm of Van Dusen 
& Martin, of Mayville, was born at Witham, 
county Essex, England, September 15, 1848 
and is a son of Rev. Robert and Hester (Beard) 
Martin. The original name of the family was 
Erskinc, tiiey tracing their descent from a 
branch of the ancient Scottish family of that 
name, which descended in an unbroken line 
from a Henry De Erskine who lived in the 
twelfth century. Tiie change of name was the 
result of circumstances connected with the Ja- 



cobite Rebellion of 1715 in Scotland. The 
paternal great-great-grandfather of William G. 
Martin was an Erskine, who was born in 1G88 
aud died in 1730. He joined in the Heljelliou 
of 1715, tlu' ol)ject of wiiicii was to ix'store tlie 
Stuart family to the throne of Great Britain. 
When the army of the Earl of Mar was defeated 
in November of that year, Erskine, with many 
others, fled to France, where he remained in 
exile until 1718, when he returned to >Seotland 
under the assumed name of Myreton, that being 
his mother's family name. He had two sons, 
W^illiani aud George, the latter of whom came 
to New York about 1750 and settled near the 
Hudson river. The former, William Myreton, 
was born in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1720, and 
married Jane jNIorris, a cousin of Robert Morris, 
of revolutionary fame. 

About this time the family changed the spell- 
ing of the name to its present form. William 
Myreton (great-grandfather), commanded the 
coast guard station on the Isle of May, .seven 
miles from the mainland of Scotland. He was 
a .schoolmate of Paul Jones, and once carried 
important despatches to Franklin at Paris, 
which Jones had brought from America. He 
was drowned at sea in 17!((), and left an only 
son, William Martin (grandfather), born in 
1760 and died in 1822. He succeeded his 
lather in command of the Isle of May Station 
and married his cousin, Jane Morris, by whom 
he had seven sons and four daughters. His 
youngest son, Robert Martin (father), was born 
in Fifeshire, Scotland, in 1820. He was edu- 
cated at Edinburgii, went to England where he 
resided for several years, and was an active par- 
ticipant in the Chartist Movement from 1842 
to 1847. He married Hester Beard, born 
LSI 8, who is a daughter of George Beard, Esq., 
late of Coggeshall, Essex, and came to the 
United States in 1854, entered the Baptist min- 
istry and located in western New York. 

He became deeply interested in tlie great anti- 
slavery movement of that day aud [ireached 



HIOGRAPIIY AND HISTORY 



and lectured extensively against the institution 
of African slavery and the curse of human 
bondage. He resided in western New York 
until 1880 when he removed to Michigan, where 
he now resides He has six children — William 
G., Jemima J,, Hester il., Duncan McLaren, 
Jean E. and Mary E.; the last three of whom 
were born in the United States. AV'illiam G. 
Martin received his education in the common 
schools of New York and commenced reading- 
law in the office of Hon. Walter L. Sessions, of 
Panama (now of Jamestown), this State. In 
1882 he came to Mayville when he entered the 
office of A. A. Van Dusen, completed his course 
of reading and was admitted to pi-actice in the 
courts of this State in JNIarch, 1884. January 
1, 1886, he formed his present law partnership 
with A. A. Van Duseu, under the firm-name of 
Van Dusen & Martin. In 1887 he was elected 
special surrogate of Chantauqua county for a 
terra of three years and is serving in that capac- 
ity at the present time. On January 1, 1873, 
he married Frances I.sabel Graves, daughter of 
Henrv M. Graves, of Friendship, New York. 
Mr. Martin is a republican in politics, is a mem- 
ber of Peacock Lodge, No. 696, F. and A. M., 
and Westfield chapter, No. 239, Royal Arch 
Masons. He has been successful in the practice 
of his profession and is discharging very credit- 
ably the duties of his present office. 



TAflLLIAM CHACE, M.T)., a well-known 

-*•''• physician of Mayville, of thirty-two 
years' continuous practice, was born at St. Cath- 
erines, in Lincoln couuty, jiroviuce of Ontario, 
Canada, January 4, 1833, and is a son of Dr. 
William C. and Celinda (Holden) Chace. The 
Chace family was one of the early settled fami- 
lies of New York and in every generation from 
its first settlement in the Empire State to the 
present time it has numbered among its mem- 
bers one or more physicians. Dr. William 
Chace (grandfather) was born in Coventry, 
October, 1754, and became a resident of Wash- 



ington county, this State, where he practiced 
medicine for many years. He served as a phy- 
sician and surgeon in the Continental armies 
during the Revolutionary war and after its 
termination resumed his practice in Washington 
county, where he afterwards died. One of his 
sons was John Chace, who was a lawyer, prac- 
ticed at Mayville for some time and then went 
South. Another son. Dr. William C. Chace 
(father), was born in Easton, Washington 
county, N. Y., August 19, 1795, and came 
about 1814 to this county where he studied 
medicine under Dr. Jedediah Prendergast, of 
Mayville, and attended Geneva Medical college 
from which he was graduated. After gradua- 
tion he went to southern Indiana where he 
remained two years and then went to St. Cath- 
erines, Canada, upon the urgent .solicitation of 
Hon. W. H. Merritt, who married a daughter 
of Dr. Jedediah Prendergast, and who was at 
that time largely interested in various business 
enterprises and quite prominent in Canadian 
political affairs. Mr. Merritt desired Dr. 
Chace's assistance as a partner in the manufac- 
ture of salt on a large scale, but about this time 
salt-brine was found in abundance at Syracuse, 
New York, and its subsequent manufacture into 
salt, with which the market was filled rendered 
the Canadian salt wells unprofitable property. 
Dr. Chace soon withdrew from the company in 
which he was intere.sted and engaged in the gen- 
eral mercantile business which he followed for 
several years. W'hile engaged in salt manufac- 
turing he made the discovery of the medicinal 
properties posses.sed by the water which is left 
after extracting the salt from the salt-brine. Dr. 
Chace was engaged in the mercantile business 
and practice of medicine at St. Catherines until 
1855, when he returned to Mayville, where he 
practiced for some years and where he died in 
1876, at eighty years of age. He was a re]iub- 
lican and a vestryman of the Protestant Epis- 
copal church. He was married three times. His 
first wife was Marv Brundiije, who died and left 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



him one child : James B., now deceased. He 
married for liis second wife Celinda Holden 
and after her death wedded Susan Evans. By 
his second marriage he iiad five children : Wil- 
liam and Mary, Mho died in infancy; Eliza 
(deceased) ; Dr. "William, and John (dead). 
Mrs. Celinda (Holden) ('hace was born August 
30, 1802, and passed away in the spring of 
1834. She was a daughter of William Holden 
(maternal grandfather), who was a native far- 
mer and life-long resident of Tompkins county. 
William Chace received his literary education 
in St. Catherines academy and read medicine 
with his father. He entered the College of 
Physicians and Surgeons, of New York city, 
and was graduated from that institution in the 
class of 1858. Immediately after graduation 
he came to Mayville where he remained eser 
since and has been engaged successfully in the 
practice of his jirofession. August 7, 1801, he 
married Mary L. Green, daughter of William 
Green, of Mayville. They are the parents of 
four children : three of whom are of age and 
graduates of Hobart college, Geneva, IS. Y. ; 
Dr. William H., a resident physician of Buffalo, 
who read medicine with his fother, was gradu- 
ated from Buffalo Medical college in the class 
of 1887, and is the physician in the fourth gen- 
eration of the Chace family of New York ; 
Clarence H., read law with Williams & Potter, 
was admitted to the bar in 1888, married Alice, 
daughter of William P. Taylor, of Buffalo, and 
is a member of the bar of that city ; John O., 
book-keeper for the Buffalo Storage company, 
and George. 

Dr. William Chace is a vestryman in the 
Protestant Episcopal church — the church of his 
forefathers. He is a democrat and a Fellow of 
the New York State Medical Association. He 
has a large and remunerative practice at May- 
ville and the surrounding country. He is in- 
terested, to some extent, in agricultural pursuits 
and owns farms iu the immediate vicinity of the 
county seat. He belongs to an old and worthy 



family, and his Christian name, William, ap- 
pears in each one of its generations since it was 
founded in the Empire State, and in every in- 
stance has been borne by a physician of ability 
and reputable standing. Dr. William Chace is 
a Past Master of Peacock Lodge, No. 696, F. 
and A. M., a Past Muster and High Priest of 
Westfield Chapter, No. 239, H. R. A. M., and 
a member of Dunkirk Commandery, No. 40, 
Knights Templar. 



j^HIT.lP PHILIPS. The fir.st Philip 
Phillijw to live in Chautauqua county 
was born iu MassaclnLsetts, July 29, 1764. In 
1816 he moved to Cassadaga. Five children 
made up his family, and the fourth, an uncle of 
the subject of this sketch, was the second Philip 
Phillips to live in the county. To his eldest 
brother. Sawyer, born in 1791, was given a fam- 
ily of fourteen children, ten of whom lived to 
attain maturity. One of these, the subject of 
this sketch, was born August 13, 1834, and 
has lived to be more famed at home and abroad 
than any man Chautauqua county has given to 
the world. He was the seventh of the family of 
fourteen which bles.sed the humble farm-house 
near Cassadaga, at that time doing duty as the 
Phillips homestead. Whether his infant lungs 
were exercised to any greater degree than those 
of his brothers and sisters is not recorded ; cer- 
tain it is, that at a very tender age his musical 
proclivities asserted themselves. Once the village 
choir — by no means an accomplished body of 
singers — tried a new tune to the words " When 
I can read my title clear." A moment the mel- 
ody went along smoothly enough, then somebody 
struck a false note and somebody else followed, 
and the rout became general. The minister — a 
Rev. Mr. Peckham — had chanced to hear young 
Master Phillips sing the same tune a few days 
before, so he called on him to help the choir out, 
and up stood the future "Singing Pilgrim," 
scarce ten years of age then, and rendered the 
new tune all alone, from beginning to end. In 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



a short time he was a member of tlie choir to 
whose rescue he liad so chivalrously come a few 
years before. When nine years of age he lost 
his mother, but the memory of lier blessed teach- 
ings and tender tiioughtfulness toward her child- 
ren in the midst of manifold household cai-es, has 
remained with him as a benediction in after life. 
As can thousands of others, to whom the memo- 
ries of sainted motherhood have proved peren- 
nial springs of comfort, he can say, 

" Happy he 
With such a mother; faith in womankind 
Beats with his blood, and hope in all things high 
Comes easy to him." 

At about the age of fourteen young Phillips 
was apprenticed to a farmer of the vicinity, a 
Mr. B. W. Grant. The terms of his appren- 
ticeship stipulated that he was to assist in ordi- 
nary farm work as required, in return therefor 
receiving his board, being allowed to attend 
school during the winter months, and when he 
became of age to be " set off" with one hundred 
dollars cash and two suits of clothes. It was 
while serving this apprenticeship to Mr. Grant, 
that Philip Phillips had his first opportunity of 
attending singing school. Here, during the 
winter of 1850, he mastered the rudiments of 
music. The winter of 1851 proved one of the 
most important of his life, for with it came an 
old-fashioned revival of religion in the region, 
and with the revival young Phillips' conversion. 
The light that came into his heart those winter 
months has grown brighter ever since, and more 
than once tiie Singing Pilgrim has proved its 
power when darkness sought to reign over his 
pathway. Too poor to purchase a musical in- 
strument himself, the young apprentice found a 
sympathizing friend in his employer, Mr. Grant, 
who purchased for his use one of the old-fash- 
ioned melodeous then just coming into vogue. 
It proved the fruitful friend of his leisure hours, 
for they were all spent in its companionship, and 
here the "Singing Pilgrim," largely self-taught, 
acquired, or rather developed, that originality 



which is the handmaiden of genius. Noting 
this restlessness under farm duties when his 
heart was really in musical work, Mr., Grant re- 
leased young Phillips from the remainder of his 
apprenticeship, and at the age of nineteen the 
young singer opened his first singing school in 
Allegany, X. Y. This work set the pattern for 
his career, although it was not until some years 
later that all his talents were directed in the 
channel of Gospel singing. Fame soon came to 
him, and in 1858 he responded to an invitation 
to visit Marion, Ohio. It was while here that 
he found one of his music pupils peculiarly in- 
teresting, and on the 27th of September, 18G0, 
he was united in marriage to Olive M. Clark. 
To her loving help and companionship, Mr. 
Phillips owes much of his success; and no sketch 
of his life would be complete which failed to 
mention that other star that through the long 
years 

" has shone so close beside him 
That they make one light together." 

From 18G1 to 186(3 Mr. Phillips was in busi- 
ness in Cincinnati, O., having associated with 
him Messrs. William Summer and John R. 
Wright, t\vo of the most able and respected 
financiers of the west. Here they built up an 
extensive trade in music books and instruments, 
but the large and well-arranged store burned 
down in 18G5. Then the "Singing Pilgrim" gave 
his attention solely to the writing and singing 
of his songs and the sale of his books. Of 
these latter, while the " Musical Leaves," 
" Hallowed Song.s," and " Singing Pilgrim," 
have been most popular, the aggregate of all 
sales, largely in foreign countries, has reached 
over six million copies. 

In January, 18(55, at the great anniversary of 
the United States Christian Commission, held 
in the Congressional chamber at Washington, 
just a few days after its completion, Philip 
Phillips sang " Your Mission." Pre.'^ident 
Lincoln was there; all the cabinet advisers who 
had held up his liands so faithfully during the 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNT!'. 



war ; tlif Chief Justice and Justices of the Su- 
preme Court, senators and representatives, sol- 
diers, sailors, commoners ; these all united to 
make up that vast and brilliant assemblage. 
Never was the power of a single song, rich with 
music-set gems of truth, so demonstrated before ; 
and when at quarter before twelve President 
Lincoln sent to the Hon. William H. Seward, 
chairmau of the meeting, the written request, 
still in Mr. Phillips' possession, " Near the close 
let us have 'Your Mission' repeated by Mr. 
Phillips. Don't say I called for it. Lincoln," 
the great President had only voiced the desire 
of every other auditor, and again the soul- 
stirring words left the singer's lips to seal tlieir 
mission of renewed inspirations and determina- 
tions to more helpful living. When the sad 
shock of the President's assassination followed 
in April of that year, calls came from every 
hand for Mr. Phillips to sing the song which 
had so pleased the martyred President wdiile yet 
he was in the active fulfillment of his mission. 
Since that time, with slight variation, the Sing- 
ing Pilgrim's life has been spent in answering 
these calls to sing the story of Jesus and His 
love over every part of the world, lie lias 
trav^eled more than any other man. Ira D. 
Sankey caught his first inspiration from him, 
and through his direct influence became associ- 
ated with Mr. Moody ; he has given over forty- 
five hundred evenings of song, leaving behind 
him a net profit to different churches and chari- 
ties of well-nigh one hundred and fifty thou.sand 
dollars ; he has belted the world, and many 
times traveled throughout Europe; he has 
enjoyed the friendship of such men as Spurgeon, 
Lord Siiaftsbury, Dc Bonar, Beecher, and many 
others of the most noted ecclesiastics and piiil- 
anthropists both sides of the water; and at ti)e 
time of this writing, the fifty-sixth year of his 
age, seems to have lost none of that power antl 
originality iu sacred song which l:as made him 
a master iu his work. The intricacies of clas- 
sical music would never reveal their hidden 



beauties if no hand more skilled or voice of 
larger compass or finer training than Philip 
Phillips' attempted them. Of the two great 
teachers, earlier surroundings limited him to but 
one — that one, fortunately, the greater — and art 
can claim but little honor for the developed gifts 
with which nature was here so lavish. As a 
farm-boy, he heard the brooks, tlie birds, the 
sigiiing winds; and the low purling of the one, 
the lighter strains of the otiier, the sad mono- 
tones of the third — all tiie myriad voices of 
nature w'hieli to many a lower heart than David's 
have only chanted the praises of their Creator, 
were not more spontaneous outpourings than the 
simple, stirring melodies that have come from 
the pen of this " Singing Pilgrim." 

Philip Phillips' residence at " Ft. Hill Villa," 
Fredonia, is a most beautiful one, and it is evi- 
dent from its comfort and cosin&ss that years of 
traveled life have not made its owner in the 
lea.st oblivious to the joys and allurements of 
home life. It was while resident here, in Feb- 
ruary, 1884, that he lost his eldest .son, James 
Clark Phillips, a young man whose musical gifts 
were of the highest, and whose genial character 
made him the favorite of all who knew him. 
He lies buried in Forest Hill cemetery, and on 
the plain headstone are his last w'ords: "Tell 
everybody I die a Ciiristian." His loss was a 
peculiarly severe one to his father, for he had 
been, and would have been, his associate and 
co-worker for many years. His youngest son, 
Philip Phillips, Jr., the fourth of the name to 
live in Chautauqua county, is to enter the min- 
istry of the Methodist Episcopal church. In 
1890 he graduated from the Ohio Wesleyan 
University, the largest western institution under 
the control of that denomination ; and iu the 
spring of 1891 he was married to Mary Semans, 
only daughter of Prof. W. O. Semans, of the 
facultv of his aliii't mater. 



Y8 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



■JOENJAMLN S. DEAK. — As journalism for 
^^ the last quarter of a century has broad- 
ened its scope and elevated its aims, the editors 
of New York have never been found laggards 
in the march of progress, and the press of 
Jamestown has kept fully abreast of the papers 
of any other city in the western part of the 
State. One of tlieir number that is worthy of 
particular mention is The Morning News, Qd\ie.(\ 
by Benjamin S. Dean. He is tlie eldest son 
and second child of Philo N. and Rosella S. 
(Fisher) Dean, and was born at Randolph, Cat- 
taraugus county. New York, May 10, 1860. 
His paternal grandfather, Norman Dean, was a 
resident of Allegany county. New York, where 
he mari'ied and reared a familj' of three sons 
and two daughters. His maternal grandfather, 
Simeon Fisher, w-as a native of Vermont, where 
for many years lie was a very prominent and 
influential citizen and a trusted whig leader. 
At one time he was a candidate for governor of 
the "Green Mountain State," and his delicate 
sense of houoi- was such that he would not vote 
for himself, and thereby lost the governorship, 
as the election i-esulted in a tie between him and 
his opponent, and was thrown into the legisla- 
ture, which decided against him. About 1836 
he moved to Waterborough, this county, but 
afterwards removed to Randolph, in Cattarau- 
gus county, where he died in 1864, aged sixty- 
three years. He was a cabinet-maker by trade, 
a congregationalist in religion, and an old-line 
whig in politics until the agitation of the slavery 
question, when he became a strong and leading 
abolitionist. He was one of the founders of the 
Republican party in the State, and was actively 
advocating its principles at the time of his 
death. He was of English descent, and mar- 
ried a Miss Brookins, who bore him three sons 
and five daughters. Philo N. Dean (father) 
was born at Ceutreville, Allegany county, 
N. Y., in 18.32, and in 1858 removed to Ran- 
dolph, in Cattaraugus county, where he has 
resided ever since. He is a shoemaker by trade, 



and a republican in politics. He married 
Rosella S. Fisher, who was born in 1830. 
Their children are : Emma L., wife of Edward 
May, a banker of Artesian City, South Dakota; 
Benjamin S. ; Odel H., married Martha Turner, 
of Addison, and is a clerk in a dry goods house; 
Daniel W., who is city editor of the Mornimj 
News of Jamestown ; and Louella A., w^ife of 
James Tanner, a lumber dealer of Artesian 
City, S. D. 

Benjamin S. Dean received a common school 
education, which he lias su[)plemented by read- 
ing, observation and self-study. At thirteen 
years of age he began life for himself in Michi- 
gan as a wood .sawyer, which he followed for 
one year. He then (1874) entered the office of 
the Randolph Register, of Randolph, N. Y., 
to learn the jjrintiug business. After three 
years of faithful ^vork on that paper, he went 
to Pennsylvania, where he worked for two 
years on the Emlenton Register. Later he pur- 
chased the Register, and enjoyed a large patron- 
age until one of his correspondents furnished 
an article whose publication incensed the busi- 
ness men of the town. Some si.xty of them in 
a body visited Mr. Dean and demanded the 
correspondent's name, but actuated by that 
sense of honor which lost his grandfather Fisher 
the governorship of Vermont, he declined to 
accede to their request, although he knew his 
denial would result in the downfall of his paper. 
They withdrew their advertisements and used 
their influence so effectively against him that he 
was compelled to suspend publication two weeks 
afterwards. In a short lime he became foreman 
of a New York city Sunday paper, and then 
served as city editor of the Olean Horning 
Herald, and associate editor of the Sunday 
Mirror of the same place. Late in 1882 he 
purchased an interest in the Randolph Register, 
which he edited until 1885. In the latter year 
he came to Jamestown, where he became a part- 
ner in the publication of tlie Morning Nevjs, 
and immediately assumed editorial charge of 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



its columns, which he has retained ever 
since. 

On t!ie 27tli of June, 1883, lie united in 
marriage witli Emil C. Blaisdeli, daughter of 
the late Richard Jsiaisdell, of Gawanda, Catta- 
raugus county, New York. To their union has 
been born one child, a daughter named Blanche B. 

In political aftiiirs Mr. Dean takes an active 
part, and his pen is always wielded vigorously 
in behalf of the principles, the jTosperity and 
the progress of the Ilepul)liean party. His 
paper, the 3Iorning News, is a power in tiie 
cause of Republicanism in Chautauqua countv. 



TEROMK LA DUE, who has been identified 

^ with the business interests of Westfield 
since 1870, is a son of Joshua and Julia Ann 
(Cowles) La Due, and was born in the town of 
Chautauqua, Chautauqua county, New York, 
December 12, 1839. The La Dues of New 
York are of French Huguenot origin, and are 
descended from a La Due family that settled in 
Lower Canada during the last century. Josluia 
La Due was born in Dutchess county in 17I>4, 
and died in the town of Portland in 1865. He 
came to Chautauqua county in 1819, where he 
settled in what is now the town of Sherman, but 
afterwards became a resident of Miua. He was 
a farmer by occupation, served as keeper of a 
government light-house for four years under 
President James K. Polk, and was a supervisor 
and afterwards a justice of the peace in the town 
of Mina. He married Julia Ann Cowles, who 
was a native of Farinington, Connecticut, and 
of New England ancestry. 

Jerome La Due was reared from four years 
of age at Westfield, where he attended the acad- 
emy of that place and tiien (1858) entered the 
law-ofBce of H. C. Kingsbury. After readuig 
for two years he went west, and completed his 
legal studies in the office of his brother, Joshua 
La Due, who was pro.secuting attorney of the 
city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. In 18(37 he was 
admitted to the bar of Milwaukee, at which he 



practiced for three years, at the end of which 
time he went to Winona, Minnesota, where he 
practiced for nearly a year and attended to a 
part of the legal business of the M. & St. P. 
Railroad company, of which his brother had 
charge. In 1870 he returned to Chautauqua 
county, where he established himself at West- 
field in the real estate and insurance business, in 
whieii he has continued successl'ully ever since. 
Under President Cleveland's administration, in 
1885, he was appointed postmaster of Westfield, 
which position he held until 1890. 

In 1867 he united in marriage with Ada 
Wells, daughter of S. V. R. Wells, a resident 
of Westfield. 

He represents two important branches of busi- 
ness which are necessary to the growth and pros- 
perity of any place. Beside handling desirable 
residence and valuable business properties, he 
also has good farm lands for sale and is the rep- 
resentative of the most solid and reliable insur- 
ance companies. 



FREDERICK I.. CRAXSOJf, one of the 
enterprising and bound-to-be successful 
business men of Silver Creek, is a member of 
the firm of Huntley, Cranson & Hammond, 
manufacturers of grain and corn cleaning, and 
buckwheat machinery, at the large establishment 
known as the Monitor Works, which was organ- 
ized by Giles S. Cranson (father) and his son, F. 
L. Cranson, in 1885. He was born in Rome, 
Oneida county. New York, March 16, 1855, 
and is a son of Giles S. and Mary E. (Bligh) 
Cranson. The fact that their guarantee, which 
states that their machinery is unequalled in fin- 
ish, that nothing but the very best material is 
employed in its construction, that none are per- 
mitted to leave their works unless absolutely 
perfect in every detail, is endorsed by commen- 
dation of the best millers from the Hudson 
river to the Rocky mountains and from Lake 
Erie to the Rio Grande, is sufficient proof that 
the firm knows its business and deserves their 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



reputation. Among the useful and indispen- 
sable machinery made at the Monitor Works 
are: The Cransou Scouring, Polishing and Sep- 
arating machine, single and double, with mag- 
netic attachment; the Oat Clipper, the Monitor 
Dustless Receiving Separator, tlie INIonitor 
Dustless Milling Separator, the Monitor Aspi- 
rator, the Monitor Dustless Warehouse and Ele- 
vator Se[)ai-at(»r, the Cranson Coru Scouring, 
Polishing and Separating machine, the Diamond 
Dustless Corn Sheller and Separator, the Cranson 
Buckwheat Scouring, Polishing and Separating 
machine, the Cransou Roller BuckwheatShucker, 
the Monitor Scalping and Receiving Shoe, and 
the Buckwheat Bolt. Giles S. Cranson (father) 
was born in 1821, in Venice, Cayuga county, 
this State, and after residing in several towns, 
came to Silver Creek, a thriving incorporated 
manufacturing village in the town of Hanover. 
In 184G he man-ied Mary E. Bligh, a daughter 
of E. Bligh and a native of Clockville, by 
whom he had five children. On his removal to 
Silver Creek in 1879 he engaged in the mauu- 
facture of buckwheat hullers. In 1885 he and 
his son organized the Monitor Works, and in 
1886 they associated with them W. W. Hunt- 
ley and C. L. Hammond. G. S. Cranson re- 
tired from the firm in 1888. 

Frederick L. Cranson received his education 
in the common schools and afterwards acquired 
the art of telegraphy, and was employed as a 
telegraph operator for seven years. He has full 
charge of the correspondence and advertising 
department, and also directs the movements of 
the octette of indefatigable traveling salesmen. 
It goes without saying, that the productions of 
the firm find a ready market. He is an active 
and influential member of Dunkirk Comman- 
dery, No. 40, Knights Templar, has received the 
thirty-second degree, A. and A. Scottish Rite, and 
is a member of the Order of the Mystic Shrine, 
Ismalia Temple, Buffalo, N. Y. 

Mr. Cranson united in luaii-iage with Eliza- 
beth A. Parkhurst, who was a daughter of 



Wm. ParkhurSt, of Clockville, this State. 
Their union has been blest with one child, a 
daughter, named Ethel D. 



/>EORGE B. DOrOLA.S was born in the 
^^ city of New York, DecendJer 25, 1846, 
and is a son of George and Mary (Barton) 
Douglas. He received his education in the 
])ublic schools of his native city, and now lives 
iu Bnffldo, this state. 



nALPH B. DAY. A man whose life has not 
only been one of usefulness and business 
activity, but of genial, quiet manner and kindly 
deeds, is Ralph B. Day, a prominent and highly- 
respected citizen of the town of Dunkirk. He 
was born on the farm where he now resides, 
one mile from Dunkirk city, in the town of 
Dunkirk (then Pomfret), Chautauqua county, 
New York, March 10, 1831, and is a sou of 
Edmund and Maria (Drake) Day. The Days 
are of Scotch descent, and the founder of the 
American branch of the family came in the 
second ship load of Pilgrims that landed on 
Plymouth Rock to face the unbroken forest 
depths and the many warlike Indian tribes of 
New England. One of his numerous descen- 
dants in western Massachusetts was Edmund 
Day, .Sr., grandfather of Ralph B. Day. He 
was a native and life-long resident of .Spring- 
field, Massachusetts, where his son, Edmund 
Day (father), was born October 29, 1802, and 
remained until he was twenty-four years of age. 
Edmund Day, iu 1826, joined in the steady 
tide of New England emigration that then iiad 
for several years been pushing westward towards 
the Genesee Valle}- and southwestern New York. 
He settled upon the fine farm where the subject 
of this sketch now resides, and devoted all his 
energies for a time to the clearing and improv- 
ing of his land. He erected good farm build- 
ings, and built a saw-mill which was greatly 
needed in his eomniimity in that early day of its 
settlement. He was successful in his fin'ming; 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



operations and lumbering lousiness, wliicli he 
followed many years. He was a prominent 
member of tiie Presbyterian cliurch, was an 
active democrat in local politics, and held sev- 
eral of the most important offices in his town. 
His life was well worthy of imitation. It was 
straightforward, unfaltering and unstained. He 
died April 18, 1873, and rested from his many 
earthly labors when one year past the allotted 
threescore and ten years of man's life. His wife 
was Maria Drake, daughter of Eli Drake, of 
Connecticut. Siie was born February 18, 1800, 
and passed away March 4, 1847. INIr. and Mrs. 
Day were the jjarents of three children : Ralph 
B. ; Mrs. George Gerrans, of Lincoln, Nebraska ; 
and Mrs. B, B. Hill, of Leadville, Colorado. 

Ralph B. Day was reared on the Day home- 
stead, and received his education at Fredonia 
academy. Leaving school, his first employ- 
ment in active life for himself was in the lum- 
bering and farming business, in which he 
engaged with his father. He was successful in 
both those lines of business, and in 1861 pur- 
chased an interest in a wine house at Brocton, 
where he was engaged for eighteen years in the 
manufacture of wine. He then engaged in the 
cultivation of the grape and the manufacture of 
wine on a large scale upon his home farm. He 
also invested in a chemical works at Warren, 
Pennsylvania, besides purchasing a considerable 
body of choice farming lands in Wisconsin. 
Each and every one of these different lines of 
business has received his personal attention and 
careful su2)ervisiou for several years, and to-day, 
as the result of his able management, are in a 
very prosperous condition. The products of 
the chemical works at Warren, Pa., are of first 
class character, and the average annual jn'oduc- 
tion amounts to $25,000 in value. His vine- 
yards are extensive, and are amply provided 
with all modern machinery used in the manu- 
facture of wine. His extensive packing house 
is two stories in height, with a large, dry wine- 
cellar extending under it. His wine is popular 



in the market, and is known as an absolutely 
pure and wholesome article. 

April 17, 1855, he married Prudence J. 
Gates, of Dunkirk, wiio was a daughter of 
Phineas and Eliza A. (iatcs, and died April 25, 
1890, when in the forty-ninth year of her age. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Day were Ixirn two sons: 
Edmund L. and Ralph D., now aged respec- 
tively twenty-one and fourteen years. 

In agricultural matters IMr. Day takes a great 
interest, and his fertile and highly improved 
home tiirm of two hundred and twenty-five 
acres bears witness to his extensive knowledge 
and good taste as a farmer. In politics he is 
pronounced in his democracy, and always active 
in supporting the principles and advocating the 
interests of the party of Jeiferson, Jackson and 
Cleveland. During his long business career, 
and in all his extensive business dealings, Ralph 
B. Day has never failed to meet every financial 
engagement promptly, and has never been 
known to deny an honest and deserving appeal 
in favor of any worthy enterprise calculated to 
benefit his fellow-men or advance the interests of 
his town. He has been for many years a useful 
member of Dunkirk Lodge, No. 767, Free and 
Accepted Masons. 



■j^ETEK K. BKOWNELL, of Jamestown, is 
^^ a sou of Joshua and Elizabetii (Reasoner) 
Brownel], and was born in DutcJiess county. 
New York, April 20, 1806. His father, Joshua 
Brownell, was a native of Long Island, N. Y., 
and was a man of much more than ordinary 
prominence. About 1812 he left Long Island 
and settled at a point near Elmira, this State, 
and engaged in the purchase and sale of cattle 
for the New York and Philadelphia markets. 
He was a large dealer, and bought and sold a 
great many. An active whig, he was an ardent 
supporter of De Witt Clinton when he was a 
candidate, and was probably one of his strongest 
workers. He married Elizabeth Reasoner and 
had nine children. He died near Elmira in 1822 



BIOGRAPHY AM) HISTORY 



Peter K. Browuell received his education in 
the public schools of Jamestown, and when he 
left his paternal home he began life as a laborer, 
Morking by the month until twenty-eight years 
of age, when he bought a farm in the town of 
EUery, upon which he lived until 1870, a total 
of thirty-six years. After this he bought a 
property consisting of three houses aud lots in 
the city of Jamestown, and moving in one of 
them has lived there ever since. Some years 
ago he retired from business and is now enjoy- 
ing the fruits of the labor of his early life. 

On August 31, 1834, P. R. Brownell married 
Rhoda Putnam, who bore him three ciiildren : 
Smith H., whose first wife was Mary Strong, 
and after her death he married Minerva Dunn ; 
Mary Ann, married to John B. Rush, a promi- 
nent farmer living at Jamestown ; and Bessie 
M., w'ife of the well-known Jamestown livery- 
man, John Peregrin. After Mrs. Brownell's 
death Mr. Brownell married for his second wife 
Mrs. Mary Van Dusen. 

In politics he adheres to the tenets of the 
Republican party, and with a kindly disposition 
he has many friends, and is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. 



JOHN J. AIjI>KICH, the leading fm-niture 
dealer of Jamestown and ChaTitauqua 
county, IS a son of George and Maria (Plunger) 
Aldrieh, and was born in the town of Stockton, 
Chautauqua county. New York, November 23, 
1841. His grandfather, Tillotson Aldrieh, 
was a native of Rhode Island, where he was a 
prominent manufacturer of cotton goods for 
many vears. He then removed to Tompkins 
county, this State, and afterwards settled in the 
town of EUery, where he resided, and was a 
farmer until his death. Among his possessions 
was a fine farm on the East side of Lake Chau- 
tauqua. He was a Quaker or Friend in relig- 
ious belief, reared a family of five sons and one 
daughter, and sold his farm to his son William, 
who afterwards became prominent in the poli- 



tics of his town. Another of his sons was 
George Aldrieh, the father of the subject of this 
sketch, and who was born April 1, 1806, in the 
City of Providence, R. I. He removed from 
Rhode Island with his father to Tompkins 
county, and thence to Ellery, this county. He 
is a farmer by occupation, and in politics sup- 
])orts the Republican part}', but was formerly 
an old-line whig. He married Maria Mnnger, 
who died in 1873, aged sixty-nine years, and 
since that time has lived in Jamestown with his 
son, John J. They were the parents of two 
children, who lived to maturity: John J. and 
Orin T., now a resident and commercial travel- 
er of St. Louis, Missouri. Mrs. Aldrieh was a 
daughter of James Muuger (maternal grand- 
father), a farmer and I'esident of Tompkins 
county. 

John J. Aldrieh was reared in the town of 
Ellery where he received his education. When 
fifteen years of age he became a clerk in a gen- 
eral mercantile store in which he served five 
years and then bought out his employer. He 
conducted this store for over four years, and 
during his connection with it for nine years as 
clerk and proprietor he acquired a thorough 
knowledge of merchandising, and laid the foun- 
dations for his future success in business life. 
In connection with his mercantile business he 
purchased butter and eggs for a produce firm 
in New York city, and when he disposed of this 
store in 1866, he came to Jamestown, w^here he 
was engaged for ten years in the dry goods bus- 
iness. At the end of that time, in 1876, he 
was elected county clerk and at the expiration 
of his term was re-elected, being the only clerk 
during the last forty years who was elected for 
a second term. During the last three years of 
the time which he served as county clerk at 
Mayville, he was a member of the Breed Fur- 
niture Manufacturing Company, of Jamestown. 
When his second term of office expired, he soon 
after retired from his association with the Breed 
Furniture Company, returned to Jamestown^ 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTr. 



and, in January, 1887, he established his pres- 
ent furniture estaljiislinient on Main street. 
He is carrying on this business under the firm 
name of John J. Aldrieli, and Iceeps constant- 
ly on hand a full stock comprising all lines of 
furniture from the best down to the cheapest. 
His trade extends to nearly every section of the 
United States east of the Mississippi river. 
His business establishment is conveniently locat- 
ed and well fitted up and arranged for tlie dis- 
play of his different styles of useful and elegant 
furniture. 

In 1860 Mr. Aldrieh married Ijizzie Foster, 
of the town of Linden, Cattaraugus county, 
who died and left one child : Clara M., now the 
wife of Dr. D. R. Redgers, of New York City. 
He married for his second wife Hattie S. Coe, 
of the town of Ellery, who bore him two chil- 
dren : Minnie C, and John D. She died Au- 
gust 2, 1871, and on October 2,3, 1872, he 
united in marriage with Clara I. Breed, daugh- 
ter of Dewitt C. Breed (see his sketch), and of 
the two children born to them, one died in 
infancy ami the other is named Lucy Gene- 
vieve. 

Mr. Aldrieh has always been a repul)liean in 
politics and is now serving his fourth consecu- 
tive term as supervisor of the city of James- 
town, and is chairman of the Board of Super- 
visors of Chautauqua county. He is a member 
of the Jamestown First Baptist Church, James- 
town Lodge, No. 34, Ancient Order of United 
Workmen ; Chautauqua Lodge, No. 46, Knights 
of Honor ; and Chautauqua Council, No. 73, 
Royal Arcanum. He was chairman of the fi- 
nance committee of the Supreme Lodge of the 
Knights of Honor of the United States for 
four years, has been a member of the Supreme 
Council of the Royal Arcanum for one term 
and served as a presiding officer of the Grand 
Council of the Royal Arcanum of the State of 
New York for two terms, as well as being a 
member of tiie New York Grand Lodge of the 
Knights of Honor for several years. He is at 



present President of the Board of Trade of 
the city oC Jamestown, and is prominently 
identified with the growth and prosperity of the 
city. 

e. 

OLOF A. OLSOX, a member of the Chatau- 
qua county bar, is a son of Olof H. Svens- 
son and Joiianna (Anderson) Sven-sson, and was 
born in Skarbolstorp, Kil Parish, Vermland, 
Sweden, December 17, 1851. He attended the 
common schools in Sweden, and, in 1868, emi- 
grated from that country to the United States, 
and located at Jamestown, New York, where 
he read law with Barlow & Green, and, in 1874, 
he entered the All)any (New Y'ork) law school, 
from which he was graduated the next year, 
having studied nearly seven years. He returned 
to Jamestown, intending to practice his profes- 
sion, but clientage coming slowly, he joined the 
ranks of the pedagogues, in order that he might 
add to his income while he established a prac- 
tice. In 1883 he was appointed a notary public 
at Jamestown, and the performance of the duties 
thereby incumbent upon him, together with his 
legal practice, leave him but little time to con- 
duct his private classes in his evening school. 
In 1874 he took the first .step, and a prominent 
part, in the organization of a company whose 
object was to publish a Swedish weekly paper 
in the interests of the Swedish citizens of James- 
town. He was manager of the paper, called 
the People's Voice, from July 1 to December 
31, 1875. The name was afterward changed to 
Our New Home, and the journal is now ranked 
among the prominent Swedish papers published 
in the country, and has a circulation of about 
five thousand. He was, in 1873, one of the 
originators of the scheme to establish a circu- 
lating library among his fellow-countrymen. 
This library, which was established in 1873, 
was much used for a time in Jamestown, and 
has been productive of much good among the 
class whom it was intended to benefit. By 
these philanthropic efforts to advance their edu- 



BIOGRAPHY AXIJ HISTORY 



cational interests, Olof A. Olson has endeared 
himself to the hearts of his countrymen, and 
so thoroughly have they api)reciated his en- 
deavors, that when, in 1878, his health became 
so much impaired that Ids medical advisors 
insisted on a sea voyage as the only means of 
its restoration, the expenses of his trip to Paris, 
which he himself would have been unal)le at 
that time to meet, were defrayed by his Swedish 
friends and admirers, who were well pleased to 
have an opportunity to show how highly they 
valued his labors in their behalf He returned 
much benefited in health, and threw himself 
with zealous interest into the practice of law and 
teaching, and the fickle goddess of fortune has 
opened wide her arms to receive him. His 
abilities are recognized as of a high order, and 
his time is now fully engaged. Mr. Olson 
also ranks high as a violin player. His prac- 
tice in the law consists chiefly of office work. 
An only brother, Johan, is a teacher in Sweden. 
Mr. Olson is a gentleman, and is a recognized 
leader among his countrymen, and is also re- 
spected and honored by the entire population of 
Jamestown, who recognize in him one worthy 
of it. 



THOMAS DAVIS STRONG, M. D., a 
prominent and well-known physician of 
Westfield, was born in the town of Pawlet, 
Eutland county, Vermont, November 22, 1822, 
and is a son of Return and Laura (Davis) 
StronsT. Many New England families have 
taken a justifiable pride in the preservation of 
their genealogies, and among that number is the 
Strong family, which was founded at Northamp- 
ton, Massachusetts, by Elder John Strong, from 
whom Dr. Thomas D. Strong is lineally de- 
scended. Elder John Strong was a member of 
the Plymouth colony, and afterwards removed 
to Northampton, where he reared a respectable 
family. "Within two centuries and a half thirty 
thousand of his descendants have lived in 
various parts of New England and the Union, 



and their names are recorded in a large, two- 
volume history of the " Strong tamily, founded 
by Eider John Strong," which was published 
some ten years ago. It is said to be one of the 
most accurate and carefully kept family records 
that is to be found in the United States. Return 
Strong (father) came in 1851 to Westfield, where 
he was engaged in the mercantile business for 
several years, and died. 

Thomas Davis Strong prepared for college at 
Burr seminary in Manchester, Vermont, then 
under the charge of the celebrated Rev. Joseph 
Wickham, D.D., who is now in the ninety-sixth 
year of his age. He then entered the University 
of Vermont, from which he was graduated in 
1848. Leaving college he read medicine with 
his cousin, Dr. P. H. Strong, of BuffaJo, this 
State, and attended his first course of lectures at 
Castleton medical college, of Vermont, while 
his second and third courses he took at the 
medical department of the University of Buffalo, 
which was then under charge of Prof. Hamilton 
Flint, afterwards of Bellevue, and from which 
he was graduated in 1851 with the degree of 
jNLD. In the same year he came to "Westfield, 
where he has enjoyed a remunerative practice 
ever since. Dr. Strong served as surgeon of the 
Sixty-eighth regiment of New York State troops, 
and made a trip in 1871 to the Rocky Mountains 
and the Pacific slope, in whose development he 
takes a deep interest. 

On Mas- 25, 1852, Dr. Strong married Lucy 
^I. Ainsworth, of Williamstown, Vermont. 

Dr. T. D. Strong has been for twenty-five 
years a member of the boards of trustees of 
Westfield academy and Westfield Union schools. 
He was one of the commissioners for locating 
the western New York asylum for the insane at 
Buffalo. He is a menaber and has served as 
president of the Chautauqua and the Lake Erie 
medical societies. He is an honorary member 
of the California State medical society, was vice- 
president of the New York medical association 
in 1889, and has been for the last twenty-five 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyXY. 



87 



years curator of tlie iiKdical dopartmeiit of tlie 
Uiiivei>itv of Butiiilo. 



TTUGUSTUS HOLSTEIjS", justice of tlie 

-**■ j)eace of Dunkirk, was boru iii tin; uiaiiu- 
facturiug city of Cassel, the cajjital of (lie pro- 
vince of Hesse-Nassau, Prussia, March 4, 1828, 
and was a son of Peter and Elizabeth (Burger) 
Ilolstein. His father, Peter Holstein, was an 
educated military man, who had accumulated a 
snng fortune, married Elizabeth Burger, in 
1800, by whom he had six children, and spent 
seventeen years in the military service of Ger- 
many, being colonel of the Fifth Pru^.siall regi- 
ment under Gen. Blncher at the battle of Wat- 
erloo which practically ended the career of the 
Emperor, Napoleon Bonaparte, of France. The 
battle of Leipsic and the burning of Moscow 
had also seen him an active particii)ant and for 
his gallant conduct he had bestowed upon him 
the gold medal and iron cross, the most honor- 
able and distinguished decorations won by army 
othcers in Germany. In religious matters he 
was a protestant as was also his wife. He died 
at his home in Cassel, in his native country, in 
1858, aged seventy-nine years ; his wife, a na- 
tive of the same place, passing away three years 
previously, at the age of sixty-five years. 

Augustus Holstein was reared in Cassel and 
graduated from the Polytechnic institute there. 
He spent a year in traveling over Europe, and 
in 1847 came to America, landing in Quebec but 
left that city in a week on account of the epi- 
demic of cholera and smallpox, which was car- 
rying off hundreds of victims, and by steam 
and rail journeyed until he reached Carbondale, 
Pa., where he remained five years during which 
time he learned the carpentering business. In 
1852 he came to Dunkirk and entered into 
partnership with Joseph P. Rider under the 
firm name of Rider & Holstein, and engaged in 
carpentering and contracting, in which business 
they continued until 18G7 when lie lost his right 
hand in au accident. In the latter year he was 
5 



elected a member of thelioard of education and 
in 187G justice of the peace antl has held the 
last named ollice ever since. In his political 
|irinci])lcs he was a republican and takes an ac- 
tive part in politics. ^Ir. Holstein was a mem- 
ber of the Methodist church and a member of 
Lake Erie lodge. No, 85, A. O. U. W. 

On July 9, 1851, Mr. Holstein united in mar- 
riage with Mary J. Earl, a daughter of Beecher 
Earl, of Carbondale, Pa. To this marriage 
were born six children, four of whom died 
young: James A., who married Julia J. Dra- 
per, has one .son and resides in Dnidvirk; James, 
Auguta, Charles E., George, Charles B., and 
JosejJ) E., wiio died July 15, 1887, at the age 
of twenty-eight years, leaving a widow and 
three children, who now reside in Dunkirk. 
Mrs. Holstein died January 12, 18G5, aged 
thirty-seven years, and her husband, the subject 
of this sketch, followed her to his eternal rest 
February IG, 1891, aged sixty-three years. 



TAflLLlAM A. CRANI>AL,L, a veteran of 
-*'* the rebellion, who has converted his 
sword into a plowshare and resumed the peace- 
ful vocation of his forefathers, is a son of Paul 
and Betsey E. (Scrivens) Crandall, and was 
born, in 1840, at Beach Hill, Chautauqua 
county. New York. His paternal grandparents 
were of Puritan descent, and born in Rhode 
Island, where, except a few years residence in 
Berlin, Ren.s.selaor county, this State, they spent 
their lives. Grandfather Crandall was by occu- 
pation a farmer. Paul Crandall (father) was 
born in Berlin, November 2,1802, and in 1831 
went to Troy, engaged passage for himself and 
family on a canal-boat, and came to Buffalo, 
the journey occupying nine days, it being then 
the only mode of public travel. Now the trip 
is made between the two cities in five hours by 
rail. Fn^m Buffalo they came down to Fre- 
donia, this county, a section which was then 
considered as the far distant west by the people 
of the eastern end of the State, three hundred 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



miles away. Paul Crandall finally settled in 
Stockton, but died at Beach Hill, in Cliautauijua. 
By occupation he was a farmer and in religion 
he was a member of the Baptist church. In 
1823, he married Betsey E. Scrivens, a daugli- 
ter of William Tracy Scrivens, by whom he 
had eight cliiklreii, five sons and three daugh- 
ters. 

William A. Crandall was educated iu the 
common schools, and Jjegan his active life as a 
farmer at Beach Hill. On September 12, 1862, 
he enlisted in Co. H, One Hundred and Twelfth 
Regiment, New York Volunteers ; participated 
in the siege of Suffolk, and several other battles 
and skirmishes, and finally was taken sick and 
sent to the hospital. He was mustered out of 
service at the close of the war, and resumed 
farming. In 1877 he came to Sherman, where 
he has resided ever since, owuing a farm of 
seven acres within the corporation. Politically 
he is independent, in religion he, as well as iiis 
wife, is a member of the Methodist church, and 
is also a member of Sheldon Post, No. 295> 
G. A. R. at Sherman. 

William A. Crandall was married February 
2.3, 18C5, to Mary J. Hunt, a daughter of 
Aaron and Electa (Maxim) Hunt, natives of 
Vermont, who emigrated to Hartfield, this 
county, where the father died. To this union 
have been born six children, four sons and two 
dauiihters. 



YY^- FKANKLIX BUKRITT, who was 

-*^ for many years a prominent business man 
of Fredonia, is a sou of Charles and Orpha 
(Tucker) Burritt, and was born at Fredonia, 
Chautauqua county. New York, February 24, 
1827. Charles Burritt was born iu Connecti- 
cut and came in 1808 to Fredonia, where he 
owned for some years a log shoe shop on a part 
of the site of the Putnam block. Ill health 
caused him to abandon shoemaking and engage 
in the drug business, of which he was the pio- 
neer at Fredonia, where he had a drug store for 



nearly fifty years. He served as a lieuteuant 
in the war of 1812, and was a whig until Fill- 
more's election, after which he became succes- 
sively a "silver gray" and democrat. He was 
an industrious and estimable man and died 
March 9, 1866, when he was approaching the 
close of his eightieth year. He married Orpha 
Tucker, daughter of Major Samuel Tucker, and 
reared a family of two sons and two daughters. 
Captain Samuel Tucker (maternal grandfather) 
was born and reared in Vermont, where he was 
a neighbor of Ethan Allen, and served under 
the latter at the capture of Ticonderoga. He 
was one of the company of Continental soldiers 
which was drawn up into line at the execution 
of Major Andre. 

Franklin Burritt grew to manhood at Fre- 
donia, where he received his education in the 
schools and academy of that place. Leaving 
school he went to New Orleans, Louisiana, where 
he remained three years. He then returned to 
Fredonia and engaged iu the drug business, 
which he followed until 1870, when he retired 
fi-um active business. He read medicine and 
practiced considerably in connection with his 
drug business during his early life. He served 
for several years with Gov. Patterson, of AVest- 
fielil, on the State board of charities and was a 
manager of the Buffalo State hospital for the 
insane, which position he resigned after serving 
four years. 

On May 15th, 1849, he married Ann Norton, 
of the town of Pomfret. They have two daugh- 
ters living : Mrs. F. N. Conn and Mrs. P. B. 
Cary. Mrs. Burritt is a daughter of Elisha and 
Harriet (Lowell) Norton, who came from Ver- 
non, Oneida county, about 1815, and settled two 
miles southwest of Fredonia, where they reared 
a family of two sons and two daughters. Elisha 
Norton was a son of Isa.ie Norton, a native of 
Berkshire, Massachusetts, who was an early .set- 
tler of the town of Pomfret. 

During his active life and es pecially in his 
younger days, Dr. Burritt was an active Demo- 



OF CIIAU2AUQUA COUNTY. 



crat. He was elected sujiervisor of the town ut 
Pomfret in 1870, when the Republican party 
had a majority of two hundred votes in the town. 
He served very creditably in that position for 
four years and continued in the Democratic 
party up to 1884, and then connected himself 
with tlie prohibitionists, whose principles he has 
supported ever since. 



FKANCIS D. ELLIS is the oldest merciiant 
in Forestville, having more than a third 
of a century ago succeeded his father, who had 
been a prominent cabinet-maker and furniture 
dealer in this village for nearly a quarter of a 
century before him. He is a son of Thomas G. 
and Sophia (Dickinson) Ellis, and was born in 
Augusta, Oneida county, iS'ew York, October 
17, 1826. His paternal grandfather, Moses 
Ellis, was from Scotch and English ancestry, 
and several of the family have scored high 
marks on the roll of fame as literary and eccle- 
siastical celebrities. He was a native of Barn- 
stable, in the county of the same name, Mass., 
and settled in Brookfield, Madison county, this 
State, in 1812, where he engaged in cabinet- 
making, an occupation which has been followed 
in his family for over eighty years. He died 
in Wayland, Steuben county, this State, aged 
eighty-two years. Thomas G. Ellis (father) 
was born on Nantucket Island, Nantucket 
county, Mass., in 1803, but his parents moved 
to the mainland during the war of 1812. Nine- 
teen years later (1831) he came to this county, 
located in Forestville, and established himself 
in the cabinet-making business, in wiiich he 
continued until 1855. In religion he was a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, of 
which for forty years he was either a steward 
or trustee, and during many years held both 
oiBces. In politics he was a straight democrat, 
and for sixteen years was justice of the peace, 
also serving four terms as associate judge of 
Chautauqua county. He was a member of 
Hanover Lodge, No. 152, F. and A. M., and 



died January 22, 1882, aged seventy-nine years. 
He married Sopiiia Dickinson in 1826, by whom 
he had two sons and one daughter : Francis D., 
Irvine A. and Mary. Irvine A. went to Cali- 
fornia in 1851, where he was inspcctttr in the 
custom-house of San Francisco, assisted iu sur- 
veying southern California, was clerk of the 
California Senate, quartermaster in the army 
during four years of the civil war and then re- 
turned to the San Francisco custom-house, where 
he was employed until his death in 1866, at the 
age of thirty-three years. Mrs. Ellis was born 
in Fitchburg, Worcester county, Mass., in 1804, 
is the oldest member of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church at Forestville, where she now re- 
sides, and is a cousin of Hon. Daniel S. Dick- 
inson, ex-governor of New York. 

Francis D. Ellis was reared in Forestville, 
acquired his education in the common and select 
schools of that place and learned the trade of a 
cabinet-maker, iu which vocation he has since 
continued, succeeding his father in that and the 
furniture and undertaking business in 1855, and 
supplemental thereto does all kinds of embalm- 
ing, having in all branches of his business a 
well-established and good-paying patronage. 
Politically he is a democrat and in religion is a 
member of the iNIethodist Episcopal church, of 
which he has been a trustee for twenty years. 
He has been treasurer of tlie Equitable Aid 
Union since 1881. 

Francis D. Ellis was married .March 9, 184!», 
to Abi Phillips, of Forestville, by whom he 
had three daughters: Mary N. Harriet P. and 
Jennie L., all living. Mrs. Ellis died in 1865, 
and on Sei>tember 3d, 1867, Mr. Ellis married 
Jennie Hall, of r>roctou, Chautaucpia county, 
N. Y'. 



Q-HEK^IAN U. NEWTOX, one of the earn- 
^^ est young business men of this section, 
who is bound to make an indelible mark as a 
successful and honorable man, is a son of Har- 
rison and Janette (Marsh) Newton, and was 



90 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



born in Irving, Cliautanqua county, New York, 
July 17, 1867. Miio Newton (grandfatlier) 
was also a native of Irving, was by occupation 
a farmer and died in 188G, in the village where 
he was born, aged seventy-two years. In re- 
ligion he was a member of the Methodist church, 
and in politics was a republican. Harrison 
Newton (father) was also born in Irving, in 
1841, and has been a resident of Buffalo, Erie 
county, since 1 870. He is a passenger conductor 
on the L. S. M. S. R. R., which position he | 
lias held for thirty-three years, running between ; 
Buffalo, and Cleveland, Ohio. In politics he is 
a stanch republican, is a member of Silver lodge. 
No. 757, F. and A. M., of Silver Creek, lodge 
No. 9, A. O. U. W., of Buffalo, and of the 
Conductor's Life Insurance Company. In 1863 
he married Janette Marsh, who was born in 
Irving in 184.3, and by her had two children. 

Sherman U. Newton was reared in Buffalo, 
this State, and was graduated from the high school 
at that place at the age of fourteen, after which 
he took a thorough business course in Bryant & 
Stratton college of that city. In June, 1883, 
he came to Silver Creek to assume the position 
of assistant cashier in the Excelsior bank, where 
he discharged the duties of that office so satis- 
factorily that on November 18, 1890, he was 
appointed cashier to fill the vacancy caused by 
the death of his cousin, Dana C. Swift, who had 
held that position several years. In politics he 
is independent, is a charter member and Sr. Kt. 
Fin Kr., of Chau. Tent, No. 95 Knights of 
the Maccabees, and also a charter member of 
Huntley Hose and Fire Co., No. 1. 

Sherman U. Newton was married October 21, 
1890, to Minnie C. Barnes, a daughter of 
Charles Barnes, of Silver Creek, N. Y. 



COIiONEL, KUFUS HAYWOOI>. A man 
well-known for his active and upright 
life, and also by reason of his services rendered 
to the Union cause during the late civil war, 
was Col. Rufus Haywood, of Fredouia, who 



has been identified during the last half century 
with useful and important business interests in 
New Hampshire, jNIassacliusetts, Illinois and 
western New York. He was a son of Benjamin 
and Polly (Sawyer) Haywood, and was born at 
Jaffrey, Cheshire county. New Hampshire, 
March 6, 1820. The territory of the " Granite 
State" as a royal province, was largely settled 
by thrifty and energetic families from the eastern 
part of Massachusetts colony, and among these 
pioneer families was the Haywood family. One 
of its members, who was born in Massachusetts, 
was Benjamin Haywood, Sr., grandfatlier of 
Col. Rufus Haywood. He was a blacksmith by 
trade and served in the Revolutionary war, 
during which he was severely wounded in the 
breast by a musket-ball in one of the jirincipnl 
battles of that great struggle. After the decla- 
ration of peace, he returned to his New Hamp- 
shire home, where he lived a respected citizen 
until his death. His son, Benjamin Haywood 
(the father), was born in 1786, and died in 
February, 1853. He inherited the industry and 
perseverance of his father, and judiciously and 
successfully improved his business opportunities. 
His life was devoted to agricultural pursuits, 
and while confining his field of labor to his own 
county, yet ranked as one of the foremost and 
most substantial farmers of the State. He 
married Polly Sawyer, who was a native of 
New Hampshire and a member of the well- 
known Sawyer family of that State. She passed 
away in 1842, at forty-six years of age. 

Rufus Haywood grew to manhood on the 

farm, received his education at Jaffrey academy, 

and then was engaged for five years in teaching 

in the district schools of New Hampshire. At 

the end of that time lie went to Winchendon, 

Mass., where for over one year he conducted a 

; butcfier shop and livery stable. He thea 

j returned to Jaffrey, purchased property on 

which he built, and embarked in farming and 

I merchandising. After three years he removed 

I to Cambridge, Mass., where, in company with 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTV. 



H. 0. Houghton, lie engaged in publishing law- 
books for one yetir, and then sjjcnt several years 
in the west. ^Vhile in Illinois he kept a liotel 
for one year at Belvidere, and acted as teller for 
two years in a bank of that plaee, during which 
time he lost over seven thotisand dollars by 
speculating in corn. Leaving Belvidcre, he 
purchased a farm near Chicago, and embarked 
in the cattle business. AVith remarkable fore- 
sight he looked forward io a bright future for 
Chicago, saw in its commanding position the 
certainty of its future commercial supremacy as 
one of the great cities of the American continent, 
and invested in that city largely in real estate, 
whicli yielded him handsome returns in his sales 
of the same. In 1855 he settled in Brocton, 
this county, and engaged for several years in the 
stock business. In 18(31 he and his brother, 
Albert Hay wood, and a Mr. Hubbell, formed a 
partnership and purchased several thousand 
horses for the government. In February, 1 8G.3, 
he retired from this partnership to enter the 
Union army as a paymaster, with the rank of 
major. He was stationed at Washington city, 
and afterwards sent to Rochester, this State. 
He paid off the first regiment that was discharged, 
was brevetted colonel by President Joiinson for 
meritorious services, and served until December 
31, 1865. He then returned to Chautauqua 
county, and became a resident of Fredonia, 
where he has resided ever since. From 18G6 
to 187G he was largely engaged in mail contract- 
ing in a dozen different States, and since the 
last-named year has been more or less interested 
in various lines of business. 

In 1866 he was the prime mover in starting 
tiie Fredonia savings bank, of which he was 
chosen president. In 1877 he embarked in the 
oil business at Oil City, Pa., where he did a large 
brokerage business for several years. In the 
oil field his good judgment and clear insight 
into every possible combination rendered him 
successful in many ventures where old and 
experienced operators went down. While his 



star was still in the ascendant, and before age 
could ini]iair his mental powers, he left the 
hazardous ventures of oil and tnrnetl his atten- 
tion to dealing in real estate. He was a Knight 
Templar in Masonry, and always took a deep 
interest in agricultural and educational matters, 
as well as having been active and prominent in 
business affairs. 

On May 6, 1841, Col. Haywood united in 
marriage with Elizabeth Prescott, who was born 
within one-half mile of his New Hampshire 
birthplace. They had three sons, two of whom 
died in infancy, and Edward A., born January 
26, 1861, died February 10, 1881. 

He was hospitable and generous, and no man 
greeted or entertained his friends with warmer 
cordiality. He was intelligent, honest, genial 
and straightforward, of strong force of character, 
of sound judgment, true to every interest in- 
trusted to his care, and a good citizen in the 
true meaning of that term. 

He died in 1S!I1, of valvular heart disease. 



TIITICHAEL, K. McDONOUOH, a wholesale 
4 and retail dealer in coal, wood and stone, 

of Dunkirk, was born in County Clare, Ireland, 
September 25, 1842, and is a son of Michael 
and Mary (Kelley) McDonough. The McDon- 
oughs and Kelleys were old families of County 
Clare, where they had resided for several gene- 
rations. Michael McDouough was born and 
reared in his native county, where he |)asscd his 
life, and died in March, 1849, when but forty- 
two years of age. He was a farmer, a consistent 
member of the Catholic church, and a careful 
and hard-working man. He married Mary 
Kelley, and reared a family of seven sons and 
two daughters. Mrs. McDouough was a Cath- 
olic in religious belief, and in 1853 came to 
Dunkirk, where she passed away in 1869, at 
si.\ty-five years of age. 

Michael K. McDonough. at twelve years of 
age, came from Ireland tn the Uniled States, 
and became a resident of Dunkirk city, in whose 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



public schools he received his education. Leav- 
ing school he was employed for some time as a 
hand ou a farm, and diirini>- the late civil war 
was an cmjjloye in the freight department of 
the Erie railroad, at Dunkirk-, where his daily 
business was to call off all freigiit for shipment 
before it was placed on the cars. In May, 
1865, he established his present wholesale and 
retail coal and wood business, to which he has 
since added sewer pipe, stone, sand, gravel and 
loam. His office and yards are at 130 Railroad 
aveiuie. He is also engaged in contracting on 
public works, and makes a specialty of excava- 
ting and teaming. Mr. McDonough commands 
a good trade at his yards, has been very suc- 
cessful in all of his business enterprises, and 
owns some valuable real estate in Dunkirk, be- 
sides a good farm in Sinclairville. He is a 
member of St. Mary's Roman Catholic church, 
of Dunkirk. He is a democrat in political 
opinion, and has served for nine years as a 
member of the city council, besides holding 
other municipal offices. Since thirteen years of 
age he has made his own way in life, and 
achieved business success by his own efforts. 

On June 3, 1871, he united in marriage with 
Bridget Breen, daughter of Michael Breen, of 
Dunkirk. Tiiey have three children, two sons 
and one daugiiter : Joseph M., George W. and 
Kate A. 



n KTHUK B. OTTAWAY, a resident of 

-**■ Westfield, and ex-district attorney of 
Chautauqua county, is a son of John E. and 
Sarah (Boorman) Ottaway, and was born in the 
town of Mina, Chautauqua county, New York, 
May 8, 1854. His paternal and maternal 
grandfathers, James Ottaway and Benjamin 
Boorman, were among the early settlers in the 
town of Mina. James Ottaway was a native 
of Kent county, England, and in company with 
his brother Horatio, came, iu 1823, to that part 
of tlie town of Clymer, which, in the following 
year, was erected into the town of Mina. He 



was a miller by trade, and ran a mill in Eng- 
land, but after coming to Chautauqua county 
was engaged in farming until his death, which 
occurred in 1870. He came into what is Mina, 
when it had but few settlers, and only seven 
years after its first settlement had been made 
bv Alex. Findley. James Ottaway settled on 
lot fourteen, in the eastern part of the town, 
and reareil a family of nine sons and two 
daughters: James, William, Charles, Edmund, 
Joseph, Henry, Horace, John E., Susan, Ann 
and Horatio. The seventh son, John E. Otta- 
way (father), was born in 1827, and now owns 
the home farm of two hundred and thirty acres, 
which his father purchased in 1823, and lived 
upon until his death. John E. Ottaway has 
always been engaged in farming, and married 
Sarah Boorman, daughter of Benjamin Boor- 
man, who came about 1823 to Chautauqua 
county, and was a farmer by occupation. 

Arthur B. Ottaway spent his boyhood days 
on the farm. I^eaving the public schools, he 
spent one year at Sherman academy, and then 
entered Westfield academy, where he remained 
two years, and from which, at the end of that 
time, he was graduated in 1875. After gradua- 
ting, he entered the office of William Russell as 
a law student, and upon the completion of his 
legal studies was admitted to the bar of the Su- 
preme Court in 1879. 

After his admission to the bar he entered 
upon the active practice of his j)rofession, and 
three years later, in 1882, was elected district 
attorney of Chautauqua county. At the end of 
his term of office, in 1885, he resumed the prac- 
tice of his profession at Westfield, where he has 
remained ever since. He is a republican in 
politics, stands well in his profession, and en- 
joys a good practice. 



JAME8 H. MFNTOX, ex-deputy-sheritf and 
coroner of Chautauqua county, and the 
proprietor of the well-known " Minton House," 
of Westfield, is a son of James and Tlieodosia 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY. 



(Reeves) Minton, and vas born in Auburn, 
Cayuga county, New York, January 3, 181(3. 
He traces his paternal ancestry back to liis 
grandfather, Stephen ]\Iinton, who was, in all 
probability, a native of New Jersey, and whose 
son^ James Clinton (father), was born in 1783. 
James Minton was a stone-mason by trade, and 
assisted in building the old State penitentiary at 
Auburn. He was an excellent mechanic and 
died in 1826, aged forty-three years. He mar- 
ried Theodosia Reeves, wiio was a native of 
Connecticut, and whose father, Israel Reeves, 
the first jailer of the prison at Auburn, served 
in the Revohitionary war, and experienced ail 
the hardshii)s of being a British prisoner of 
war for several months. Their eldest daughter, 
Emily C. (now eighty-two years of age), married 
Lewis Pullman, and three of her sons are : 
George M. Pullman, inventor of the " Pullman 
Palace Car," and Revs. James Minton and Royal 
Henry Pullman, distinguished ministers of the 
Universalist church. Another daughter, Han- 
nah M. Da Lee, resides in Illinois. Mrs. Thcf)- 
dosia Minton survived her husband until 185*), 
when she passed away, in tiie sixty-sixth year of 
her age. 

James H. Minton, at fourteen years of age 
came with his mother to Brocton, this county, 
where he attended school for some time, cut 
cord-wood and assisted his mother in maintain- 
ing her family. At eighteen years of age he 
commenced to work with Lewis Pullman at the 
trade of carpenter and joiner, which he followed 
for ten years. He theu erected a hotel building 
and store-room at Brocton, where he kept hotel 
for twenty years, and was engaged for fourteen 
years of the time in the mercantile business with 
his brother, William L., who was postmaster of 
that village for seven years. During the late 
civil war he served as a revenue assessor, and 
was also dejjuty marshal of VVestfield. He was 
coroner of Cliautauqua county for fifteen years, 
and in 1875 held the inquest on the twenty-two 
dead bodies which were recovered from the rail- 



road disaster at " Prospect," and officiated in the 
same capacity at the inquisition held on the 
I)(idies of the seven ])eople killed by tiie explo- 
sion on Chautauqua lake of the old steamboat 
Cliautavqua. In 1884 he served as deputy- 
sheriff under Sheriff L. T. Harrington. 

In 1836 he married Sarah W. Lake, daughter 
of Nicholas and Eunice (Houghton) Lake, of 
I'^rie county. ]\Ir. and Mrs. Minton are the 
parents of five children : Maria A., William ]j., 
who is in the real estate and hotel business ; 
•lohn C, of Burlington, Iowa; James V., drug- 
gist, of AVestfield, and Waldo L. 

In political affairs he supports the Republican 
party, and in every position of trust and respon- 
sibility which he has ever occupied, he has 
always faithfully ])erformed his duty. He is 
one of the old and well-respected citizens of 
southwestern New York, and his hotel is well 
arranged and specially fitted up for the accom- 
modation, convenieuceand comfort of his numer- 
ous guests. 



TA>rLl.lA:>I FKIES KXmjESS, the origi- 
-*"'- nator and president of the Endress Fuel 
and Building Supply Company, of Jamestown, 
New York, was born at Dansville, Livingston 
county. New York, August 2, 1855, and is the 
only child of Judge Isaac Lewis and Helen 
Elizabeth (Edwards) Eudress. William Fries 
Endress is descended from the German family 
of Endress Im Hof, which was the name given 
in the latter part of the fifteenth century to a 
branch of the Franeonian family of Im Hof, a 
noble family of Swabia, now Bavaria. His 
great-grandfather, John Zacharia Endre.ss, was 
educated at the university of Tubingen (now 
Wiirtemberg), and at Geneva under Voltaire. 
He came to America in 1766, settled in Phila- 
delphia and was an officer in the Continental 
army during the war for Independence, in the 
cour.se of which much of his property was burned 
by the British. His .son, Chri.stiiin Frederi 
Lewis Endress, was educated at the University 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



of Pennsylvania, and became a Lutheran min- 
ister. He had charge, for many years, of the 
Liuherao Church at Lancaster, Pa., then one of 
the largest and wealthiest parishes in the country. 
His son, tlie late Judge Isaac Lewis Endress, 
the father of the subject of the present sketch, 
was born in 1810, educated at Dickinson college, 
Carlisle, Pa., and practiced law, first at Rochester 
and after 1832 at Dansville, New York. He 
was appointed judge of Livingston county by 
Gov. William H. Seward in 1840 ; was a promi- 
nent member of the State Constitutional Con- 
vention of 1868; was .several times a presiden- 
tial elector, and delegate to the national nomi- 
nating conventions, and at the time of his death 
in 1869 was a member of the Republican State 
committee. He was married in 1849 to Helen 
Elizabeth Edwards, whose father was a direct 
descendant of Pierpont Edwards, a brother of 
Jonathan Edwards, the distinguished Puritan 
divine, and whose mother was a Fitzhugh, of 
thewell-known family of Virginia. Theonlvson 
of this marriage was the subject of this sketch. 
William Fries Endress received his earlv 
education at the Dansville seminary, and in 
1872 entered the Pennsylvania military academy 
at Chester, Pa., in preparation for the United 
States naval service. The following year he 
secured his commission as cadet midshipman 
and entered the United States naval academy at 
Annapolis, Md., where he remained until Decem- 
ber, 1876, when continued ill health oblio'cd him 
to resign. For the next year he gave his atten- 
tion almo.st entirel_v to th.e recovery of his health, 
merely occupying a part of his time as instructor 
and commandant of the military battalion at 
Dansville Seminary. In the fall of 1877 he 
entered the sophomore clas;i of Rensselaer Poly- 
technic Institute at Troy, and was graduated in 
June, 1879, with the degree of civil engineer, 
being the foiu-th in the direct line of his family 
ancestry who have been college-bred men. Soon 
after graduating he became a resident of James- 
town and entered the coal business, which he 



rapidly developed into a whole.sale business of 
some magnitude and of which, under the name 
of the Endress Fuel and Building Supply Co)n- 
pany, he is still at the head at the date of this 
writing, 1891. During 1883 he owned and 
managed a b'tuminoiis coal mine at Hilliards, 
Butler county, Pa., and shipped coal to James- 
town, Buffalo and the east. As chairman of 
the railway committee in 1886, he was instru- 
mental in bringing tlie Chautaucpia Lake rail- 
road to Jamestown. In 1887 he organized the 
Jamestown Electric Light and Power Company, 
installed its jilant and managed its affairs for the 
first year of its operations. During 1889 and 
1890 he was located at Havana, Cuba, and was 
engaged in organizing companies and putting 
into operation electric light plants in the prin- 
cipal cities of the " Queeu of the Antilles." 
Returning to Jamestown on January 1, 1891, 
he again took the active management of his 
present extensive and important coal and build- 
ing interests. 

On August 27, 1879, Mr. Endress united in 
marriage with Dora Elizabeth ^Villey, of Ger- 
man and Puritan descent, and a resident of 
Dansville, N. Y., and on July 7, 1880, was 
blessed with a son, named after his father and 
great- grand mother, William FitzHugh Endress. 
By priority of birth this boy became the child 
of the "Class of 1879" of" the R. P. I. In 
recognition of this fact he was presented with 
the class cup, a beautifully chased silver cup, 
lined with gold and emblazoned with devices 
emblematical of the various branchesof eugineei'- 
insr science. 



/^LOF LUXDQUIST, the proprietor of a fine 
^^ clothing and gents' furnishing store at No. 
112 Main street, Jamestown, is a son of Samuel 
and Brita (BL'Hing) Lundquist, and was born in 
Sweden, Ojtobcr 21, 1811. His ])arents wei-e 
also natives of Sweden, and reared a family of 
six sons and three daughters, but none of them 
excepting Olof ever came to America. 



OF CITAVTAUqUA COUNTY. 



Olof Luiulquist received his eduoatioii in tiie 
schools of his native land. While still in the 
mother couutr}- he had learned the hatter's trade 
and upon arriving in the United States settled 
atBoston where he followed this calling, remain- 
ing only one year. After this he went to Illi- 
nois, which at that time was considered pretty 
fur west, and visited various parts, finally com- 
ing back and locating at Jamestown, which he 
considered the most advantageous business open- 
ing he had seen, and commenced the mamifao- 
ture of silk hats. This occupation he continues 
in a lesser degree at present, but is principally 
engaged with his fine store where he now has a 
large patronage from first-class customers. Mr. 
Lundijuist is the owner of valuable real estate 
in the city, No. 211 Preudergast avenue belong- 
ing to him. 

On the 16th of October, ISGS, before emi- 
grating to America, he married Anna C. 
Anderson, and with her made the long journey 
in 1869. Their marriage has been blest with 
eight children, of whom five are living : Ellen 
B., O. Samuel, "A. C'celia, Arvid N. and Rob- 
ert, while those dead arc : John, Joseph and 
Robert. 

In politics Mr. Lundquist adheres to the 
principles of the Republican party, and while 
not a politician, is sufficiently interested in the 
elections to desire the best men obtainable. He 
is a member of the Swedish Mission church 
besides being connected with the Swedish Tem- 
perance and Benevolent Society of Jamestown, 
which have for their purpose the relief of all 
unfortunates of that nationality. 



j^AXIKL, GKISWOLD, president of the 

-*^ Chautauqua County National Bank, and 
a member of the lumbering firm of Griswold & 
Town.send, is a son of Daniel, Sr., and Mary 
(Hills) Griswold, and was born in what was 
then Genesee (now Wyoming) county. New 
York, February 18, 1830. His paternal grand- 
father, Daniel Griswold, was a descendant of 



the Connecticut Griswold family, but lived in 
Washington county, this State, where he dietl 
of small-pox in 1795, while his maternal grand- 
father, Moses Hills, was a native and life-long 
resident of Massachusetts. His father, Daniel 
Griswold, Sr., was born in Washington county, 
September 28, 1788, and went in early life to 
Bennington, Vt., where he was engaged for a 
time in mamifacturing. He then removed to 
Genesee county, this State, and about 1831 or 
1832 came to the town of Poland and settled on 
lot 24, on the Ellington town line. He fol- 
lowed farming and lumbering until his death in 
1854. He was an (_)ld-line whig and held sev- 
eral town offices. In Burlington, Vt., on May 
25, 1815, he married Mary Hills, who was born 
at Upton, Mass., November 25, 1795, and died 
in the town of Poland, September 24, 1844. 
After her death he married a ]\Irs. Bentley. 
By his first wife he had two sons and four 
daughters : ^lary L., Hiram H., Sarah, Fanny, 
Alvira and Daniel. 

Daniel Griswold was fourteen years of age 
when his mother died, and soon after her death 
commenced life for himself. He had obtained 
a good common school education, and working 
for .some time on a farm he engaged in the bus- 
iness of buying up at Jamestown, scythe snaths, 
window-sashes, doors and other manufactured 
articles. He loaded his purchases during the 
winter on " Yankee notion boats," which in the 
spring he ran down the Allegheny and Ohio 
rivers, and by the time of his arrival at Mem- 
phis, Tennessee, had generally dispo-sed of his 
cargoes at the different towns along the rivers. 
He was very successfully engaged in this line of 
business until the late war broke out, when he 
disposed of his last cargo to the Union army. 
He then turned his attention to lumbering, 
which he has followed with his usual good suc- 
cess until the j)resent time. He is now a mem- 
ber of the well-known lumbering firm of Gris- 
wold & Townsend, of Kiantone. He is a re- 
publican in politics, was a supervisor of the 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



town of Poland from 1865 to 1869, was super- 
visor of the town of EUicott for two years 
(1884-1885), and supervisor one year (1886) of 
tiie south side of tlie city of Jamestown, N. Y., 
and is now a member of tiie board of public 
works of Jamestown. In 1881 Mr. Griswold 
became a director of the Chautauqua County 
National Bank, of which he was elected pres- 
ident, May 8, 1890. He succeeded Robert 
Newland, who had served in that capacity for 
many years. He removed from the town of 
Poland in 1871, to Salamanca, Cattaraugus 
county, and two years later came to Jamestown 
where he has resided ever since. 

On November 18, 1868, he married Martha 
Townsend, daughter of the late John Town- 
send, of the town of Carroll. They have two 
children living : Martha Townsend and Harry. 
They had three children who died : Grace, 
Hugh and Daniel T. Mrs. Griswold is a lineal 
descendant of the old Townsend famil}^ of Eng- 
land. Throe mendjers of this family, who were 
brothers, came from Rumney Marsh to New 
England. A descendant of one of the.se broth- 
ers was Rev. Jonathan Townsend (the great- 
great-grandfather of Mrs. Griswold), who was 
pastor of the Congregational ist church at Need- 
ham, Mass., from March 23, 1719, until his 
death September .30, 1762. He was a graduate 
of Harvard college and married Mary, daughter 
of Capt. Gregory Sugars, of Boston, by whom 
he had seven children, one of whom, Samuel, 
was born in Need ham May 15, 1729, and d-ed 
in Tyringham, Mass., September 11,1822. Ho 
was married to Ruth Tolman in 1757. One of 
their eight children was William Townsend 
(grandfather), who was born December II, 
1765, and married Rhoda Hall, by whom he 
had four sons and one daughter. One of their 
sons was John Townsend ('he father of Mrs. 
Griswold), who was born January 28, 179(), 
came to near Kennedy in 1817, and afterwards 
purchased a tiirm in Carroll on which he died 
in 1860. He was a whig and republican, fol- 



lowed farming and lumbering and married 
Adelia Hitchcock, who was born May 4, 1810, 
a member of the old Hitchcock family whieh 
came into tiie county about 1817, by whom he 
had four sons and six daughters. Two of the 
sons died early in life and one of the daughters 
is Mrs. Martha T. Griswold. 



WILLIAM PREKDKKGAST BEMUS, 
M. !>., a descendant of one of the early 
pioneer families of southern Chautauqua county, 
was a successful physician of Jamestown for 
nearly forty years. He was the fifth son and 
seventh child of Lieutenant Charles and Rolopha 
(Boyd) Bemus, and was born at Bemus Point, 
t^hautauqna county, New York, October 4, 1827. 
The Bemus fliraily settled at an early day in 
Saratoga county, at Bemus Heights, which were 
named after the family, and on which Arnold 
and Morgan defeated Burgoyne, and prevented 
the British conquest of New England and New 
York. Dr. Bemus' great-grandfather. Major 
Jotham Bemus, was reared at Bemus Heights 
and served as an officer in the Revolutionary 
war, and died at Pittstowu, Rensselaer county. 
His son, William Bemus, was born at Bemus 
Heights, February 25, 1762, and removed in 
early life to Pittstowu, where, on January 29, 
1782, he married Polly, daughter of William 
Prendergast, Sr. In 1805 he accompanied his 
f;ither-in-law and the families of the latter's 
sons and daughters, twenty-nine persons in all, 
in their removal to Tennessee, and came back 
with them to Chautauqua county, where he 
settled in 1806 at Bemus Point (which was 
named for him), on Lake Chautauqua, in the 
town of Ellery. He died January 2, 1830, 
aged si.xty-eight years, and his wife, who was 
born March 13, 1760, passed away July 11, 
1845, at eighty-five years of age. Their chil- 
dren were: Dr. Daniel, Elizabeth Silsby, Try- 
phena Griffith, William Thomas, Lieutenant 
Charles, Mehitabel Hazeltine and James. Lieu- 
tenant Charies Bemus (father) was born at Pitts- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



town, August 31, 1791, ami died at Beiiuis 
Point, October 10, 18(jl. lie served as a first 
lioutouant in the war of 1812, and was a spec- 
tator at tlie burning of Buffalo. On February 
28, 1811, he married Relepha Boyd, who was 
born July 20, 1790, and died January 2, 1843. 
They were the parents of ten children : James, 
Ellon Smiley, Matthew, Daniel, Jane Copp, 
John, Dr. William P., Mchitabel P. Strong, 
Dr. E. M. and George H., a lawyer. 

William P. Bemus obtained a good high 
school education at Fredonia, and also received 
instruction under private tutors of ability and 
qualification. He then read medicine with Dr. 
Shanahan, of Warren, Pa., attended lectures at 
Oberlin college, and was graduated from the 
Berkshire medical institute, of Springfield, 
Mass. After graduation he opened an office at 
Ashville, New York, but' soon removed to 
Jamestown, where he practiced his profession 
successfully and continuously for forty-two years. 
He held a prominent position in the ranks of 
his profession, was a liberal and sympathetic 
physician and his " free practice " was large, as 
he rendered his services to all who asked them 
of him. He stood high with the people, whose 
confidence he enjoyed to the fullest extent. He 
never went to law during his lifetime to collect 
any account f(jr medical services rendered by 
him. He was an ardent democrat in politics, 
served as president of the Cleveland democratic 
club, and although always active in the interests 
of his party, yet never aspired to, nor would 
accept of, any political office. He was secretary 
of the board of pensions at Jamestown, and a 
member of the Protestant Episcopal church of 
that city, which was organized in 1853. 

In 1855 he married Helen O. Norton, daugh- 
ter of S(jnire Morris Norton, of Ashville, New 
York. They had two children, a son and a 
daughter. The daughter, Helen, is the wife of 
Frederick E. Hatch, who is engaged in the drug 
and book business; and Dr. Morris K, the son, 
was graduated from Rutgers college. New Jersey, 



in 1885, read medicine with his father, and 
entered the <\)llege of Physicians and Surgeons 
of New York city, from which leading medical 
institution he was graduated in 1888. He then 
took a full post-graduate course, after which he 
became a jiartncr with his father, and since the 
death of the latter, in 1890, has continued suc- 
cessfully in the practice of his jH-ofession in 
Janjestown until the present time. Mrs. Bemus 
<lied March 7, 1874. On June 3, 1875, the 
doctor married Sarah E., daughter of Abram C. 
and Sarah M. Prather. Sarah E. Prather was 
born in Venango count}', Pa. 

Dr. William Prendergast Bemus was active 
in his professional labors until his summons 
came to lay down the cares of earthly life. He 
sank to sleep on September 19, 1890, and his 
remains were interred in Lake View cemetery. 



JOHN 13. BENSON, a son of Bernhard and 
Anna C. (Anderson) Benson, was born in 
Gothenbnyg, Sweden, March 4, 1866. His 
paternal grandfather, John Benson, was a native 
of Gottenburg, Sweden, where he was a re- 
spected and prosperous farmer and owner of 
about three hundred and seventy acres of land. 
He also served for a time in the Swedish army. 
His wife was Louise Oman, of Sweden ; they 
had six children, three boys and three girls. 
The maternal grandfather of John B. Benson 
also lived and died in Sweden. Bernhard Ben- 
son (father) was born in Gothenburg, Sweden, 
September 8, 1832 ; he came to America about 
1868, and lived about six months in Fredonia, 
this county, after which he came to Jamestown. 
He v/asa carver and furniture maker in Swed- 
en and also followed that trade here. He is a 
republican in politics, and an active member of 
the Methodist church. His wife was Anna C. 
Anderson, and they are the parents of four chil- 
dren : John B., Anna C, Frederic C. and Jen- 
nie F. Anna married William Peterson, a 
mechanic of Jamestown ; Frederic lives in 
Jamestown ; Jennie is still a child at home. 



BlOGRAniY AND HISTORY 



John B. Benson received liis education in the 
common schools of Jamestown, this county, but 
was oMii^ed to leave school at an early age. 
However, he has since devoted much of his 
time to study and has thus gained a great deal 
of ireneral information. He learned the trade 
of piano tiiiisliing, but when seventeen years of 
age, ho placed himself under the instructions of 
a tutor, preparatory to becoming an actor. At 
the age of nineteen he went on the stage and 
played for four years — first with F. C. Bangs, 
then with Thomas W. Keene, both of whom 
presented plays of the highest order, such as 
"Hamlet," ''Othello," "Richard III," etc., 
in all of which ]\Ir. Benson took heavy parts, 
giving entire satisfaction. When about to re- 
tire from the stage, he appeared at Jamestown 
in the play of " Damon and Pythias," in the 
performance of which he was sustained by Mr. 
Keene's entire company. The play was given 
on three nights before highly appreciative aud- 
iences ; the third performance was by special 
request. Since leaving the profession, Mr. Ben- 
son has devoted very little time to theatrical 
pursuits, but frequently recites on special occa- 
sions or at social gatherings in Jamestown, 
where his ability and merit are fully appreci- 
ated. He left the stage to engage in the manu- 
facture of desks in Jamestown, and still con- 
tinues in that business. He manufactures all 
kinds of otHce desks in the factories on Steel 
street and West First street. Mr. Benson is a 
Republican in j)olitics, also a member of the 
" Knights of Pythias." On June 27, 1889, he 
was married to Ida L. Maplestone, a daughter 
of Page Maplestone, of Shippenville, Pa. 



Q'AjVIUEL KIDDER, of Kiantone, lives 
*^ upon the farm originally bought and 
cleared by his father in 1816, and which has 
never been out of tl:e family. He was born 
where he now lives on October 12, 1825, in 
what was then Carroll, Ciiautauqua county. 
New York, and is a son of Ezbai and Louisa 



(Sherman) Kidder. The Kidders were orig- 
inally from Dudley, Mass., Samuel Kidder 
(grandfather) being born and reared there, and 
afterwards moving into Vermont, where hculied 
in January, 1805. By occupation a farmer, he 
married Zilpha Bacon and became the father of 
four sons and three daughters. Noah Sherman 
(maternal grandfather) was a native of Wards- 
boro, A^eru>ont, and married Laura Hubbard, 
of Brimfield, Massachusetts. Both himself 
and wife died many years ago. Their children 
all came to the " Holland Purchase" " when the 
country was new," as local custom termed it. 
Ezbai Kidder (father) was born in Dudley, 
Ma.ss., in 1787, and was carried to Wardsboro 
in infancy where he spent several busy years 
helping his widowed mother rear a large family. 
He came to this county in 1813, but soon after 
went to Vermont, and again returned to this 
county and settled in Carroll, now Kiantone, in 
1816. He married Louisa Sherman in 1824, 
and had four children, one son and three 
daughters, one daughter (Mrs. Mitchell) now 
residing at Bust! ; two are dead. A carpenter 
by trade, he conducted building in connection 
with his farming, and many of the old frame 
houses and barns of the towns of Carroll and 
Kiantone are .specimens of his skill. The farm 
mentioced at the opening of our sketch was one 
hundred acres of a plot known as the Blowers' 
Lot, having been located by and bought from a 
Mr. Blowers, one of the first settlers of James- 
town. Originally a whig, he afterwards be- 
came a repulilican, and at the first town meet- 
ing held March 6, 1826, was elected commis- 
sioner of highways. In 1838 he was supervis- 
or of Carroll town, and at the formation of 
Kiantone, the election being held February 21, 
1854, he was made the first supervisor of the 
new town. IMr. Kidder was a member of the 
Congregational church at Jamestown, and died 
in 1879, aged ninety-two years and three 
months, Mrs. Kidder passing away November 
14, 1867. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Samuel Kidder was reared on his father's 
farm, and received his education in the schools 
of his neighborhood and Jamestown academy. 
Tlie ring of tlie axe in ihe forest was familiar 
to liis ears and the hooting of the owls at night 
was not unfamiliar. Farming was conducted 
without the help of improved machinery, hay 
being cut with a scythe. Scliools were not con- 
venient, and the boy who got an education 
worked for it. Life on his father's flirm in 
summer was changed for labor and school at- 
tendance in winter, later the Jamestown acad- 
emy opened her fount and he drank knowledge 
from it. Although always a farmer, the time 
spent in securing an education was not lost, for 
the intelligent man is needed in agricultural 
pursuits as well as in the counting-room. ]\Ir. 
Kidder has added to the farm his father owned, 
and to-day is the possessor of three hundred 
acres of as good land as may be found in the 
county, and has at least twelve acres of lots in 
the city of Jamestown. 

On October 17, 1854, he was married to 
Eleanor A. Partridge, a daughter of Joel Part- 
ridge, cf Jamestown, N. Y. To this union 
have been born ten children : Ida, wife of W. 
C. Parker, a hardware merchant residing at 
Little Valley, Cattaraugus county, this State ; 
Wiliard, a farmer of Kiantone, and married to 
Anna Miller ; J. Edward ; died when eigliteen 
years of age ; Henry E., married to Grace 
Sherrod, and resides in Kno.xville, Teun., where 
he follows c:irpentering, building and dealing in 
real estate ; George C, who married Lilian Van 
Duzee, and is a farmer of Kiantone; Dora, 
Samuel P., Mary L. and Fannie E. at home ; 
Jay H. is dead. ^ . 

Samuel Kidder affiliates with tiie democrats, 
but was a whig before the advent of the Repub- 
lican party. He has served the people of Ki- 
antone tiiree terms eacii as supervisor and as- 
sessor, and belongs to the Congregational church 
at Jamestown. 



HAKVEY SIBIMONS, who has been a resi- 
dent of Jamestown for over forty years, 
is a son of Philander and Mary Ann (Waid) 
Simmons, and was born in tiie town of Port- 
land, Chautauqua county. New York, July 11, 
1827. Tiie Simmons, for three generations 
back, are to be traced as residents of Wasliiug- 
tou county, of which Zuriel Simmons, the 
paternal grandfather of Harvey Simmons, was 
a native and life-long resident. He owned a 
large farm, and being of good education and 
well versed in legal matters, was constantly 
employed in conducting civil cases before the 
magistrates. He was a whig in politics and 
married Sallie Hunt, by whom he had five sons 
and four daughters, who grew to manliood and 
womanhood. One of the sons, Philander Sim- 
mons (father), was born in 1797, and died in 
Jamestown in 1862. At an early age he came 
to the town of Portland, in which he purchased 
and cleared out a large farm in a section tliat 
then was in the woods. In 1855 he removed 
to Jamestown where he lived a retired life. He 
was a whig and republican in politics, and a 
member and deacon of the Free Will Baptist 
church. Mr. Simmons died December 13, 1882. 
He married Mary Ann Waid, and tiiey reared a 
family of ten cliiidrcn : Eliza, wife of Frank 
Colt, of Jamestown ; Leauder, who died at 
Ashville, N. Y., in 1888, aged sixty-five years; 
Franklin, a lumber dealer ; Harvey; Clarissa, 
widow of Hugh Mosier, of Brocton ; Martha, 
widow of J. W. Clements, and wife of William 
Cobb, of Jamestown ; Ira, who married Sarah 
E. Wilson, and served in Co. F, 112th N. Y. 
Vols., from August 25, 1862, to June 13, 1865; 
William H., a Union soldier in the late war 
and now a farmer ; Adelbert P. , who also served 
in the Union army, and Adaline, wife of Stephen 
Whitcher, of Mt. Vernon, Illinois. Mrs. 
Simmons was a daughter of Pember Waid who 
was born at Lyuie, in Litchfield county, Con- 
necticut, January 21, 1774, married Anna, 
daughter of Samuel Lord, and died February 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



15, 1852, in Crawford county, Pennsylvania, 
where he had owned and cultivated a farm for 
many years. 

Harvey Sininions received the meagre educa- 
tion of his boyhood days in western New York, 
and commenced life for himself in the business 
of manufacturing scythe snaths and other tool 
handles. In five years he sold out and worked 
for some time with the manufacturing firm of 
Chase & Son. He then purchased seven acres 
of land in Jamestown, which he has continued 
to cultivate and improve until the present time. 
Mr. Simmons is a republican in politics, but has 
never aspired for any office within the gift of 
his fellow-citizens. 

On March 15, 1851, he married Mary Ann 
Southwick, who was born in 1829, and is a 
daughter of Herman Southwick, a native of 
Cayuga county (who married Achesa Wellman), 
reared a family of ten children, came to Busti 
in 1856, and afterwards died at Oil Creek, Pa. 
To Mr. and Mrs. Simmons have been born five 
children : Mary, wife of Allen R. Maubert, a 
shoemaker and dealer in boots and shoes on 
Brooklyn avenue; H. Adelbert ; and Cora, who 
married G. D. Andruss, a photographer, of 
Jamestown, and has one child, Pearl I. Two 
others die<l in childhood. 



COL. THO]>L\S T. CLUNKY, the present 
efficient chief of the Jamestown fire de- 
partment, who rose from a private in the ranks 
of the Federal army to the grade of colonel, 
and who, when the war closed, was in the line 
of promotion to a generalship and the command 
of a brigade, was born in ^lontreal, Canada, 
October 30, 1838, and is a son of Sergeant John 
and Mary (McNickel) Cluney. His grand- 
fathers, Cluncy and McNickel, were natives and 
life-long residents of Great Britain, the former 
of England and the latter of Ireland. His 
father, Sergeant John Cluney, was born in 
England, entered the British army, rose to the 
rank of sergeant, and was stationed with his 



company at Montreal, Canada, during the War 
of 1812. He was afterwards honorably dis- 
charged from the English service, drew a pen- 
sion for over a quarter of a century, and died 
in Toronto, Canada, in 1840. He married 
Mary McNickel and had six children: Col. 
Thomas T., Charles, who is superintendent of a 
coal-wharf at Perth Amboy, N. J. ; three who 
died young, and John, who enlisted in a New 
York regiment, was wounded in the shoulder 
at the battle of Chickahominy and taken prisoner 
by the Confederates, who held him for three 
months. After being exchanged he died in a 
hospital in Piiiladelphia from the effects of his 
wound, which had never been dressed during 
the time that he was a prisoner. 

Thomas T. Cluney was, about 1849, brought 
by George Flint to Jamestown, where he received 
a good practical business education in the schools 
of that place. In 1859 he went to Pennsylvania, 
where he was a successful operator in the oil- 
producing business until the spring of 1861, 
when the life of the nation was menaced by the 
most gigantic rebellion of modern history. He 
immediately raised and equipped, at his own 
expense, a company of one hundred and five 
men at Tidioute, Pa., for the Fifth Excelsior 
regiment of New York volunteers, and for- 
warded them to Staten Island, N. Y. His 
colonel then ordered him to Jamestown to recruit 
more men. He enlisted and forwarded sixty 
men from that place, and had sixty more secured, 
when he received notice that his services were 
not needed any longer and that the command of 
his company had been given to another. This 
base treatment had been brought about by a 
couple of lieutenants in his company. He then 
enlisted as a private on July 5, 1861, in Co. A, 
49th N. Y. vols., took part in all the battles of 
the Army of the Potomac from Yorktown to 
Appomattox Court-house, was wounded slightly 
in five battles V)ut never disabled from duty, and 
was honorably discharged on July 10, 1865. 
He was promoted to second lieutenant on August 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



8, 1861, made first lieutenant November 6, 1861, 
commissioned captain April 14, 1862, and pro- 
moted to major May 16, 1863, for gallant and 
meritorious conduct on the battle-field of Fred- 
ericksburg. In 1864 he received his commission 
as lieutenant-colonel, and on July 10, 1865, he 
was mustered out witii tiie raulv of colonel. 
After the war he took charge of the Johnson 
House at Fredouia, and then went to Mayville, 
where he had ciiarge successively of the Van 
Vaulkenburg, Mayville and Chautauqua liotels. 
From there he came to Jamestown, where he 
opened and run the GifTord house for six years, 
then was a liotel clerk for some time. Ho ne.xt 
opened the Milwaukee bottling works, which he 
sold in 1888, to become proprietor of tiie Wiiitc 
Elephant hotel and restaurant, which hasattained 
wonderful popularity and immense patronage 
under his management. In 1867 Col. Cluney 
connected himself with the fire department of 
Jamestown. He was foreman of Deluge com- 
pany. No. 1, for sixteen years, tiien (1883) was 
elected assistant chief, and in 1884 he was 
appointed chief, and has served as such ever 
since. Under his management the Jamestown 
fire department, comprising seven companies and 
two hundred and twenty-five men, is now 
regarded as one of the best regulated and most 
efficient volunteer services in the State of New 
York. Three years' drilling in the New York 
militia under Captain James M. Brown well 
fitted Qo\. Cluney for his active service iu the 
late war. His company furnished twenty-two 
officers, all of whom, except two or three, were 
killed, or died from effect of wounds or exposiu-e- 

On August 28, 1867, he married Hannah P. 
Benson, daughter of Eev. Henry Benson, a 
Presbyterian minister of Jamestown, who served 
as chaplain of the 49th regiment. New York 
Vols. He was killed near Wilson's Mills, 
August 7, 1883. 

In politics Col. Cluney has always been a 
republican, and is a stanch and liberal supporter 
of his jjarty. He is a member of James M. 



Brown Post, No. 285, Grand Army of the 
Republic, and captain-general of Jamestown 
Coumiandery, No. 1, Knights Templar. 

V^A:nIEL li. OOKSETT, a capitalist and 
^^ real estate owner, who is helping to build 
up this city, (having just completed " De Orsay ," 
a handsome compartment building on west 
Third .street,) is a <ou of Joseph and Abigail 
(Hanks) Dorsett, and was born June 12, 1816, 
in the town of Union, Tolland county, Connec- 
ticut. The name, originally De Orsay, coming 
from the French, shows the grandfather's ex- 
traction, although he was born iu Connecticut, 
where he died. He was a farmer by occupa- 
tion. Joseph Dorsett (father) was born iu 
Connecticut, where he followed farming and 
died. Politically he was independent. He was 
twice married; first, to Abigail Haid<s, who 
bore him two sons and six daughters, and after 
her death he married Mary Hitchcock, who had 
two sons and one daughter. 

Daniel B. Dorsett was educated in the com- 
mon country schools of Connecticut. He began 
life humbly— his first work being peddling. 
In 1838 he was proprietor of a store at East- 
ford, Conn., and in 1849 came to Chautauqua 
count}', locating in Sinclairville, where he man- 
ufactured shoes and cultivated a farm of sixteen 
acres during the ensuing ten years and for nearly 
twenty years thereafter bought butter and 
cheese through the country. In October, 1890, 
Mr. Dorsett came to Jame.stown to reside and 
look after his real estate interests. 

On November 16, 1841, Mr. Dorsett married 
Harriet F. Preston, a daughter of Earl Clapp 
Preston, a native of Windham county. Conn., 
where he resided until 1874, since which time 
and until his death, that occurred at the advanced 
age of 94, he made his home with Mr. Dor.sett 
at Sinclairville. Mr. Preston, in early life, had 
been a farmer and later a school teaciier in 
Connecticut and v/as an active worker in educa- 
tional matters until nearly eighty years old. 



104 



BIOGRAPHY AND IIISTOllY 



having served as superintemlent of scliools in 
liis native State. He was a republican and a 
j)artieiiiariy strong abolitionist. Religiously 
he had strong affinities with the Congregational 
chureh, taking a leading part for nearly eighty 
years, and was familiarly known to his friends 
as Deacon Preston. He married Harriet Fox 
and had four children. Mr. and Mrs. Dorsett 
have four children : Calista, now the wife of 
Edwin Williams, a merchant living in Sinclair- 
ville; Daniel H., who wedded Ellen R. Shep- 
herd, of Iowa, is now living in Chicago. He 
is the inventor of Dorsett's system of electrical 
conduits in use in our principal cities, and is 
vice-])resident and manager of the National 
Subwa}' Co., of Chicago, 111., manufacturers of 
conduits — he has two children — Eae and Leon- 
ard ; Charles W., married Martha Angle, 
of Randolph, N. Y., and now resides at Minne- 
a])olis, Minn., where he is a caterer and con- 
fectioner. The}" have two children : Gretchen 
and Hattie, and three adopted : Karl, Ralph and 
Lucy ; and Minnie F., wife of G. F. Smith, 
INI.D., lives at Sinclairvilleand has two children, 
Charles, and Daniel. 

D. B. Dorsett was originally a whig, but with 
the advent of the Republican party he trans- : 
ferred his allegiance to it and was a strong anti- 
slavery member. While in Connecticut he 
served as deputy -sheriff and was a notary public 
for over twenty years. Both he and his estima- 
ble wife are members of the Congregational 
church. 



TSKAEL, RECORD. The democracy of 
-*- Chautauqua county lost one of its strongest 
adherents when, on the 16th of July, 1887. 
Israel Recoi-d, of Silver Creek, closed his eyes 
in their last sleep and passed over into the un- 
known world. Israel Record descended from a 
line of ancestors who were thoroughly Ameri- 
can in their character and democratic in their 
habits. A hundred years spent in the valleys 
of the Hudson were but the sequel of their earlier 



residence in the colonial settlements, and the 
si.Kty years of life passed in Chautauqua county 
completed to the present generation an unbroken 
citizenship in the new world of almost two cen- 
, turies, during which the brain and muscle of 
this family were devoted to the develojjment 
of the vast and unlimited resources of our 
country. 

Israel Record was a son of Reverend John 
Record, who was a prominent citizen, proprie- 
tor of the village grist-mill and |)astor of the 
Baptist church at Poughkeepsie, N. Y. In the 
old family Bible, the title page of which bears 
the date of 1766, is the quaint and curious, 
though laconic and succinct, eutry : " Between 
the hours of ten and eleven o'clock, Friday, 
October 12, one thousand seven hundred and 
ninety-eight, then was Israel Record l)orn in 
Poughkeepsie." Israel Record passed twenty- 
five years of his early life in eastern New York 
and then married Mary Gardner, in Dutchess 
county. Eight years afterward (1830), with his 
wife and two childreu he followed the course of 
the setting sun until he reached Chautauqua 
county, and soon found a home in the town of 
Sherman. A few years later he moved to Han- 
over town and lived there until he died. His 
marriage resulted in nine childreu, four of 
whom are still living: Mrs. Emily Wood, and 
William Record, of Versailles, Cattaraugus 
county; John G., a lawyer of Forestville; and 
Mrs. N. Babcock, of Silver Creek, at whose 
home he died. 

Israel Record was less than two years of age 
wheu the present century began, and kind nature 
.seeming to realize that a man of that day must 
be possessed of great bodily and mental .strength, 
endowed him with a massive physique and a 
mind and will commensurate. His memory was 
a wonderful store-house of knowledge, and it is 
said that within a few days after Piesident 
Cleveland's inaugural address was published he 
rej)eated it verbatim and remcmberi'd it per- 
fectly until he died. Dates and places, laws 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



107 



and State constitutions, amendnieuts and the 
men who advocated them were as familiar to 
his memory when past eighty years of age as to 
the eve of an ordinary man when looking at the 
printed page of an open book, and when he onoe > 
asserted the correctness of a statement it was 
useless to refer to a book for (•orr(jboi-ative proof 
— he was always found to be correct. i 

His faith in democracy was as strong as the 
most devout Christian's in religion. An ex- 
pression once made, referring to him, said : 
"Counter arguments, however good or impres- 
sive, fall as powerless as raindrops on a granite 
boulder." He endured the twenty-eiglit years 
of republican rule with outspoken condemnation 
and contempt, and probably no man iu the 
countr)' more sinc.erely welcomed, or was made 
so supremely happy by the democratic victory 
of 1884 and the change of administration in 
1885. He was tender towards his family and 
the affection he felt for his wife bordered on 
adoration. Of her he would say : " She knew . 
something," in a tone that indicated that to him i 
all other women were as common clay. He 
died as he had lived, unflinching and unterrified, 
and he went into eternity " like one who wraps i 
the drapery of his couch about him and lies 
down to pleasaut dreams," when he had reached 
the unusual age of eighty-eight years, ten months 

and four days. 

© 

JOI-IK G. RECORD, a strong democrat of 
Forestville, and a member of the Chau- 
tauqua county bar, was born at Smith's Mills, 
in the town of Hanover, Chautauqua county, 
New York, October 2, 1836, and is a son of 
Israel and Mary (Gardner) Record. During 
the last century his ancestors were settled in the 
rich and fertile valley of the Hudson river, 
which has been made famous for all time to 
come by the pen of Washington Irving, the 
prince of American writers. Rev. John 
Record, the paternal grandfather of John G. 
Record, was an active minister pf the Baptist 
6 



church. He I'an 
prominence as we 



grist-mill, and was a man of 
as of useful ui'ss in the com- 
munity in wliifh he resided. His son, Israel 
Record (see his sketcli), the iiithcr of the sub- 
ject of this sketch, was born and reared at 
Pouehkeepsie, and came to the town of Sher- 
man about 1830. He afterwards rt-nioved to 
the town of Hanover, of which he was a resi- 
dent until his death in 1S.S7, at eighty-nine 
years of age. He was a cattle dealer during 
the active })art of his life. His wife was Mary 
Gardner, who was born in Dutchess county, in 
the Hudson river valley, and passed away in 
l.SSO, when in the eighty-fourth year of her 
age. 

John G. Record spent his boyhood days in 
his native county, and received an academical 
education at Middlebury and Wyoming acad- 
emies. Leaving school he read law in 1858 
with Sherman Scott, of Forestville, was ad- 
mitted to the Chautauqua county bar in Decem- 
ber, 1859, and has practiced successfully at 
Forestville ever since, excepting two years when 
he had an office at Silver Creek. 

He was married in 1802, to Mary Farnham, 
of Forestville, who died in March, 1886, and 
left four children. On October 2d, 1887, 
Mr. Record united in marriage with Flora M. 
Haywood, of Versaille.s, New York. To this 
second union have been born two children. 

In addition to his law practice Mr. Record 
gives some little time to the management of his 
farm of one hundred and fifty acres of land, 
which is situated one and one-half miles from 
Forestville. Thirty acres of this land is devot- 
ed to the culture of grapes, and shows this sec- 
tion of the county to be well adapted to the 
cultivation of the vine. In politics Mr. Record 
is a zealous democrat of Jeft'ersonian views, has 
always stood upon the platform of the old-time 
genuine principles of his party, and advocated 
\ honesty and economy in State as well as Na- 
tional affairs. John G. Record has served his 
I town as supervisor, and has several times ac- 



BIOGRAPHY AM) HISTORY 



cepted a nomiuation from liis party in its 
plucl^y, but luipeless fights against the over- 
whehuing republican majority in Chautauqua 
county. 



JOHN W. O'BRIEX had an unexpecte<lly 
hard battle to fight in life, but he fought 
it nobly and won a victory of which any one 
might be justly proud. He was born in county 
Carlow, province of Leinster, Ireland, July 20, 
1842, and is a son of William and Ann (Kelley) 
O'Brien. Plis father, William O'Brien, was a 
*Dative of the same place, a farmer by occupation, 
a member of the Catholic church and died in 
1852, at forty years of age. He married Ann 
Kelley, of county Wicklow, a mining and pas- 
toral district in the province of Leinster, l>y 
whom he had eight children, three sons and 
five daughters : John W. ; James, who died in 
Ireland ; Thos. B., is foreman in a large raanu- 
fiicturing establishment in Erie, Pa.; Ellen, 
wife of James Carroll ; Jane, married Bartholo- 
mew Cavauaugh ; Annie, married to P. C. 
Mulligan; Bridget and ]\Iary, who resides with 
John W. All the daughters reside in Dunkirk. 
Mrs. O'Brien came to America in 1858 and 
located in Dunkirk, where she is now residing 
with her son, John W., in the seventy-fifth 
year of her age. She is also a member of the 
Catholic church. 

John W. O'Brien received a portion of his 
education by a brief attendance in the common 
schools, but it came mainly by studying at home 
in the evenings. Ilis father was in reduced 
circumstances at the time of his death, and John 
W., at the age of thirteen, with his sister Ellen, 
aged eleven, came alone to America in 1855, 
and from New York City to Dunkirk, where 
they expected to meet an uncle, Thomas O'Brien, 
but found he had died. He then went to work 
on a farm, remained there two years and then 
secured a position in the flour and feed house of 
William O'Neil, who was an old friend of the 
O'Briens in Ireland. He continued to clerk for 



Mr. O'Neil until 1879, when he entered into 
partnership with Thomas O'Neil, under the 
firm name of O'Neil & Co., and bought out 
William O'Neil. This firm continued two years, 
when his partner died and he bought his inter- 
est of the heirs, and since then has continued 
the business alone. He carries a large stock of 
all kinds of flour, feed and seeds and enjoys a 
fine paying trade. He has reared and educated 
his brothers and sisters and has also accumu- 
lated a moderate competency. In politics he is 
a democrat and in religion is a member of the 
Catholic church. He enjoys the respect of all 
who know him and is satisfied with his experi- 
ence in his adopted country. 



A^ILBEKT 31. KYKEKT was born in Atti- 

^^ ca, Wyoming county, New York, October 
6, 1840, and is a son of Rev. Gilbert and Sarah 
A. (Nichols) Rykert. His ftither, Rev. Gilbert 
Rykert, was a native of Washington county, 
this State, a minister of the Free-Will Baptist 
church, and in politics a republican. He mar- 
ried Sarah A. Nichols, a native of the towu 
where her son was born, who is a member of 
the Methodist P]piscopal cliurch, and now re- 
sides with her son in Westfield, in the seventy- 
sixth year of her age. They were the parents 
of three children. Rev. Gilbert Rykert died 
in Evans, Erie county, this State, where he had 
lived for .several years, on June 12, 18(34, at the 
age of fifty-three years. 

Gilbert M. Rykert was reared principally in 
Erie and Chautauqua counties, and received a 
common-school education. In July, 1862, he 
enlisted in Co. C, 154th regiment, New York 
Vol.- Infantry, and was honorably discharged in 
February, 1864, on account of a wound re- 
ceived at the battle of Gettysburg, on July 1, 
1863, while he was color-bearer. His comrade, 
also a color-bearer, had been previously shot, and 
]\[r. Rykert had taken his colors in addition to 
his own. He was struck in his right arm by a 
minie-ball, permanently disabling the arm. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



After leaving the army, lie entered the employ 
of tiie L. S. & M. S. R. R. company, where he 
has remained ever since. From 187() to 1887 
he was telegraph operator at AVestfield, and in 
the latter year he was appointed station-agent, 
which position he still retains. He also devot- 
ed some attention to the cultivation of the grape. 
Politically he is a prohibitionist, in his religious 
convictions a Baptist, of which church he is a 
raemher and a trustee, and is a member of Sum- 
mit Lodge, No. 219, F. and A. M.; Chautau- 
qua Lodge, No. 3, A. O. U. W.; Westfield 
Council, No. 81, Royal Arcanum, and William 
Sackett Post, No. 324, G. A. R. He has 
served three years as a trustee of the town of 
AVestfiold. 

November 10, 1868, Gilbert M. Rykert unit- 
ed in marriage with Arietta H., daughter of 
Leonard Smith, of Brocton, this county, and 
their union has been blest with three children : 
Homer S., Charles E. and William C. 

G. M. Rykert is a gallant soldier, an hon- 
est, faithful, conscientious employe, and an up- 
right, iionorabloand respected citizen, ever doing- 
all in his power for the prosperity of the town 
in which he resides. 



TlirVItON AV. PARDEE, a son of James and 

4 Phccbe (Chandler) Pardee, was born 

April 15, 1856 and died at Jamestown, Nov. 
22, 1889. Myron W. Pardee was a grandson 
of Woodley W. Chandler, a native of the Old 
Dominion State where he was l)orn February 
14, 1800, and was one of the earlier of James- 
towui's settlers, arriving here in 1826. Prior 
to this date he lived for a while in Dexterville, 
Chautauqua county, where he married Pluicbe 
Winsor, daughter of Abraham Winsor, by 
whom he had five children. Upon his advent 
here, in partnership with his brother-in law, he 
bought a piece of land near the outlet formerly 
owned by Judge Foote, and built upon it a 
cloth-dressing and carding mill. Its site is now 
covered by a much larger similar establishment. 



At about this season he was also interested in 
lumbering. He afterwards removed to Levant, 
Chautauqua couiity, where he died April 22, 
1854. Chandler street, Jamestown, derives its 
name from this famil)'. Grandfatlier Pardee 
was a native of Connecticut. 

Myron W. Pardee was educated in the James- 
town schools, graduating from the normal de- 
partment in 1876, and from the high school in 
1879. Previous to his graduation, however, 
he had left school several times for the purpose 
of teaching. The first time when only seven- 
teen years of age he was principal of the school* 
at Kennedy, N. Y., for a year and at later 
periods had charge of schools at Falconer, N. 
Y., and at Farraington, Fayette county. Pa. 
Immediately after graduation, in 1879, he reg- 
istered with Hon. Orsell Cook and began the 
study of law. He also, at the same time kept 
books for two Jamestown firms in order to pro- 
cure means with which to go through with his 
studies. He afterwards entered the Albany 
law school, from which he graduated in 1881, 
and settled in Jamestown for the practice of his 
profession. Being bright, active and energetic 
he soon gained a lucrative practice, and at the 
time of his death was one of the leading young 
attorneys of Jamestown. 

On September 19, 1883, he was united in 
marriage to Eudora E. Klock, the accomplished 
daughter of Hiram and Margaret (Quiun) 
Klock. Mrs. Pardee is a musician of recog- 
nized merit. An expert instrumentalist, she 
has also rare natural endowments of voice which 
she has cultivated by thorough courses at Mead- 
ville. Pa., and in New York city under instruc- 
tions from the best artists in the profession. 
She has sung in nearly all the city church 
choirs. 

Politically Mr. Pardee was a republican and 
with his wife was a member of the ilethodist 
church. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Hex. FRANCIS BEATTLB BREWER, 
M.D., a resident of Westfield for over 
thirty years, and au ex-raeniber of Congress, 
who conceived, j^lanned and developed the 
present methods of producing and utilizing pe- 
troleum, one of the great sources of national 
Mealth and i-eveuue, was born at Keeue, New 
Hampshire, October 8, 1820, and is a son of 
Capt. Ebenezer and Julia (Emerson) Brewer. 
Francis Beattie "Brewer is a descendant of Rev- 
olutionary stock, his grandfather, Ebenezer 
Brewer, having held the rank of colonel and 
participated in the struggle of the old Thir- 
teen Colonies, or " sea-shore republics," for in- 
dependence. His father, Ebenezer Brewer, 
was familiar with the trying scenes of Kevolu- 
tionary days and afterwards held a captain's 
commission during the War of 1812, in which 
he served with credit and distinction. He and 
his father were both natives and lifelong resi- 
dents of New Hampshire. 

Francis B. Brewer spent his earlier years at 
Barnet, Vermont, where his father was engaged 
in lumbering and the mercantile business. His 
preparation for college was made at Newbury 
seminary, Vt., and Meriden academy, N. H. 
After graduating from Dartmouth college he 
was engaged in teaching for .several months at 
Barnet and in Peacham academy, Vt., and 
then (1843) commenced the study of medicine 
with Dr. W. G. Nelson. In 1844 he attended 
lectures at Dartmouth Medical college where he 
also studied nine months with the faculty, and 
then completed his medical course with Dr. ^y. 
W. Gerhart, of Philadelphia, Pa. He received 
his degree of M.D. from Dartmouth Medical 
college in 1846, practiced at Barnet until 
December, 1849, and then removed to Plym- 
outh, Mass., where lie remained for two years. 
In 1851 he went to Titusvllle, Pa., where he 
was actively and extensively engaged for ten 
years in lumbering and the general mercantile 
business. He was a member of the firm of 
Brewer, Watson & Co., who owned several 



thousand acres of timbered land along Oil 
creek and its tributaries. On their land, and 
near one of their lumber mills was an old 
Indian well, remarkable for producing oil. 
This oil was extensively u.sed as a medicine, 
and was collected by absorbing the oil from the 
surface of the water with woolen blankets. In 
1852 the idea occurred to Dr. Brewer, of using 
this oil in the lumber mills, both as an illumi- 
nator and a lubricator. The well was then en- 
larged and deepened ; a pump was worked in it 
by wires attached to the machinery of the mill, 
and in this way a large quantity of oil was ob- 
tained. Thus commenced the oil business. 
From this date Dr. Brewer gave his time, 
means and efforts to di.scover the best manner 
of producing and utilizing this valuable pro- 
duct. Although discouraged, but never dis- 
heartened, success finally crowned the enter- 
prise which he ju.stly claims to have conceived, 
planned and developed, and which has proved 
to be one of the great discoveries of the age. 
The oil business which he inaugurated as a 
branch of commerce, has attained gigantic pro- 
portions and has added immensely to the 
wealth of the world. The first oil lease on 
record was made July 4, 1853, between Brew- 
er, Watson & Co., and J. D. Angler, and the 
first oil company, " The Penna. Rock Oil Co.," 
w^as organized in New York City, in 1854, of 
which Dr. Brewer was one of the incorporators 
and directors, and this territory formed the 
basis of the company's oj^erations. 

On July 20, 1848, he married Susan II. 
Rood, daughter of Rev. Prof. Heman Rood, of 
Haverhill, N. H., but formerly of Gihuanton 
Theological .seminary. Dr. and Mrs. Brewer 
have four children: Eben, born May 14, 1849; 
Francis Beattie and Frances Moody (wife of 
W. C. Fitch of BuflPalo,) born October 16, 
1852; and George Emerson, born July 28, 
1861. 

In 1861 Dr. Brewer came to Westfield to re- 
side. He owns a beautiful farm on the shore 




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BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY 



his otlior business enterprises. In 1856 he and 
Stephen M. Clements, with otiiers, were mainly 
instrumental in organizing the Fredonia bank 
which, in 18G5, became the Fredonia National 
bunk, of which Mr. Ablx'y has been president 
since 1882. He was a heavy stockholder and a 
prominent director in the old as well as the mw 
bank, and in their management his good judguieut 
and safe business methods added much to their 
uniform successand general prosperity. The Fre- 
donia National bank has a capital of one hun- 
dred thousand dollars, with average deposits 
of five luuidrcd thousand dollars and a surplus 
of forty thousand dollars. This bank is recog- 
nized as one of the best managed and most reli- 
able banks in the State, and has the reputation 
of having never extended or skipped the time 
of any jjuyment of its dividends. The bank 
has been constantly increasing its volume of 
business under the conservative, safe and reli- 
able management of ^Ir. Abbey, whose business 
relations have brought iiim in contact with and 
.secured for him the good will of the leading 
business men of western New York. The 
directors of this bank stand high as business 
men and financiers, and most of them, like Mr. 
Abbey, are identified with other important in- 
terests of the county. 

He married Elizabeth Chase, who died, and 
then he united in marriage with Mrs. Esther A., 
the daughter of Judge Allen, of Tiowanda, this 
State. To his first union were born three child- 
ren, one of whom, Ella E., is the wife of Hon. 
W. B. Hooker, member of Congress from the 
Thirty-fourth Congressional district of New 
York, whose sketch appears- elsewhere in this 
volume. 

In addition to his farm in the town of Ark- 
wright he owns several valuable tracts of land 
in other parts of the county, and has a well- 
improved farm in Ohio, for which he paid ten 
thousand dollars. At an early age Mr. Abbey 
developed those business habits which became 
the foiuidati(jn of his after success in life. He 



was slow and careful in the beginning of his 
business career, but daily widened out the sphere 
of his operations and eventually became a potent 
factor in the many business enterprises with 
which he is identified to-day. 



nOWLAXO W. GARDNER is a most 
worthy disciple of Ceres, Pomona and 
Flora, and «'as warmly welcomed as a member 
of the Order of Patrons of Husbandry, where 
he found the representatives of these three 
mythological goddesses occupying chairs at the 
head of the hall. Rowland W. Gardner is a 
son of William J. and Sarah (Durfee) Gardner, 
and was born in South Kingston, Rhode Island, 
October 12, 1819. His paternal grandfather, 
Rowland Gardner, was also born in South 
Kingston, Rhode Island, where he owned a 
farm of one hundred acres on which he spent 
his entire life. He was married in 1770 to 
Deborali James, by whom he had five children: 
James, a farmer; John, who moved to New York 
State, settled in Wyoming county, and married 
Wealthy Bentley ; Nicholas, a foreman in a 
factory in Norwich, Conn., who married Betsey 
Hazard : William J., father of Rowland W. ; 
and Rowland, who died at twenty-one years of 
age. Their father died in 1805, while the 
mother jiassed away fifteen years before. Both 
are interred in South Kingston, R. I. The 
maternal grandfather, Joseph Durfee, was born 
in Connecticut in 1775, but after reaching his 
majority he removed to Rhode Island, where he 
bought a farm and i-emained there until 1821, 
when he removed to Wyoming county, N. Y., 
and purchased a farm, having sold his large 
property in Rhode Island. The farm in Wyo- 
ming county he occupied and cultivated until 
his death in 1845. He married twice. His 
first wife was Esther Wood, by whom he had 
six .children, four sons and two daughters: 
William was a laborer; Newell was a farmer in 
Rhode Island, and married Sarah Moore; 
Thomas was a cripple; Sarah was the mother 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



of Rowland W.; Eunice married Francis Hamil- 
ton, of Ireland, who was a Methodist minister; 
Joseph was a farmer in Wyoming county, N. Y., 
and married ]\Iartiia Pollard. The mother of 
these cliildrcn died in 1805, and Joseph Durfee 
married for his second wife Elsie Wilcox, and 
by this union had seven children, four sons and 
three daughters : Benjamin, a flirmer in Wyo- 
ming county, N. Y., married Eliza Sparr ; 
Esther, unmarried ; Eliza, married Noble Fair- 
child, a farmer in Michigan ; Whipple, bachelor 
and farmer; Anthony, also a bachelor and 
farmer ; Mariamne, married Abrani Pickard ; 
and Charles, who died when a young man. 
William J. Gardner, (father) was born in South 
Kingston, R. L, in 1794. He worked on the 
farm with his father until he was twenty-one 
years old, when he leased a farm and cultivated 
it until 1821 ; then he moved to Genesee county 
(now Wyoming), N. Y., and bought a farm of 
fifty acres, partially improved. He remained 
here until 1829, when he removed to Monroe 
county, N. Y., and leased a farm on which he 
lived two years, and then bought a farm of 
twenty-five acres in the corporation of Frcdonia, 
on which he lived until his death in 1863. He 
married Sarah Durfee, a daughter of Joseph 
Durfee, of South Kingston, R. I., by whom he 
had five children, two sons and three daughters : 
Rowland W., Joseph, a hardware merchant and 
seedsman at Fredouia, who married Abigail 
Hewitt, by whom he has had three children ; 
Deborah, unmarried ; Mary and Martha, both 
dead. The mother, Sarah (Durfee) Gardner^ 
died in 1870. 

Rowland W. Gardner acquired his education 
in the common schools of Chautauqua county 
and in the Fi-edonia academy. After leaving 
school he began his life's vocation of raising and 
selling garden > seeds, to which he afterward 
added fruit trees. For two years he raised the 
seeds on leased land, and then with his brother 
Joseph bought a farm of fifty acres in the village 
of Fredouia and continued the business for eight 



years. In 1852 they divided the business and 
each continued to raise on his own farm. He 
raised and papered the seeds until 18()4, when 
he discontinued pa|)ering theiu and lias since 
raised them for the wholesale trade. He is 
widely known as a most reliable seedsman, 
nurseryman and florist. He imports large quan- 
tities of trees and bulbs for his local trade, and 
in the last thirty years has sold over one million 
trees, plants and bulbs of his own importation. 
He has been very successful and accumulated a 
handsome competency. He is a charter mem- 
ber of Fredouia Grange, No. 1 ; a member of 
Chautauqua Lodge, No. 283, I. O. O. F. ; of 
Forest Lodge, No. 1(3(3, F. and A. M. ; of Fre- 
douia Chapter, No. 76, R. A. M. ; and of Dun- 
kirk Council and Dunkirk Commandery, No. 
40, K. T. He was a member of the board of 
trustees and board of assessors of Fredouia sev- 
eral times and is highly respected as a u.seful, 
honorable and upright citizen. 

Rowland W. Gardner was married July 19, 
1863, to Jane Carpenter, daughter of Ezra and 
Minerva (Nichols) Carpenter, her father being 
a farmer in Sheridan, this county, and has one 
daughter, Surah ]M., who resides with her 

parents. 

^ 

JO.SKPH T. IJOUCiHTOX is a sou of Noah 
E. and Polly (Todd) Boughton, and was 
born in Delaware county, New York, July 4, 
1837. His grandfather, Avery Boughton, was 
a native of New York and resided in Greeix,e 
county, wiiere his son, Noah E. Boughton 
(father), was born in 1799. Noah E. Boughton 
was a farmer by occupation, residing in Greene 
and Delaware counties, N. Y., until 1870, when 
he removed to Kansas and jjurchased a large 
farm, on which he lived until his death, which 
occurred January 17, 1890. He was a member 
of the INIetliodist Episcopal church and voted 
the republican ticket. His w-ife, Polly Todd 
Boughton, a daughter of Dudley and Irene 
Todd, was born in Greene county, N. Y., in 



BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY 



1821 and died August 1, 1851, at the age of 
tliirty years. She was a consistent member of 
the Methodist Episcopal churcii. 

Joseph "'r. Boughton was reared on his 
fatlier's farm in Delaware county and attended 
the subscription schools of that period. He 
began life as a fireman in the employ of a rail- 
road, and was afterward promoted to the posi- 
tion of engineer running on the Xew York & 
Lake Erie and the Alton it St. Louis railroads, 
until 1863, when he enlisted in Co. F.,39th reg- 
iment, New York Vols. He served until the 
close of the war. After he was mustered out of 
service, he engaged in farming in Chautauqua 
county, but in 1867, he removed to Butler, 
Missouri, and run a saw-mill for two years, at 
the end of which time he returned to New 
York, locating in Dunkirk township, v^liere he 
has since made his home. In 1869, he entered 
the employ of the Brooks' Locomotive company, 
one of the important industrial companies in 
Dunkirk, and remained with them for fourteen 
years. On account of failing health he was 
compelled to retire from their service in 1883, 
and has since that time lived a retired life. He 
lias a pleasant home in the suburbs of Dunkirk, 
just outside the borough limits. Mr. Bough- 
ton is a member of the ^Methodist Episcopal 
church, and an active democrat. He is a mem- 
ber of the Royal Templars of Temperance and 
is regarded as one of the straightforward, relia- 
ble citizens of the town of Dunkirk. 



QLBERT .S. COBB, a wholesale and retail 
-^*- liquor dealer of Dunkirk, was born in 
.the town of Gorham, Cumberland couuty, 
Maine, June 21, 1815, and is a son of David 
and Sallio (Watson) Cobb. In the latter part 
of the last century three brothers, David, 
Ebenczer and Jonathan Cobb came from Scot- 
laud to this country, where David located in 
Ohio, Ebenezer in New York, and Jonathan in 
Massachusetts. Jonathan Cobb, who was the 
ffrandfatiier of Albert S. Cobl), resided in Mas- 



sachusetts until liis death. His son, David 
Cobb, was born in Barnstable, that State, and 
removed to Gorham, Maine, when that State 
was a part of Massachusetts. He was a tanner 
and currier which trade he left to engage in the 
mercantile business in Gorham and died in 
1837, at the age of sixty-three years. He was 
an old-line whig, served as town collector for 
seven years besides filling other offices, and 
while energetic yet was a modest and unassuming 
man whose generosity and kindness to the poor 
were distinguishing traits of his character. He 
married Sallie Watson, who was a native of 
Gorham, where she died in 1813, when in the 
sixty-fifth year of her age. 

Albert S. Cobb was reared in Gorham where 
he received a common school and academic 
education and where he was engaged in the 
general mercantile business for two years. In 
1840 he went to Great Falls, New Hampshire, 
and was employed for nine years and six months 
in doing all of the painting of the Great Fails 
Cotton Manufacturing company. At the end of 
this time, in 1850, became to Hornellsville, this 
State, and run for one year as a brakesman on 
the Erie railroad from Hornellsville to Cuba. 
In 1851 he was a brakesman on the first train 
that ran into Dunkirk and was afterwards em- 
ployed by the New York & Erie railroad, as a 
brakesman and freight and passenger conductor 
for twenty-one years and ten montiis. As a 
passenger conductor he run for seven years 
from Hornellsville to Dunkirk and for five 
years from Dunkirk to Oswego. From 1864 
to 1868 he was a member of the wholesale and 
retail liquor firm of Cobb & Smith, of Dun- 
kirk, then for two years w-as in that business by 
himself and in 1870 became a member of the 
liquor firm of Cobb & Gifford which lasted two 
years, when Mr. Cobb established his present 
wholesale and retail liquor house. He removed 
to Dunkirk in 1861 and resigned as passenger 
conductor in 1871. He is a democrat, cast his 
first vote for Martin Van Buren and has been a 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY. 



trustee of his city for «ix years. He served as 
a store-keeper in the State Arsenal at Dunkirk 
when John T. Hoffman was governor and in 
18G0 was interested in tiie oil ]n-oducti(>n of 
New York and Pennsylvania. 

In the year 1840, he married Abby G. 
Libby, of the town of Gorhani, Maine, and they 
liave had with them for thirty-five years as a 
domestic Barbara Hiller, a native of Germany. 

A. S. Cobb has in his possession three silver 
dollars which he prizes very highly. " The first 
one is a Spanish milled dollar of 1797, received 
for driving a widow's cow and was the first 
dollar which he ever earned. The next one is a 
Mexican dollar of 1829 and was the first money 
he ever earned after becoming of age, while the 
third one is of the United States issue of 
1844, and was the first dollar which he received 
as a railroad emj)loye. 



SAIIUKL OSBOKXK CODIXGTON, a 
manufacturer and contractor of Fredouia, 
was born at Geneva, Ontario county. New York, 
December 20, 1847, and is the eldest sou of 
John S. and Bertha (Monroe) Codington. He 
was educated at Edinboro State Normal school, 
and is now a member of the firm of Sly ct 
Codington. He is a master mason of Forest 
lodge. No. 166, F. and A. M., and on September 
17, 1878, united in marriage with Mary Stauley, 
of Fredouia. 

His father, John S. Codington, was born at 
Geneva, N. Y., September 12, 1824, is an archi- 
tect and contractor, and has been superiutendeut 
of two divisions of the A. & G. W. R. R., 
married Bertha Monroe April 16, 1846, by 
whom he had six children : Clara (Irviii), 
Samuel O., Acie B., Ada, Theodore and Jolui: 
and removed to Ohio in 1874. John S. Coding- 
ton is a son of Samuel O. Codington (grand- 
father), who was boru at Newbui-g, March 17, 
1791, married Martha White, January 11, 1818, 
and died May 23, 1844. He was the contractor 
who built the first frame building at Geneva ; 



was a Free Mason and his father, William 
Codington (great-grandfather), was a sea-captain 
who died many years ago. Captain William 
Codington was a descendant of Sir William 
Codington, the first governor of Rhode Island, 
who was born in Lincolnshire, England, in 
1601, came in Ki.'iO to Rhode Island, where he 
became the founder of the Codington family of 
tins country, and where he died November 1, 
1678. The name of Codington is found on the 
records of England as far back as the thirteenth 
century. 

Samuel O. Codington's mother, liortha (^Nlon- 
roo) Codington, was born in Auburn, N. Y., 
April .3, 1827, and her father, Ansel ^lonroe 
(maternal grandfather), wjs an officer in the 
State prison at that place, and was last at Green 
Bay in the "Patriot War" of 18-37. Her 
graudf^ither, jNlajor John G. Perry, was killed 
at Queenstown in 1812, and one of lier great- 
grandfathers, a General Busch, of the German 
army, was killed in a battle during the reign of 
Napoleon Bonaparte, and his widow and children 
came to America. 

Samuel O. Codington's wife, Mary (Stanley) 
Codington, only child of Caleb and Cordelia 
(Crane) Stanley, was born at Fredouia, where 
she received her education at the academy of 
that place. Her father, Caleb Stanley, was born 
at Herkimer, N. Y., December 25, 1813, came 
in 1835 to Fredouia, where he married Cordelia 
E. Crane on September 19, 1844, and where he 
died, June 22, 1884. He was a son of Isaac 
Stauley, a merchant, who was born in Coventry, 
Conn., May, 1775, married Tiney, daughter of 
Jeremiah Smith, a merchant of Albany, on 
October 3, 1802, and died in Ohio, October 22, 
1849. Isaac Stanley was a son of Hon. Caleb 
Stanley, boru July 31, 1741, married Martha 
Robinson, July 9, 1772, and represented Coven- 
try in 1784. His father, Caleb Stanley, was 
boru at Hartford, Conn., May 25, 1707, came 
as a clothier to Coventry, where he married 
Hannah, daughter of Deacon Joseph Olmstead, 



BIOGRAPHY AM) HISTORY 



aud died June 28, 1789. He was a son of 
Caleb Stanley, wiio was born September 6, 1674, 
married Hannah Spencer, ]\Iay 16, 1696, was 
secretary of Connecticut in 1709, and died 
January 4, 1712. His father, Captain Caleb 
Stanley, was born in March, 1G42, and married 
Hannah, daughter of John Cowlc's. His father, 
Timothy Stanley, was born in England in 1602, 
settled at Hartford, Connecticut,- in 1636, was a 
selectman in 1644, and died in 1648. The 
Stanley family, whose armorial bearings are 
three stags' heads, gold on field argent, bend 
azure, with motto '• Sans Changer," had its 
origin as follows : Two Norman knights who 
came with William the Conqueror in 1066 were 
Adam and William De Alditheley, who married 
Arabella and Joaime, daughters of the Saxons, 
Sir Henry and Thomas de Stoneley. William 
received as his wife dower the manor of Thalk, 
which lie exchanged with Adam for the manor 
of Stoneley, in Staifbi-dshire, and in honor of 
his lady and the great antiquity of her family, 
assumed the surname of Stanley, and became 
the recognized founder of the Stanley family. 

Mrs. Codington's mother, Cordelia E. (Crane) 
Stanley, was the eldest child of Henry and Eliza 
(Cassety) Crane, was born at Eaton, N. Y., July 
4, 1823, was educated at Fredonia and Eaton 
academies, married, September 19, 1844, to 
Caleb Stanley, of Fredonia, and died February 
9, 1878. Her father, Henry Crane, was born 
at Weathersfield, Conn., November 23, 1785, 
made several voyages as supercargo to the \Vest 
Indies, married in 1817 Eliza, daughter of Col. 
Thomas Cassety, one of the prominent and most 
highly' educated men in the State, aud in 1835 
came to Fredonia, where hs died March 9, 1857. 
He was a Royal Arch Mason, and his parents 
were Captain Curtis aud Elizabeth (Palmer) 
Crane. Captain Crane in the early part of his 
life was a sea captain during the llevolutionary 
war, and was for seven years connected with the 
commissary department. He afterward removed 
to Eaton, N. Y., where he died. 



OTEPHEX N. BOLTON. One who has 

'*^ seen Jamestown grow from a country vil- 
lage to a live wide-awake city, is the gentleman 
whose name heads this sketch. He came to 
Jamestown in 1851, where he has lived ever 
since. Stephen N. Bolton is a son of Hollis 
and Betsy (Sawin) Bolton, and was born at 
Westminster, Worcester county, Massachusetts, 
August 20, 1829. The Boltous were among 
the earliest white people who came to the cold 
and dreary winter climate of New England, but 
when the verdure of spring and summer burst 
forth, found the home pleasant and nature hos- 
pitable. Our indisj)utable record is when 
William Bolton married Elizabeth White, at 
Middlesex, Mass., in 1720. It is supposed that 
he came up from the settlement made on the 
James river in Virginia. ^ He died at Reading, 
Massachusetts, September 10, 1725, leaving a 
young widow with two little sons. The mother 
was of New England origin and these sons 
laid the foundation of the Bolton family of 
the present. One of the sons mentioned, Wil- 
liam Bolton, was the direct ancestor of Stephen 
N. He married Mary Roberts, who was born 
November 30, 1725, and they had ten children : 
one of them, Ebeuezer Bolton, born June 12, 
1749, was the great-grandfather of our subject. 
He was married at Reading, on February 20, 
1771, to Elizabeth Damon, a daughter of 
David Damon, and who was born May 3, 1749. 
Ebenezcr Bolton enlisted in the Colonial army 
during the Revolution and served as a corporal. 
He was present at the battle of Bunker Hill, 
and was one of the minute-men, ready for im- 
mediate service all through that struggle. He 
had four children, of whom Ebeuezer Bolton, 
Jr., was the grandfather of Stephen N. He 
was born February 14, 1778, married Linda, 
daughter of Simeon Leland, and served as a 
clerk in the War of 1812. His family consist- 
ed of four sons and two daughters. Hollis 
Bolton was born December 1, 1799, and is still 
living (May 1, 1891). He is a farmer, living 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY. 



near Mount Wachusett, Mass., and is enjoying 
excellent health for one of his years. He mar- 
ried Betsy Sawin, June 4, 1821, and had ten chil- 
dren : Charles H., born June 24, 1822, lived 
in Massachusetts and Maryland until 1852, and 
then went to California, and has lived there and 
in Oregon and Washington ever since, and was 
the first treasurer of Douglas county, Washing- 
ton ; Simeon, born November 27, 182.3, lives at 
home with his father; Franklin, born May 24, 
1825, has been a selectman of his town ; Al- 
mond A., born December 28, 182(3, lives in 
Akron, Ohio; Aaron S., born April 3, 1828, 
served in the late war under Gen. Banks ; 
Stephen Nelson ; Eveline E., born May 6, 1831, 
died October 14, 1853 ; Andrew J., born Janu- 
ary 17, 1833, now living in Massachusetts, a 
carpenter; Henry Clay, born May 20, 1834, 
married Anise Phillips, entered the Union 
army with Co. B, 100th regiment, N. Y. In- 
fantry, and was present at Drury's Blutf, in 
18G4, captured and taken to Andersouville 
where he was held from May until December. 
He took ]iart in the Seven Days fight, White 
Oaks and other battles, and was promoted to 
corporal ; and Alonzo D., the youngest, enlisted 
from Massachusetts, but was discharged on 
account of poor health. 

Stephen N. Bolton lived in Massachusetts 
until twenty-two years of age, when he came 
to Jamestown and worked as a wood-turner and 
chair-maker for nearly a score of years, and the 
subsequent five or six years was spent in the 
grocery business. Since that time he has been 
living a comparatively retired life. He was 
a sergt. in Co. B., 68th N. Y. S. M., which 
was called out by Gov. Seymour during the 
invasion of Penna., by Gen. Lee's army ; enlist- 
ed in the U. S. service for thirty days and 
served their term of enlistment. Mr. Bolton has 
always voted with the Republican party, and 
served the city as assessor for nine years. He 
is a member of Ellicott Lodge, No. 221, Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. 



H1RA3I C. CLARK, a literateur of note, 
has been living in Jamestown since 1872. 
He was burn at Norwich, Chenango county. 
New York, on July 9, ISIG, his parents being 
Lot and Lavina (Crosby) Clark, both of whom 
came from old and distinguished families. His 
grandfather, Watrous Clark, was born in tiie 
State of Massachusetts in 1759, and with his 
two brothers served in the naval department of 
the colonial forces during the struggle for Amei'- 
ica's independence. His two brothers were 
lost at sea. At the close of the war, Watrous 
migrated into Otsego county, in this State, and 
followed farming, and being of a mechanical 
turn also, used farm tools of his own manufac- 
ture, until his death which occurred in 1831. 
Politically Mr. Clark was a ([iiiet voter and of 
unassuming demeanor, and was a member of 
the Baptist church. He was not a politician. 
His wife M-as Sarah Saxton, of Columbia 
county, this State, and they had three sons and 
five daughters. David Crosby was the mater- 
nal grandfather of our subject, who came from 
English stock but was born in Connecticut and 
removed to Broome county. New York, where 
he owned large tracts of land which he tilled. 
He died in Chenango county, in 1820, aged 
eighty years. Lot Clark, iiither of Hiram C, 
and second son of Watrous Clark, was born in 
Columbia county, near Kinderhook, this State, 
in the year 1788. Securing as thorough an ed- 
ucation as the times afforded, he studied law, 
and after being admitted to the bar, practiced 
for twelve years in the town of Norwich, Che- 
nango county, and was some years district 
attorney of that county. Succeeding his law 
practice he became a projector of large enter- 
prizes, and among others of note, was the first 
original railroad wire suspension bridge which 
crosses the Niagara river below the falls and 
was completed about 1848. He became and 
was president of that bridge company until his 
death in 1802. At one time he was perhaps 
the huvest iudixiilual land-holder in the Em- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



pire State, being- a proprietor of one-third in- 
terest in a ninety thousand acre tract, and as 
many other acres iu other states in the west. 
Politically Mr. Clark was an old-time democrat 
and was elected by his party to a seat in tiic 
eighteenth Congress of the United States, serv- 
ing there in 1823-24; l)iit upon the sub-treas- 
ury issue, he was not in accord with his party 
and in 1840, voted for William Henry Harri- 
son for president. While in Congress Mr. 
Clark became very popular and was the leader 
of the New York delegation, at least at tiie 
time so styled. In 1840 he became an inti- 
mate and a permanent friend, socially and poli- 
tically of Henry Clay and other whigs of 
prominence, whose reputation have survived 
them. He was elected in 1846 to the leg- 
islature of New York, to compel the demo- 
crats to complete the enlargement of the Erie 
canal. When Gen. Jackson was president he 
invited Mr. Clark into his cabinet, by offering 
to him tlie appointment of attorney-general, but 
this was declined. His first wife was Lavina 
Crosby, who bore him four children, all sous, 
who became prominent in localities where they 
lived : Hiram C. ; Lot C, who held the office 
of district attorney on Staten Island for eleven 
years and was private counsel on the island to 
Commodore Vanderbilt for a number of years; 
Joseph B. Clark became an alderman in the 
city of Detroit, IMichigan ; and William C, 
moved to Illinois, and was owner of a fine 
land estate. 

Hiram C. Clark was educated in private 
schools and advanced to higher education 
through the aid of professors and private tu- 
tors. He was appointed cadet at West Point 
but resigned, considering that his nervous dis- 
position unfitted him for the .strain incumbent 
on the routine of a successful martinet or col- 
lege life. From 1833 to 1837 he lived in 
Augu.sta, Ga., as assi.stant to his brother-in-law 
iu a grocery store. Returning to New York 
he was, in 1840, admitted to the bar, and also 



edited in 1849, a history of his native, Chenan- 
go county, and in the .same year went to San 
Francisco California, where he remained and 
practiced law until 1865, when, returning to New 
York in 1866 he decided upon a European 
tour and went to London, where six out of the 
ten ensuing years were spent. During this so- 
journ abroad the columns of the San Francisco 
(California) Daili/ BuUetln, were enlivened by 
regular correspondence from his facile pen. 
Returning from Englaud in 1872, he .selected 
Jamestown for his future home and has since 
resided here devoting his attention to literary 
recreation, travel and newsjtaper correspon- 
dence. 

On November 23, 1857, Mr. Clark was uni- 
ted in marriage to Mrs. Sarah Thompson, a 
native of Nottingham, England, and after her 
death, in 1869, in 1871 he wedded Jane, the 
daughter of Samuel Dixion, a resident of New 
York but who came of Scotch parentage. It 
should not be overlooked that while stopping 
in Augusta, Ga., when the Seminole war of 
1835 broke out and men were .scarce, Mr. Clark, 
then a very young man, joined the Richmond 
Blues, a famous organization, and served si.x 
months as a United States soldier and received 
160 acres of government land. It was not, how- 
ever, with the sword but with his pen, that he 
achieved prominence, -.uul many articles of 
great merit have originated in his brain. In 
journalism and its circles he has been recog- 
nized as a ])rolific newspaper correspondent of 
his day, and among his interesting collection 
of jiapers, are letters showing corresjiondence 
and intercourse with the prominent public men 
of days agone. JNIr. Clark is an intere.sting, 
intelligent and able man who has seen the 
American Republic develop from childhood in- 
to its present stature. He is possessed of a 
store of information sufficient to fill a valuable 
book of reminiscences. Mr. Clark, though jx>s- 
sessed of personal convictions in regard to poli- 
tics, is iu no sense a politician. That is to say, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



he lias never yet sat as a member of a political 
eonveutioii ; has never assisted a f)oliti'-'''iiJ or 
himself, to obtain a nomination for public office. 
He regards knowledge of the law a full occu- 
pation for the common mind without any ad- 
mixture of politics. Law, divinity, statecraft, 
j3ure and separate are praiseworthy and useful ; 
but when amalgamated are too often otherwise, 
not to say, .sometimes mischievous to the public 
welfare. His creed has been, that great char- 
acters may over multiply their abilities to the 
injury of their reputation. 



QNDKEW DOTTKRWEIOH, a pllblic- 

■^*- .spirited citizen, an energetic and succes.s- 
ful business man, and the popular proprietor of 
the well-known " City Brewery" of Dunkirk, 
was born near the city of Bamberg, in Bavaria, 
Germany, September 7, 1834, and is a son of 
Joseph and Catherine (Scheitz) Dotterweich. 
Joseph Dotterweich and his wife were natives of 
Bavaria, and consistent members of the Cath- 
olic church. He was a brick manufacturer and 
farmer, and made a specialty of raising hops in 
which he was very successful. He was ener- 
getic and jjersevering, served as mayor of a vil- 
lage near the city of Bamberg for several year.s 
and died in 1879, aged seventy-eight year.s, 
while his widow survived him until 1887, when 
she passed away at the age of eighty-five years. 
Andrew Dotterweich received his education 
in the public .schools of Germany, and at twelve 
years of age left his father's farm to learn the 
brewery business. He worked in the brewer- 
ies of all the larger cities of Germany, where 
he became practically conversant and familiar 
with all the details of successful brewing, and 
received a diploma as being a scientific and prac- 
tical brewer. While working at the brewing 
busine.ss he added to the education which he 
had received in the public schools, by attending 
night schools. In 1857 he came to Dunkirk, 
and became foreman in the brewery of his 
brother, George Dotterweich, who had located 



in that city aljout 184!). He helped his broth- 
er to build up a large trade, while the sui)crior 
quality and general jropularity of their beer 
necessitated the frequent enlargement of their 
brewejy plant. In 1884, at the death of his 
brother, George Dotterweich, who was a liberal 
and public-.spirited citizen, he succeeded to the 
entire business, which he has so conducted as to 
constantly increase the number of his patrons 
and give his beer a wide reputation. 

On October 13, 1860, in Dunkirk, he married 
Mary Teresa Boettinger, a daughter of Albert 
Boettinger, who was tiie King's foreman of 
woods in Bavaria. For the purpose of bring- 
ing his bride to Dunkirk, he re-visited his na- 
tive land in the early part of the year of his 
marriage. To their union have been boru 
eight children, five .sous and thi'ce daughters : 
George A. J., Andrew Charle.s, Mary S., Ellen, 
Edward, Frank, Emma, who died at eleven 
years of age ; and Robert. 

Andrew Dotterweich is an active democrat in 
politics, and an earnest member of the Catholic 
church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus who.se 
corner-stone was laid June 11, 187G. He is 
also a member of the Catholic Mutual Beuefit 
A.ssociation, which was organized in 1876 at 
Niagara Falls, and holds membership in Dun- 
kirk Branch, No. 21, of that organization at 
Dunkirk. Mr. Dotterweich owns a very hand- 
some brick residence opposite his brewery, be- 
sides some valuable real estate in the city, and 
two good farms between Dunkirk and Fre- 
donia. 

The City Brewery is located on the corner of 
Sixth and Dove streets, and the entire jjlant 
covers a large area of ground. The main 
building is a substantial three-story brick 
36x110 feet with cellar and sub-cellar. A 
wing extending from it is 35x120 feet. At- 
tached to this wing and running parallel with 
the main building are the brick brewery barns 
and a brick ice-house connected with a double 
walled wooden reserve ice-house, which is caj)- 



lUOGnAPHY ASD HISTORY 



able of preserving ice for five years. The area 
inclosed on tliree sides by these extensive build- 
ings is occupied by a drive-way, fountain and 
lawn. Adjacent to the brewery Mr. Dotter- 
weieh has constructed two ice-iiouses 40x70 
feet, and an artificial lake, of one acre in area, 
at a cost of over one thousand dollars, which 
furnishes a never-failing supply of ice. In 
1890 he added two ice plants of forty tons 
each, and put in two boilers of fifty horse- 
power to his tliirty horse-power engine. He 
also uses two smaller pumping engines, and em- 
plovs from twelve to tsventy hands. His brew- 
ing and malting buildings, ice-hou.ses, vaults, 
cellars and storage rooms have all been care- 
fully planned and built. He uses yearly 
twenty thousand bushels of barley and eighteen 
thousand pounds of native and Bavarian hops. 
His annual output is over seven thousand 
barrels of beer, which is largely used in Dun- 
kirk and western New York. A gentleman 
well acquainted with the different business 
enterprises of the cities of New York, says of 
Ml". Dotterweich and his establish meut, that 
brewers from all other parts of the State have 
been unable to compete with Mr. Dotterweich, and 
that his beer is to-day the most popular bever- 
age in his section of the country. Andrew 
Dotterweich is popular as a citizen and a busi- 
ness man on account of his generosity, affability 
and integrity. His life has been one of activ- 
ity and usefulness, during whicli he has been 
remarkable for his eirergj', perseverance, pru- 
dence and business sagacity. He has been em- 
phatically the architect of his own fortune, and 
^yith the characteristic energy of the grand old 
German race, has won his way from compara- 
tive obscurity to a prominent position in busi- 
ness circles. 



QDDISON A. and AVILSON A. PRICE 

**■ ai-e sons of Charles and Mary (Neff) 
Price, the former born June 26, 1814, and the 
latter September 24, 1816, in the town of 



Homer, Cortland county, New York. Their 
grandfather was Stephen Price, a native of New 
.Terse)', where he was born December 28, 1758. 
His occupation was school teaching, and in that 
capacity he went to the town of Homer where 
he died June 1, 1831. He bought a farm at 
that place which remained in the family for many 
years. Mr. Price gave seven years of service 
during the Revolutionary war. He married 
Elizabeth Hall and had eight sons and five 
daughters. Several of the former were engaged 
during the war ot 1812. The maternal grand- 
father, Abram Neff, was born in Holland, 
October 18, 1772. Emigrating to America he 
settled in Cortland county, this State and mar- 
ried Eunice Beckwith, who bore him five sons 
and the same number of daughters. Charles 
Price (father) was born April 20, 1786, in the 
town of Clarendon, Morris county, N. J., and 
came to Cortland county, this State, in 1808. 
In 1826 he removed to Chautauqua county and 
settled in Portland town. Two years later he 
went to Chautauqua town and in 1851 he 
moved into the city of Jamestown where he re- 
sided until his death, November 20, 1868. His 
early years were spent farming but later he 
began to do carpenter work, a trade he had 
mastered years before. ^Yhen a young man 
Mr. Price was a Jacksonian democrat but after- 
wards turned whig and then republican. For 
twenty years he \vas a member of the Baptist 
church. Mary Neff was born October 18, 
1792, and lived to be over ninety-one years of 
age. The date of her death \vas November 4, 
1883. She married Charles Price in 1809, and 
became the mother of twelve children, seven 
sons and five daughters : Two died in infancy ; 
Eunice married Abel Kimberly, who lives on 
Lake View avenue, and is a carpenter and 
joiner ; Addison A., Wilson A., Anna M., 
married Reuben S. Green (deceased) ; Charles 
H., lives in Stockton town, this county; Cla- 
rissa B., wife of Jonathan Pennock, a prominent 
Jamestown groceryman ; Caroline and Eveline 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNT W 



were twius, the former inan'ioil Pliineas Cross- 
man, who is a real estate man of Jamestown ; 
the latter married Ciiarles H. Lewis, who is a 
tailor in Philadelphia; Orlando L. died when 
fourteen years old ; Silas C, married first time 
to Charlotte Evans and then to Sai'ah Sampson, 
and he now lives on Lincoln street, Jamestown ; 
Cheston B., is dead ; he married Mrs. Catherine 
Gaggin ; and Adam N. (dead), was twice mar- 
ried, first to Helen Lowe and then to Harriet 
Wright. 

Addison A. Price received a good education 
at the common schools and learned the trade of 
a carpenter and joiner. He is a republican and 
has filled various city offices. He came to 
Jamestown in 1839, and has been actively em- 
ployed there ever since. In 18GG he built the 
residence where he now resides. He has been 
twice married. His first wife was Charlotte D. 
Green, a daughter of David Green, who lived 
near ]\Iayville. They had six children : Oscar 
F.,at present mayor of Jamestown ; Caroline A., 
married Van Buren Weeks, a son of Liscom 
Weeks, of Ellery town ; Henry C, married 
Florence Cook, a daughter of Judge Cook, of 
Jamestown ; Henry C, is a carpenter and lives 
in New York city ; Cora is the wife of Walter 
J. Wayt, and lives in Vancouver, B. C, where 
her husband is employed as a draughtsman ; 
Fred A., is a joiner and lives with his father ; 
and Clayton E., is a merchant on Main street, 
Jamestown, and is married to Mary Rush. Ad- 
dison A. Price married the second time to 
Cynthia A. Hiller, who is still living. 

Wilson A. Price came to Jamestown with his 
brother in 1839, and has been employed with 
him at the same trade, carpentering. In 18G5 he 
erected the home where he now lives. Politi- 
cally a republican ; he married Amy E. But- 
ler, a daughter of Caleb Butler, in 1840, and 
they have one child : Charles H., who married 
Mary B. Kimberly. He lives at home with 
his father and follows the trade of a printer. 

Addison A. and Wilson A. Price, are honor- 



able and respectable gentlemen wiiose iabo 
minds have gone far toward developint 
city of Jamestown. 



md 



j^AVIl> K. MERRILL, a member of the 

-*^ widely known firm. Empire Washer Co., 
manufacturers of washing machines, also of the 
W. T. Falconer Manufacturing company, is a 
.son of Joshua S. and Olive E. (Griggs) Merrill, 
and was born in the town of Sheridan, Chautau- 
fpia county, New York, September 6, 1859. 
Lyman B. Merrill was born in eastern New 
York. He was our subject's grandfather, and 
follows his lineage to 1G32, when Jonathan and 
Nathaniel Merrill settled at New London, Con- 
necticut, as the original locators. The family 
drifted into Vermont, thence to Cherry Valley, 
N. Y., and finally to Chautauqua county. 
Lyman B. Merrill was a blacksmith by trade 
and pursued this occupation for many years in 
this county. Politically he was a democrat and 
when eighty-nine years of age died at Laona, 
this county. David Griggs was the maternal 
grandfather. He was a native of Connecticut 
but came to this county in 1810, and followed 
farming until about 1878, when he moved to 
Mishawaka, Ind., and died in 1889. Mr. 
Griggs "was a whig and republican, and served 
as a private in the war of 1812, participating in 
the engagements at Stony Point, Lundy's Lane 
and the burning of Buffalo. The renowned and 
wily warrior. Red Jacket, was a familiar ac- 
quaintance of Mr. Griggs, with wliou" he spent 
many days in the forest. He was a relative of 
Governor Clinton, and had other eminent con- 
nections. After reaching the advanced age of 
ninety-nine years he died at Mishawaka, Ind., 
in 1890. Joshua S. Merrill was born in the 
town of Sheridan, April 12, 1835, and spent his 
boyhood about the village. Heattended school and 
acquiredsufficienteducation to carry him thi'ough 
life, and then learned the trade of blacksmith 
and carriage-maker, and worked at it in Fre- 
donia, Titusville, Pa., and other places, in his 



BWGRAPIIY AM) HISTORY 



younger days. Latci" in life ha became an ex- 
tensive manufacturer of fine carriages and owned 
extensive works at Titusvilie, and Erie, Pa., 
where he employed about one hundred and 
twenty -five men. In 1854 he married Olive E. 
Griggs and had a family of three children : 
David E., Effie M., who married Frank A. 
Stilson, and lives in Jamestown ; and George 
J., a clerk in this city. Politically he was a re- 
publican and was a member of the Methodist 
church, and the Odd Fellows; F. and A. M., 
and Knights of Pythias fraternities. In busi- 
ness Mr. Merrill was conservative but astute, 
energetic and active, but careful, and was liberal- 
minded and juiblic-spirited in his notions as to 
the administration of the government. He 
died August 2-3, 1877, and is buried in Erie 
(Pa.) cemetery, while Mrs. ^Merrill resides at 
present (1891) in Jamestown. 

David E. Merrill changed his residence in 
youth as his father moved his busine.ss and 
spent his days and attended school at Fredonia, 
Titusvilie and Erie. He graduated from the 
high school of the latter place and attended the 
Normal school at Fredonia. He began his 
business life as a bill clerk for a wholesale 
. grocery firm in Erie, Pa., and was then ap- 
pointed paymaster's clerk in the navy. Suc- 
ceeding this he was attached to the signal ser- 
vice and was afterwards for a number of years 
book-keeper in various large institutions. In 1882 
he came to Jamestown and soon after with 
a company began the manufacture of the 
Empire ^Yashiug machines. His company em- 
ploys above one hundred men and their annual 
product equals one hundred thou.saud dollars, 
shipments being made to all parts of the world. 

In 1882, he married Anna H. Merrill, of 
Willoughby, Ohio, and they have one .son : John 
Claybornc, born August 20, 1888. 

Politically Mr. Merrill identifies himself with 
the Republican party; he is very puijlic-spirited 
and is connected with several prominent organ- 
izations. 



HENRY C. KINGSBURY, a successful law- 
yer of W&stfield who has been in active 
practice in tlie courts of the county for nearly 
tiiirty-three years, was born at Homer, Cortland 
county, New York, November 6, 1830, and is a 
son of William and Hiljiah (Winchell) Kings- 
bury. His grandfathers, William Kingsbury 
and Rensalear Winchell, were natives of Con- 
necticut. His father, William King.sbury, was 
born in " the land of steady habits " during 
the latter pai-t of the eighteenth century, served 
as a soldier in the war of 1812, and removed 
from his native State to Cortland county, New 
York, in the year 1817. 

Henry C. King.sbury grew to manhood at 
Homer where he attended the public schools for 
several years. He then entered Hamilton col- 
lege from which he was graduated in 1849. Im- 
mediately after graduation he commenced the 
study of law with William Northup of Homer, 
read two years and was admitted to pi-actice in 
the Supreme Court of New York in 1851, at 
twenty-one years of age. Two years later he 
removed to Sherman where he practiced his 
profession successfully until 1859, when he 
came to Westfield and soon built up a good 
practice in the courts of Chautauqua county, 
which he has gradually increased from year to 
year. He is a democrat in politics. Though 
for that reason debarred from political office, 
his fellow-citizens have honored him — with 
many non-partisan positions, and for twenty 
years he has been president of the Board of 
Education. He owns nearly four hundred 
acres of good farming and grazing land, a part 
of which is well adapted to grapes and small 
fruits. 

On September 3, 1855, he united in marriage 
with Mary A. La Due, daughter of Joshua La 
Due, a native of Auburn, New York, who held 
several important offices in the town of Sher- 
man, Westfield and Portland, and died in 18G5, 
aged seventy-one years. To Mr. and ]\Irs. 
Kingsbury have been born five children, three 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COVyTV. 



sons and two daughters : Carlton, who read law, 
was admitted to the bar and is practicing with 
his fiitiier ; Edward P., a lawyer of Ogdens- 
burg, New York ; Clara K., wife of James L. 
Weeks, an attorney-at-law of Jamestown ; Julia 
H., and Henry C, Jr. 



JOXATH.AJS' P. PEXXOCK, who, with 
his son, is conducting a first-class grocery 
store in Jamestown, was born in Lj-me, Graf- 
ton county. New Hampshire, October 12, 1824, 
his parents being Alvin and Zilpha (Kidder) 
Pennock. Adonijah Pennock (paternal grand- 
father) was a native of the Green Mountain 
State and passed most of his days within its 
borders but a few years before his death he re- 
moved to this county. He was a carpenter by 
trade and followed it until advanced age for- 
bad. His wife was Elizabeth Bacon and they 
had seven children. Alvin Pennock was born 
in Vermont in 1800 and came from there to 
Jamestown in 1827 where he was employed as 
a laborer at the woolen mills, which were es- 
tablished in 1817. He married Zilpha Kidder, 
who came from the family of Kidders who 
were among Jamestown's first settlers, in 1823, 
and had eight children, two of whom died 
young. Mr. Pennock was a whig and a mem- 
ber of the Methodist church, in which faith he 
departed from life in 1842. 

Jonathan P. Pennock, upon arriving at 
school age, began his education and when suffi- 
ciently advanced attended the Jamestown acad- 
emy where he completed the course of instruc- 
tion taught, and leaving school secured employ- 
ment in the Jamestown woolen mills, where he 
worked until twenty years of age and then 
employed himself at chair manufacturing. 

On August 31, 1848, he married Clarissa 
B. Price, who, like his mother, came from one 
of the oldest families of the county. They 
have been the parents of four children : one 
who died in infancy ; Charles P., died when 
fifteen years old; Frank A., in business with 
7 



his father, married May Martin, daughter of 
Dr. W. B. ^lartin, a prominent physician of 
Busti, and they iiave two children: William J., 
and Marjorie ; and Lee .J. who is a machinist 
and draughtsman is tiie youngest son of J. P. 
Pennock. 

J. P. Pennock is an active ri'piiblican and 
served as constable and de[)nty shei'iff for a 
number of years. He also filled the ofiice of 
tax collector for a period of twelve years. For 
about one year during the war he conducted a 
grocery, and since 1877 has been in that busi- 
ness with his sou, their store being located on 
the corner of Main and Si.Kth streets. They 
have a large trade and are doing an excellent 
business. J\lr. Pennock is a Baptist and for 
the past twenty-seven or twenty-eight years has 
been an active member of JMt. Moriah Lodge, 
No. 145, F. and A. M. 



/^UST. BUKLAUND, a member of thecon- 
^^ traeting and building firm of Mahoney 
Bros. & Burlaund, and a native of Sweden, is 
the son of Abraham and Anna (Swanson) Bur- 
laund, and was born on the 21st day of Sep- 
tember, 1854, near (iinsiping. .John Burlaund 
(grandfather) was a well-to-do farmer and 
mason and never came to America, being em- 
ployed until his death in the work mentioned 
and as a contractor. Andrew Swanson (mater- 
nal grandfather) was a farmer and during Swe- 
den's last war, in her struggle with Russia and 
Finland, he served the king as a soldier. 
Abraham Burlaund was born in Sweden, 
December 10, 1821, and followed farming in 
his native country until 1868, when seeing 
greater inducements in the new world than the 
fatherland offered, he left his home and came 
to America. On his arrival he at once came to 
Jamestown and engaged in farming and stock- 
dealing, but died very shortly after his arrival, 
on September 10, 1868. He left his wife with 
eight children, five of whom are still living. 
Clai'ence H. is engaged in the livery business. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



After the death of Mr. Burlauud, Mrs. Bur- 
launil again married, this time to Peter Swan- 
son. 

Gust. Burlaund received his early education 
in the public schools of Sweden and after ins 
father's death he was apprenticed to and learned 
the mason's trade which he followed from 1872 
to 1883. 

In 1879 he married Matilda Stonfaldt, a 
daughter of Andrew Stonfaldt, of Morlunda. 
To this union have been born three children, 
one sou and two daughters : Archie F. (dead) ; 
Anna R. (dead) ; and Ellen Matilda. 

From 1883 until 1885 he was a contractor 
and builder, but during the latter year he asso- 
ciated himself with the well-known firm of 
Mahoney Bros., and the company is now known 
as Mahoney Bros. & Burlaund, contractors and 
builders. Their reputation stands equal with 
the best in Jamestown and as specimens ot 
their handiwork, they point with pride to the 
Gilford block, Gokey house and the Swedisli 
Orphanage, which are among the largest and 
finest buildings in the city. The company em- 
ploys during the busy season as many as eighty 
workmen. Politically Mr. Burlaund is a re- 
publican, but is known as one that is indepen- 
dent, feeling that country is before party, and 
patriotism should be before partisanship. He 
is a communicant of the Lutheran church and 
takes an interest in his church work. 



0-11^48 S. DERBY, an old and highly re- 
*^ spected citizen of Jamestown, is a sou of 
Joseph and Elizabeth (Kenyon) Derby, and was 
born April 29, 1820, in Monroe county, Xew 
York. His grandfather, Phineas Derby, was 
born in Vermont, where he quietly pursued 
farming and died. The Kenyon branch of the 
family came from Rhode Island and settled near 
Batavia, in Genesee county, this State. Joseph 
Derby was born in the Green Mountain State 
but while yet a young man, went to Monroe 
county, this State, and later to Warren county, 



Pa., locating near Sugar Grove, where he died 
March 14, 1837. While nominally a farmer he 
was essentially a mechanic, conducting his farm, 
as did many artisans of that day, to keep em- 
ployed. He was a democrat and a member of 
the Free Baptist church. He married Elizabeth 
Kenyon, in 1811, and had five children, all 
sous : Phineas, who removed to Michigan, 
where he died in 1889, at the age of eighty 
years ; Sylvanus was a resident of Saginaw, 
^Michigan, where he died in 1883, at sixty-nine 
years of age ; John K., is a painter, residing at 
Jamestown (see his sketch) ; William R., who 
for many years followed farming, and is now 
buying and dealing in stock at North Warren, 
Pa. ; and Silas S. Derby. 

Silas S. Derby was educiited in the schools 
near his early home and at the age of eighteen 
came to Jamesto\\'n, from Warren, Pa., and has 
resided here ever since. Soon after his arrival 
he established himself as a painter and in 1839 
opened a paint store in partnership with his 
brother, Jno. K. Derby, which they conducted 
for at least twenty years, but for the last si.xteen 
years he has laid aside the cares of active busi- 
ness and only attends to his investments made 
from the accumulations of earlier toil. He is 
now the owner of considerable real estate. 

On December 17, 1840, Mr. Derby married 
Huldah E. Frask, a daughter of Elijah Frask, 
who resides adjacent to Busti, this county, 
although they came originally from Penfield, 
near Rochester, this State. They have been 
the parents of but two children : Agnes D. ; 
and Sylvia A., who wedded Darwin E. Hay- 
ward, a railroad conductor living at Buflalo, 
this State. 

S. S. Derby was a rejiublican and as such 
held the office of street commissioner in this 
city, but of late years his sympathies have been 
with the prohibitionists. He belongs to the 
Royal Tem[)lars of Temperance and is a member 
of the Wesleyan Metho list church 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



/^-If.VWFOKD STKAKNS is one of the most 
^^ successful farmers and cattle dealers in 
this county. He was Ijoru in Arkwright, 
Chautauqua county, New York, ^lay 9, 1830, 
and is a son of Benjamin and Electa (Halstead) 
Stearns. Benjamin Stearns was of English de- 
scent and was born in Vermont, in 1803, and 
came to this county in 1820, where he became 
an extensive farmer and stock-dealer and was 
successful in gathering together a goodly siiare 
of riches. In politics he was a democrat and 
held the office of county commissioner for sev- 
eral years. His religious convictions prompted 
him to become a member of the Baptist church, 
of which his wife was also a member. He died 
in Villanova, this county, in 1866, aged sixty- 
three years. In 1825, he married Electa Hal- 
stead, a native of Canada, who is now in her 
eighty-fifth year and resides at Villanova. 
They had sis children. 

Crawford Stearns was reared on the farm 
and received his education in the public schools. 
He has always been occupied in agricultural 
jjursuits, and now owns a fine farm of four 
hundred and fifteen acres in Villanova, besides 
being largely interested in cattle-dealing. In 
1883, he came to Forestville and built a fine 
residence which he still occupies. Full of push 
and energy, he has as a natural consequence 
been very successful and now in the autumn of 
life is enjoying the fruits of his efforts. Politi- 
cally he is a republican and has held several 
village offices. In religion he is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church of which he is 
also a steward and trustee. He is a member 
of Hanover Grange, No. 594, Patrons of Hus- 
bandry, and Hanover Lodge, No. 10, A, O. U. 
W. Strong in his convictions, fileasant and 
kindly in temperament and disposition, he is 
respected and esteemed by all who come in con- 
tact with him. 

In 1854, Mr. Stearns was united in marriage 
with Louisa White, a daughter of Joel White, 
of Arkwright this county, and they have been 



the parents of two children : Lester F., district 
attorney at Dunkirk, this count}' ; and Allie M., 
married to Irving Powers, who is engaged in 
the railroad business and resides at Buifalo. 
Mrs. Stearns is also a member of the ^lethodist 
Episcopal church. 



O-^IUEL SHEPAKl) CKISSKY is a well 
'*^ educated man of advanced ideas, and in 
addition to his labors in his nurseries, frequent- 
ly contributes to the newspapers valuable, in- 
teresting and instructive papers on the subject 
of farm work. He is a son of Harlow and 
Anna (Shepard) Crissey and was born in Stock- 
ton, Chautau(pia county, New York, August 
13, 1833. His paternal great-grandfather, 
John Crissey, was born in Massachu.setts in 
1700 and married Martha Davenj^ort in July, 
1731, at Boston, Ma.sisachusetts. By this mar- 
riage there were six sous, and three of them 
came to Stockton, this county, in 1816. The 
names of these six sons were : John Jr., James 
Gould, Nathaniel, Samuel and Sylvanus. Sam- 
uel Crissey (grandfather) was the fifth son of 
John (great-grandfather), and was born in Fair- 
fax, Franklin county. In 1816 he settled in 
the north part of the town of Stockton, on lot 
thii-ty-nine, where he resided until his death 
I\Iarch 1, 1848, having just passed his seventy- 
seventh birthday. This lot comjjrised one hun- 
dred acres of wilderness, which he cleared and 
cultivated. He was one of the founders of the 
Baptist church in Delanti, and served it occa- 
sionally as a preacher. Samuel Crissey was 
married in 1799 to Lucy Grosvenor of Fairfax, 
Vermont, by whom he had seven children, 
three sons and four daughters : Almira, born in 
1800, married Ethan Covley, both dead, (she 
died in 1868) whose daughter, Generva, is the 
wife of Mortimer Ely ; Harlow (father) born 
in December, 1802; Jason, born in 1805, mar- 
ried Roxanna Winsor and died in 1875, leav- 
ing four children : a son, Jirah ; a son, Edward 
J., living in Fredonia N. Y. ; a daughter. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Mary, wife of Lucieu C. Warren, of Stockton ; 
and Sardis, who served in the army, and is in 
the department of the Interior at Washington, 
District of Columbia; Lucy, born in 1808, 
married Chauueey Winsor of Delanti, whose 
children are Wealthy Ann, widow of B. W. 
Fields, of Sinclairville, N. Y. ; Cynthia, born 
in 1812, married Zaimon Jennings, removed to 
Pennsylvania where she died in 1836; Patty, 
born in 180!) and died in 1821; Samuel, born 
in 1816, married Julia Grant of Fredonia and 
resides in Stockton, and has a daughter Lucy, 
the wife of Cassius Perrin, for several years a 
justice of the peace; a daughter Myra, wife of 
Georo-e Putnam ; and a sou Forest. Of the 
seven children of Samuel Crissey, Sr., none are 
living, except Harlow. Natiianiel and Sylva- 
nus Crissey, of Vermont, were brothers of 
Samuel Crissey, Sr. Nathaniel had two sons, 
Alson, who died at the age of thirty-one years ; 
and ISIerrill, who married Eunice Tracy, has 
been supervisor of Stockton, and had five chil- 
dren : Thomas, and two pair of twin broth- 
ers of whom one is dead. Sylvanus Crissey 
removed with his family to the west. Samuel 
Shepard (maternal grandfatlier) was born in 
Ashfield, Franklin county, Massachusetts, Feb- 
ruary 13, 1778, and came to Stockton, this 
county, July 9, 1819, and was the first justice 
in Stockton. He married Rachel Cobb in 
June, 1798, by whom he had five children, two 
sons and three daughters: Ezra, Pamelia, 
Anna, Polly and Madison, all born in Massa- 
chusetts. Samuel Shepard died June 5, 1862, 
in the eighty-fifth year of his age ; Mrs. Shep- 
ard preceded him to the better land November 
8, 1860. Harlow Crissey (father) came to 
this country with his father and settled in 
Stockton, taught school a few years and then 
purchased two hundred acres of land which he 
cultivated, and also started one of the first dairy 
farms in this section, owning forty cows. He 
was supervisor a few terras and was elected jus- 
tice of the peace in 1850 on the Whig ticket for 



one term of three years. In religion he was a 
member of the Baptist church. Harlow Cris- 
sey was married November 2, 1862, to Anna 
Shepard, a daughter of Samuel Shepard of 
Stockton, this county, by whom he had four 
children, all sons: Newton, born April 6, 1828, 
married Cynthia R. Miller and is a farmer in 
Stockton ; Samuel S. ; Seward M., born April 
9, 1839, married Lucy Wood and is also a far- 
mer in Stockton ; and Elverton B., born June 
23, 1843, married Mary Langworthy and is a 
banker in Jamestown, this county. 

Samuel Shepard Crissey was educated in the 
district school of Stockton until he was eighteen 
years of age, after which he attended the Fre- 
donia academy for three years, and then taught 
school three terms. He then engaged in the 
nursery business and fruit growing, having 
now eleven acres of most excellent laud, four 
acres of which are devoted to grapes, and last 
year those four acres produced seventeen tons 
of the iiest quality of that esculent fruit. Grow- 
ing grape roots for market is another specialty 
in which he indulges. For seven years he has 
been secretary of the Chautauqua Horticultural 
society. In religion he is a Baptist, being a 
member of the church of that denomination in 
Fredonia. He has been a member of the board 
of trustees of Fredonia for several terms. 
Samuel Shepard Crissey was married in Decem- 
ber, 1859, to Mary A. Leonard, a daughter of 
George V. and Anna Leonard of Fredonia, by 
whom he has had three children, all sous : Jay, 
born January 15, 1861, who is principal of the 
academy at Belmont, Allegany county. New 
York, and who married Alice Kennedy; George 
H., born December 24, 1862, and now a resi- 

! dent of California ; and Howard B., born Feb- 

• ruary 22, 1864 and died October 11, 1889, 
while a junior at Cornell University, Ithaca, 

; New York. Mrs. Crissey died May 31, 1868, 
and S. S. Crissey married January 15, 1871, 
Mrs. Ella K. Wright, widow of A. J. Wright, 

i D.D.S., of Fredonia and by her has had two 








% • ^- 



MAJOR E, A, CURTIS, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



cliildren, sons: Newtou K., born July 12, 1873; 
aud Lester, born in 1877 but died in infancy. 



llir A JOIf ENOCH A. CURTIS, a successful 

4 architect of Fi-edonia and a prominent 

post and encampment commander in the Grand 
Army of the Republic, is a son of Isaac C. and 
Susan H. (Hunter] Curtis, aud was born in the 
town of Busti, Chautauqua county, New York, 
July 19, 1836. Enoch A. Curtis is of Scotch- 
Irish descent ou his paternal side aud his grand- 
father, Rev. Enoch Curtis, was born in New 
Hampshire. He was an itinerant minister of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, removed to 
Pennsylvania and afterwards died in Cattarau- 
gus county, this State. His son, Isaac C. Cur- 
tis, the father of Enoch A. Curtis, was born in 
Tioga county, Pennsylvania, where he luarrii'd 
Susan Hunter, a native of the same county. In 
1834 he settled ou a fiirm in the town of Busti, 
and died in 1881, aged seventy -two years. 

Enoch A. Curtis was reared on his father's 
farm. He received his education at Jamestown 
academy from whicli he graduated in 1848. He 
then learned the trade of carpenter and joiner^ 
which he followed until the breaking out of the 
late civil war, excepting a part of the winter 
seasons during which he taught in the public 
schools. On July 13, 1862, he enlisted in the 
112th regiment, N. Y. Infantry, under Presi- 
dent Lincoln's call of that year for three 
hundred thousand volunteers, for three years 
service. On August 12, 1862, he was commis- 
sioned captain of Co. D, which he commanded 
in the various skirmishes and battles in which 
his regiment was engaged until the fearful strug- 
gle at Cold Harbor where he received such 
severe wounds as to unfit him for further mili- 
tary service. He was honorably discharged ou 
September 12, 1864, on account of his wounds, 
and on June 27, 1867, was brevetted major by 
Governor Fenton for " gallantry at the battle 
of Cold Harbor." After the war he settled at 
Fredonia, where he resumed his studies in archi- 



tecture, which had been interrupted by the war, 
and in a sliort time had erected several fine and 
tasteful buildings which recommended him to 
the public favor as being a competent and 
skilled architect. He has prosecuted the study 
of his profession for over thirty years aud his 
experience as an architeqt has specially fitted 
him for tlie responsibilities of this most exacting 
of all the art sciences. The structtu'es which 
he has designed, stand as evidence of his skill, 
and prominent among them we may mention : 
the fine residence of A. O.Putnam, of Fredonia, 
R. G. Wright, of Westfield, and M. L. Hiu- 
man, of Diuikirk ; National Transit company 
building. Oil City and the Fredonia, and Oil 
City Town Halls. 

On Sept. 12, 1859, he married Jennie Nor- 
ton, of the town of Harmony. Tiiey have two 
children : Isabella and Edith. 

Major Curtis is kept very busy in his pro- 
fession, and does a large and lucrative business. 
He is a republican in politics, and has been 
president of the village corporation. He is a 
member and has been president of the Chautau- 
qua County Veteran union. He is past comman- 
der of Northern Chautauqua Encampment and 
commander of E. D. Holt Post, No. 403, 
Grand Army of the Republic. 



TAI-ILLIA3I K. DOUtiLAS, who owns and 

-*"'■ conducts the largest grocery, crockery and 
queenswai'e house of Westfield, was born in 
county Down, Ireland, January 30, 1847, and 
is a son of Thompson aud Anna J. (Shaw) 
Douglas. His parents were both born in county 
Down aud became members of the Presbyterian 
church. His father was engaged in the grocery 
business and in farming, and died in 1889, at 
eighty years of age. His mother is a daughter 
of James Shaw, who was a prominent linen 
manufacturer of Ireland (see sketch of Robert 
Shaw). She is now in the seventy-fifth year of 
her age and resides on the Ikiuic farm in county 
Down. 



BIOGRAPHY AXI) HISTORY 



William R. Douglas passed his boyhood 
days on the fiirm aud attended the national 
schools at Ireland. At sixteen years of age he 
left his native land and came (December, 1<S()3) 
to Westfield, wiiere he learned the trade of 
stone aud marble-cntter, whicli he had to 
abandon at the end of his apin-enticeship, on ac- 
count of ill health, occasioned by the stone 
dust. He then learned the trade of moulder, 
which he followed in the Lock factory until it 
shut down in 1870. Duringthissameyear hese- 
cured a clerkship in a grocery store, where he 
remained until 1874, wheu he became a partner 
with Robert Shaw aud J. R. S. Cosgrove in the 
grocery business, under the firm name of R. 
Shaw & Co. The firm was changed .several 
times during the next eight years, but he re- 
mained a member of it during all of that time. 
In 1882 he purchased the interests of all his 
pai-tners, and since that year has conducted a 
verv extensive and lucrative business. His es- 
tablishment is at No. 3 and 4, on Main street, 
and is divided into two large departments. His 
trade is now of such proportions as to require 
the service of five clerks. He deals largely in 
groceries, pi'ovisious, glassware, ciiina, crockery, 
standard proprietary medicines and notions. 
^Ir. Douglas has been a republican since coming 
to this country, and is now serving as a member 
of the school board of Westfield. He is a mem- 
ber and deacon of the Presbyterian church. In 
addition to his mercantile interests, he owns 
some valuable real estate, is a .stockholder of 
the "Pulley Works" and has a promising 
young vineyard. Nov. 19, 1874, he united in 
marriage with Mary Wiusor, daughter of David 
AVinsor, of Westfield. To their union have 
been born seven children : John R., Harry W., 
William M., Elizabeth A., James R., Alice R., 
and Grace. 



r\ RTHUR L. BKOWX, one of the enter- 
■**■ prising young men of Silver Creek, is a 

.<on of Carlton S. and Caroline S. (Bancroft) 



Brown, aud was born July 10, 1854, in Dun- 
kirk, Chautauqua county. New York. His 
grandfather, Eleazer Brown, was of English 
ancestry, and horn in Massachusetts in 1798 in 
which State he was a life-long resident, dying 
in 1853 at the age of fifty-five yeai's. He was 
a hotel-keeper and manufacturer of oyster and 
powder kegs. Carlton S. Brown (father) is a 
native of ]\Ias.sachusetts, born in 1827, and re- 
moved to Dunkirk, this comity, in 1850, where 
he resided ten year.s and then removed to 
Westfield, remaining there until 1867, and 
again changed lii.s local habitation by removing 
to Silver Creek, where he has since lived. At 
Dunkirk and Westfield he operated a bakery 
and for twenty years thereafter was in the em- 
])Ioy of the L. S. & M. S. R. R. He is now in 
his sixty-third year aud has retired from active 
business. In religion he is a member of the 
Presbyterian church, and in politics is a demo- 
crat. Carlton S. Brown married Caroline S. 
Bancroft, by v.'hom he had five children. Mrs. 
Brown is a native of Massachusetts, born in 
1829, is a member of the Presbyterian church 
and is still living, being in her sixty-first year. 
Arthur L. Brown was reared in Dunkirk, 
AVestfield and Silver Creek and attended tlie 
public schools of each place. After leaving 
school, which he did at the early age of four- 
teen, he was employed as a clerk in a store in 
Silver Creek until 1873, when he went west, 
remaining a year or more, where he was em- 
ployed as a clerk aud also travelling salesman 
for the Iowa Paper Co., of Davenport, lon-a. 
After returning to Silver Creek he was em- 
ployed as clerk and bookkeeper for O. L. 
Swift & Co., until 1876, and in the following 
year was engaged in the grocery business on 
his own account in Buffalo, in which he contin- 
ued a year and then sold out to return to Silver 
Creek and enter the office of roadmaster of the 
L. S. & M. S. R. R., as a clerk, where he re- 
mained three and one-half years. In the 
.■spring of 1882 he entered the office of Howes, 




fe^ 



# 




^J ^^^y^t^^'C'<f'^^ i^::;^xz:i,^:;:'-i^«^^^ 



>^-e^ 



OF CHArTAl-QVA COlWrV. 



137 



Babcock & Co., manufacturers of the widely 
celebrated Eureka Smut and Separating Ma- 
chine, where he held a clerkship for six years, 
and then (March 1, 1888) bought a third inter- 
est in the parlor furniture frames factory of 
Kofoed & Brc, in Silver Creek, the firm name 
being changed to Kofoed, Bros. & Brown, in 
whicii firm he still continues. They employ 
thirty operatives, their average sales being 
three hundred suits per month. In politics he 
is a democrat, and was a member of the board 
of trustees of Silver Creek for two years and in 
March, 1891, was elected president of the Vil- 
lage. He is a past-master of Silver Lodge, 
No. 757, F. and A. M. of Silver Creek. 

Arthur L. Brown was married November 
17, 1880, to M. Cora Norton a daughter of 
Henry S. Norton, of Belmont, Allegany 
county, this State, by whom he has one son and 
two daughters: Ralph A., Florence N., and 
Alice M. 



^I3IK()X HOAVES. Probably the one man 

^^ who has done more to advance the mate- 
rial welfare of the village of Silver Creek than 
any other is the venerable and aged gentleman 
w-hose name appears at the head of this sketch. 
He became identified with this place in 1856, 
and since New Year's Day, 1866, has been at 
the head of our leading manufacturing estab- 
lisiiment. 

Simeon Howes is a sou of Sylvauus and 
Persis (Crittenden) Howes, and was born in 
Franklin county, Massachusetts, March 28, 
1815, and is now seventy-six years old. He is 
a direct descendant of rugged and long-lived 
ancestry and traces his family back to a very 
early day, when three brothers emigrated to 
North America, settling at Cape Cod. When 
he was about one year of age his parents re- 
moved to jNIiddlebury, Wyoming county, this 
State, where they tilled the soil for subsistence 
for themselves and family. While he was still 
a boy his parents died and left him to battle 



with the world alone. Fortunately for him, 
his grandparents were still living, and he re- 
turned to Massachusetts and sj)ent three years 
with them near the scene of his birth. His life 
during this period was probably not materially 
different from that of other boys of tiiat time. 
He went to school and worked hard on the 
farm in his spare hours, and considered it the 
climax of earthly bliss to go to " general train- 
ing " with a couple of shillings in his pocket to 
spend. When he was sixteen years old, Mr. 
Howes returned to AYyoming county, and from 
that time on he has had to " paddle his own 
canoe." Three months at the academy at 
jNIiddlebury, then quite a noted educational in- 
stitution, finished his schooling and placed him 
in a position to impart to others the education 
he had himself received. For eight years he 
earned his living teaching school in winter, and 
working on a farm during the summer months. 
Then in 1838, he married Angeliue Ewell and 
settled down to farming. The issue of this 
union was eight children, five of whom are still 
living. These are : Mrs. Geo. P. Brand, Miss 
Charlotte L. Howes, Mrs. R. J. Quale, and 
Mrs. W. H. INIerritt, of Silver Creek, and Mrs. 
L. F. W. Arend, of Buffalo. At this occupa- 
tion he continued for fourteen years, and appar- 
ently had found his life work. But, fortunate- 
ly, as it afterwards proved, his health began to 
fail and he decided that he would give up farm- 
ing and turn his hand to something else. A 
fortunate determination indeed. On the farm 
he had only made his living and a trifle more. 
In his new business he was to make a reputa- 
tion and a fortune. 

In the spring of 1853 Mr. Howes went to 
Miami county, Ohio, and joined with Benja- 
min Rutter and Henry Rouzer in placing upon 
the market a combined smut and .separating 
machine. This embodied in a crude form the 
principles of the Euieka machine, which has 
proved so successful, but, as is generally the 
case with new inventions, the first machines 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



made were of comparatively little value for the 
use inteuded. Still it was the jjioneer, and as 
.sucli is worthy of respect. Some fifty machines 
were made and sold during the continuance of 
his partnership. The work of introducing them 
to millers was done entirely by I\Ir. Howes. 

In October of that year a patent was granted 
to Rutter & Rouzer, and then it was decided to 
stop making machines and to sell the patent in- 
stead. Accordingly, in the spring of 1854, 
jNIr. Howes and Gardner E. Throop, acting as 
agents for Messrs. Rutter & Rouzer, sold the 
patent under which the machines were made to 
Ezekiel ^lontgomery and his two sons, of Sil- 
ver Creek, and the right of selling in fourteen 
counties in western New York ; while Alpheus 
Babcock purchased the right of selling in nine 
counties of western Pennsylvania. Mr. Howes 
then went to Watertown, Xew York, where he 
devoted considerable time to improving the 
machine ; at the same time the other parties 
who had purchased the right to manufacture 
were striving in the same direction, and the re- 
sult naturally was much improvement. Not 
many machines were built, however, until in 
1856 Mr. Howes moved to Silver Creek and 
joined hands with the Montgomerys in building 
the machines. In that year and the next about 
120 machines were built, and they were I'e- 
ceived with favor by millers. 

In 1858, after a considerable delay in the 
patent office, a patent was granted Messrs. 
Howes and Throop for improvements in com- 
bined smut and separating machines. The 
principal points of novelty claimed in this pat- 
ent were, first; the placing of the separators 
side by side, and second ; the enclosing of the 
perforated case within an outside casing and 
connecting the space thus formed by means of 
tubes with an exhaust fan for the purpose of re- 
moving the dust. This patent was subsequent- 
ly held to be the foundation patent on combined 
smut and separating machines, and Howes and 
Throop claim to be its original inventors. 



At its expiration, in 1872, it was re-issued 
and its term extended for seven years. In 1879 
it finally expired. 

In 1859 Sir. Howes sold out his interest — 
one-third — to his partners, and retired from the 
grain-cleaning machine business for a time, and 
during the interim between that date and 1864, 
the business was carried on by the Montgom- 
erys and also by the Babcocks, who each manu- 
factured a machine diiFering in some respects 
from that of the other. In 1864 Mr. Howes 
joined the Babcocks, and they carried on their 
business und»r the style of Howes, Babcock & 
Company. The Messrs. Babcock had already 
made some improvements in the machine, and 
Mr. Howes now suggested certain others. 

On January 1, 1866, Howes, Babcock & Co., 
bought for .$20,000, the business of the jNIessrs. 
Montgomery, and the firm changes since that 
date have consi-sted in the addition of Mr. 
Albert Hortou, in 1866, who, the same year 
sold his interest to Mr. Carlos Ewell ; the re- 
moval by death of jNIessrs. Babcock and 
Ewell, and the purchase of the interests of the 
estates of those gentlemen by Mr. Howes, 
who now for nearly three years has been the 
sole proprietor of this immense business. 
How steadily the business has grown may 
be judged by the constant enlargement of 
the buildings, and the great increase of the 
working force. In 1865 employment was 
given to only fifteen men ; subsequently this 
number was increased to fifty. In 1873, large, 
new brick shops were erected and another addi- 
tion to the workmen was made, so that now 
about 130 men are kept steadily employed in 
the factory which is 220x50 feet on the ground 
and is four stories high. 

In 1865 about 200 machines were made. 
All the work was done by hand, and the cast- 
ings were made outside. The next year the 
output was increased to 700 machines, and after 
that the number averaged about 1000 annually. 
At first only the combined smut and sei)arator 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY. 



was built, but beginning in 1874 other luaeiiiues 
were added, until now a full line of grain clean- 
ing machinery is made and the total sales 
amount to upwards of 2000 machines per year. 
We have not, nor can we obtain, the figures 
relative to the number of men employed and 
the amount paid out in wages, prior to 1865, 
but we have figures beginning \vith that year, 
when ^Ir. Howes re-acquired an interest in the 
business, and a brief study of them will prove 
not only interesting, but highly instructive as 
well: 



YEAR. .\-( 


). MEN. 


VEAKIV W.1GES. 


YEAR. 


NO. JIE.V. 


, YEAKLY WAGES. 


1865 


11 


818,979.27 


1878 


66 


$47,424.33 


1SC)(5 


29 


33,694.80 


1879 


66 


47,456.11 


lS(i7 


39 


37,209.30 


1880 


75 


53,777.15 


1SG8 


52 


35,161.42 


1881 


89 


57,819.99 


18(511 


55 


48,337.55 


1882 


105 


68,250.62 


1870 


53 


44,946.88 


1883 


131 


74,650.34 


1871 


53 


48,093.78 


1884 


121 


70,718.69 


1872 


58 


50,198.63 


1885 


112 


71,601.37 


1873 


61 


53,356.21 


1886 


113 


74,757.76 


1874 


67 


55,005.42 


1887 


113 


71,227.56 


1875 


64 


53,277.22 


1888 


106 


68,124.77 


1876 


67 


48,668.43 


1889 


128 


79,813.98 


1877 


71 

till wa 


48,756.43 
ges in twenty 








Tol 


-five years 


$1,356,208.01 



Making an average annual pay-roll of $54,248. 
32 ; an average monthly roll of §4,520.69 ; and 
an average amount of §151.71, paid out for 
every day. 

In all these years Mr. Howes has had sole 
control of the financial and business manage- 
ment of this company and the manner in which 
he has discharged his duties needs no com- 
ments. 

No man's word .stands higher than his ; a 
promise is never forgotten nor in the least de- 
gree abated from. Financially, none in Silver 
Creek ranks higher than Simeon Howes; 
socially he is esteemed by a large circle of 
friends and acquaintances, and in genera! popu- 
larity it is doulitful if a man could be found in 
Chautauqua county who possesses a larger de- 
gree of the people's confidence. 



He is a liberal supporter of the Presbvterian 
and Methodi-st Episcopal churches of Silver 
Creek, and, although allied with neither, is 
now, and for fifteen years ])ast, has been a trus- 
tee of the latter. 

In political adherence he is a stanch republi- 
can, and, although four times a delegate to 
the State conventions of his party, lias steadily 
refused other political distinction. 

Q X.SOX A. BUULIX is one of the natiou's 

■^^ brave defenders, who responded when 
the second call was sounded, and remained until 
Union, one and inseparable, was acknowledged 
by our southern brothers. He is a sou of Brad- 
ford and Amelia R. (Standish) Burlin, and was 
born in Jamestown, Chautautpia county, New 
York, December IS, 1842. His ancestors were 
long to the manor born, the paternal side com- 
ing from the Green Mountain State, while his 
mother's early fathers were Puritans, and .'ihe a 
direct lineal descendant of the renowned Cap- 
tain Miles Standish. His grandfixther, John 
Burlin, lived and died a citizen of Vermont, 
and the maternal grandfather, Samuel Standish, 
was reared and resided in Washington county, 
this State. His father was a soldier in the war 
of 1812, and served with credit and distinction. 
Bradford Burlin came to Chautauqua county in 
1832, and built a hou.se in the vicinity of Broc- 
ton, afterwards, in 1838, coming into James- 
town where he died, November 10, 1864. 
While living at Brocton he kept a hotel, but 
his business in this city was the manufacture of 
wagons until the year 1859, when he sold out 
and engaged in milling at Dexterville, besides 
owning and cultivating a farm in the town oi 
Poland. Mr. Burlin was a democrat, and a 
prominent member of Ellicott Lodge, No. 221, 
I. O. O. F. He was married to Amelia R. 
Standish in 1832, and had six children : George, 
died in infancy ; Robert H., is a contractor of 
Cleveland, Ohio. He served in Co. H, 6th 
regiment, Indiana Infantry, entering in 1S61, 



BIOGRAPHY AXl) HISTORY 



and remaining three years, a portion of the time 
a non-commissioned officer, and being attached 
to the Army of the Cumberland, was present at 
the battle of Chattanooga, where he was 
wounded ; Anson A. ; Charles, who died young ; 
Louisa I. and Samuel P., who left home in 
1883, and has not since been heard of. 

Anson A. Burlin received a college education 
and, when in his twentieth year, enlisted in Co. 
A, 112th regiment, New York Infantry, serv- 
ing until the close of the war. The greater 
portion of his active .service was rendered along 
the Atlantic coast, being with his regiment until 
December 20, 1863. He was then detailed for 
recruiting service, and coming north, was in 
New York until May 4, 1864. Eeturning to 
the front and rejoining his regiment, he was 
again detailed, this time for service as orderly 
at brigade headquarters, remaining there until 
February 20, 1865, when he again joined his 
company, but four days later he was sent to 
headquarters of the 20th army corps, and en- 
gaged iu the printing ile])artment, where he 
stayed until discharged at the close of the war. 
Being mu.stered out of service, he came back to 
Jamestown and soon opened an establishment 
for the manufacture of wagons and carriages, 
running it for one year, and theu went into the 
oil business at Oil Creek, Pa., afterwards re- 
turning to Jamestown, and entered mercautile 
life, following it about ten years. This, in turn 
was succeeded by a news and stationery store, 
continued for five years, and then he went to 
Virginia and lumbered, subsequently running a 
steamboat for one year on Lake Chautauqua. 
He then returned to manufacturing, this time 
wood seat chairs, when in 1889 he quit that and 
has since been living in retirement. 

In political matters Mr. Burlin is a demo- 
crat and a prominent secret society man, being 
a member of Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 145, 
F. and A. M., Western Sons Chapter ; and 
Jamestown Commandtry, and is also connected 
with James M. Brown Post, No. 285, G. A. R. 



HONORABLE WAKKEX B. HOOKER. 
They who have won prominent position 
and honorable distinction in life are not all old 
men. In political, as in business or military 
life, those who '.vin the rank of leaders, do so 
at an early age, or else give decided earnest of 
future achievement. Of that class of young 
men in Chautauqua county, who have won suc- 
cess by their own eiforts, is Hon. Warren B. 
Hooker, the present member of Congress from 
the Thirty-fourth congressional district of New 
York, composed of the counties of Allegany, 
Chautauqua and Cattaraugus. He is a son of 
John and Philena (Waterman) Hooker, and 
was born at Perrysburg, Cattaraugus county, 
New York, November 24, 1850. John Hooker 
was a native of Vermont, and .settled iu Cattar- 
augus county, where he was a leading farmer at 
the time of his death, June 24, 1888, when in 
the eighty-second year of his age. He married 
Philena Waterman, of Massachusetts, who 
passed away iu 1883, aged seventy years. 

Warren B. Hooker was reared on the farm 
and received his education at Forestville acad- 
emy, from which he was graduated in the class 
of 1872. At the close of his academic course, 
he determined upon law as a life vocation, and 
pursued his legal studies with J. G. Record, of 
Forestville, this county. He was admitted to 
the bar in 1879, and practiced in Chautau(]ua 
county until 1882, when he went west. At the 
end of two years he returned to Chautauqua 
county, and established himself in active prac- 
tice at Fredonia, where he has remained ever 
since. His political career commenced in 1878, 
when he was elected special surrogate of Chau- 
tauqua county, which position he held for three 
years. In 1890 he recei%'ed the nomination of 
his party for Congress over several popular and 
able republican leaders, and at the ensuing elec- 
tion had a majority of 5,726 votes over his 
democratic opponent. 

On September 11, 1884, he united in mar- 
riage with Etta E. Abbev, dau<j,liter of Chaun- 



OF CHAVTAVqVA COl'NTY. 



cey Abbey (see his sketch in tiiis vohime). 
They have two ehiklren : Sherman A. and 
Florence E. 

In addition to the duties of his profession 
and the calls iii)on hiin in the political field, he 
has always found time to serve his fellow- 
towusnieu, or to labor in any movement for the 
benefit of Fredonia or the county. When Mr. 
Hooker was elected to Congress from his dis- 
trict, he was a member of the Board of Super- 
visors of Chautauqua, which position he held 
two years, the second time being the nominee of 
both the Eepublican and Democratic parties. 
In politics Warren B. Hooker has steadily sup- 
ported the Republican party and its cardinal 
principles, while the part he has taken and the 
measures which he has advocated in political 
affairs has always met with the popular ap- 
proval of his own party, and never failed to 
command the respect of his opponents. 



"T^HO:>IAS J. XEWET.L i-^ a son of Harvey 
*~ C. and Jane E. (Buck) Xewell, and was 
born in Sherman, Chautauqua county, New 
York, February 29th, 1848. His grandfatlier, 
Jesse Newell, was a native of Connecticut and 
emigrated to Genesee county, this State, when 
in 1822 he came to Sherman, in this county, 
where he owned and cultivated a farm of two 
hundred acres, and where he died, aged ninety- 
one years. In politics he was a democrat. He 
took great delight in military aifairs and was a 
captain in the New York State militia. Jesse 
Newell married Amarias Cole, by whom he had 
eleven cliildren, six sons and five daughters, all 
living but Harvey C. (father). One of the 
SODS, Thomas, served in the army in the late 
war. The maternal grandfather of Thomas J. 
Newell was Lansing L. Buck, a native of Con- 
necticut, who came to Sherman, in this county, 
about the time the Newells did (1822), when 
this locality was a dense forest. He was a far- 
mer by occupation, and an influential man 
among tlie pioneers here. Lansing L. Buck 



married Lydia Lewis and had four children, 
one .son and three daughters ; the son and one of 
the daughters are still living. Wallace, the 
son, is engaged in manufacturing in Bellville, 
N. J. Harvoy C. Newell (fatiier) was born in 
Connecticut, January 28, 1816, and died in 
Sherman, this county, in 18(57, 'aged fifty-one 
years. His jirincipal occupation was that of a 
farmer. In religion he was a memlier of the 
Methodist church, as was also his wife, and in 
politics he was a republican. 

Harvey C. Newell was married to Jane E. 
Buck, by whom he had four cliildren, three 
sons and one daughter : James H., who is in 
mercantile business at Belvidere, Nebraska ; 
Thomas J. ; Mary A., who married G. W. Tas- 
sell, a merchant, and lives in Iroquois, South 
Dakota ; and Ziba J., who is a railroad con- 
ductor and lives in Broctou, this county. 

Thomas J. Newell in 1869, engaged in the 
mercantile business at North Clymer, this 
county, where he kept a general store for eleven 
years, and in 1880 came to Sherman and opened 
a grocery store, in which l>e still continues. In 
politics he is a republican, and is now on his 
si.Kth term as town clerk, and is also village 
clerk. While he was at North Clymer he M-as 
appointed postmaster there. Thomas J. Newell 
was married November 24, 1870 to Sarah E. 
Pitt, a daughter of N. Pitt, and has two 
children, a son and daugliter: Edith E. and 
Clitibrd H. 



TOHX W. PITTS was the son of John and 

^ Charlotte Pitts, and was born in England 
Augast 29, 1829. John Pitts (father) was a 
native of England, and came from there to 
America, settling at Chatham, Columbia county, 
N. Y., removing from thence to the State of 
Iowa, where both himself and wife died. 

John W. Pitts secured his education while 
young and went into a store when a mere boy, 
and after a clerkship of several years, established 
iiiinself in a .store, first at Canaan, N. Y., where 



BIOGRAPHY ASI) HISTORY 



he was a general merchant and postmaster for 
a number of years, and iu 1866 he came to 
Jamestown and opened a grocery store ht No. 
209 Main street, which he conducted for several 
years, then built a brick store on Third street 
and removed there, but failing health compelled 
him to give up all business three years before 
his death, which occurred in December, 1881. 
In 1850, he married Lucy E. Bristol, a daughter 
of George and Sarah (Hutchinson) Bristol. 
This gentleman was a native of Columbia 
county, but removed to Oswego, Tioga county, 
where he died. 

Mr. and Mrs. Pitts had nine children (five 
living), four sons and one daughter : Henry, 
married Allie Bassett, and lives in Washington, 
D. C, where he is engaged iu handling dressed 
beef; Sarah B., is the wife of Henry Anderson 
and lives in Brooklyn, X. Y., where her hus- 
band is employed as an instructor iu the gym- 
nasium of the Adelphi academy ; J. Edwin is 
employed in the U. S. Railway Mail service, and 
married Agnes Kretch, of Corry, Pa. ; William 
is employed in Jamestown, by A. D. Sharp, 
who is in the dry goods business ; and George is 
a book-keeper in the liardware store of Clark & 
Co., of Jamestown. 

Mr. Pitts was a memlier of the Congrega- 
tional church in this city and belonged to the 
Kniglits of Honor and Royal Templars. He 
was a sterling gentleman, and his death, when 
but fifty-two years of age, was mourned by his 
sorrowing widow and a large circle of friends. 
His remains were interred in Lake A^iew cem- 
etery at Jamestown. 



FKANK HUNT, D.V.S., comes from a long 
line of farmers, his great-grandfather, of 
whom we are first apprised, following that 
occupation in New England, and he was fol- 
lowed iu the same work in turn by each suc- 
ceeding generation ; Dr. Hunt being so em- 
ployed until 1884. But while agriculture is 
among the noblest of man's pursuits, an active 



mind and ambitious disposition often seeks a 
broader field, and this is what our subject 
decided to do iu 1884. Leaving the farm he 
came to Jamestown and entered the insurance 
business, which he followed for two years, when 
he decided to attend the Ontario Veterinary 
College of Toronto. He matriculated in 1886, 
and pursuing the study with interest, he gradu- 
ated in 1887, since which time he has been suc- 
cessfully practicing his profession in the city of 
Jamestown, but retains his interest in his farm 
just inside the city. Mr. Hunt was born at 
Ellicott (now within the limits of the city of 
Jamestown) on the twenty-eighth day of Janu- 
ary, 1857, and is a son of John L. and Orilla 
Hunt. John L. Hunt is a .son of Elvin Hunt, 
whose father came from New England. Orilla, 
wife of John L. Hunt, was a daughter of 
George R. Nelson, a native of England, but 
who came to America, and located in Chautau- 
qua county, New York. He left there in 1860 
and went to Minnesota, where he settled and 
afterwards died. Elvin Hunt was born in 
Washington county, New York, but located 
near Jamestown, on what is now known as the 
Hunt road. He was a farmer, and in politics 
affiliated with the whigs, although like his 
children since, he never aspired to be an office 
holder. He married Sylvia Lee, and with her 
raised a family of six boys and four girls, 
nearly all of wliom settled adjacent to James- 
town. Of this large family all were farmers, 
excepting one who was a machinist. John L. 
Hunt was born in Washington county, New 
York, iu 1840, and moved to Chautauqua 
county with his parents when a small boy, 
where he died, when forty-four years of age. 
He was the father of four children, one of whom 
died young. Of the others George E. married 
Lizzie Loucks, and is living in the city of 
Jamestown on the Hunt road. He has two 
children : John L. and George E. Jr. ; and 
William H., who is employed in Jamestown. 
Dr. Hunt led to the altar Miss Kate 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTV. 



L. Crosby, whose father, Eliakam Crosby, 
one of the earliest settlers of the county, 
served the people acceptably as justice of the 
peace, and died in tiie town of Poland, of 
which place he was one of the original settlers. 
Dr. Hunt is a republican, but the office-holding 
bee does not buzz in his iiat. He is satisfied 
that those who desire them siiall have the trials 
and cares of jwlitical life, and is glad to see 
them secure all the honor and emoluments thej' 
honestly can. His veterinary practice, which is 
constantly growing, takes all of his time. Be- 
ing a good friend, he is pojiular with all his 
acquaintances. 



JOHXA. 



SLOTBOOX is a son of Garrett 
and Scena (Huytink) Slotboon, and 
was born in Holland, May 22, 1S41. His pa- 
ternal grandfather was also a native of Hol- 
land, where he lived and died. John Huytink 
(maternal grandfather) was likewise a native and 
life-long resident of Holland, and died there. 
His wife, after his death, came to America and 
died in Albany, this State, aged ninety years. 
Garrett J. Slotboon (father) was born in Hol- 
land, February 6, 1802, emigrated to America, 
spending his first winter in Albany, and came 
to this county in 1847, locating in Mina. 
Afterwards he came to Clymer about 1850, 
where he died September (j, 1885. He was a 
farmer by occupation, in politics was a republi- 
can, and in religion was a member of the Re- 
formed church. ^Yhile in Holland he had, in 
compliance with the laws of that country, 
served his time in the regular army. In 1832, 
he married Scena Huytink, a daughter of John 
Huytink, by whom he had five children, four 
of whom are living, all in this county; three 
of them in the town of Clymer. 

John A. Slotboon was educated in the com- 
mon schools of Clymer, this county, and began 
life as .a farmer. He enlisted August 11, 1862, 
in Co. D, 112th regiment, N. Y. Vols., and 
served until the close of the war, when he was 



honorably discharged June 8, 1865. He was 
promoted to corporal, aud participated in the 
siege of Suffolk aud the Ijattle of Blaekwater, 
siege of Charleston, capture of Ft. Wagner aud 
bombardment of Ft. Sumter, went into Florida 
during the campaign there, thence to Bermuda 
Hundred, and Avas wounded at the battle of 
Cold Harbor, Va., June 1, 1864. In April, 
1866, he entered the mercantile business at Cly- 
mer Hill, continuing in the same for about 
twenty-five years, and then moved to Clymer 
village, where he has been in business ever 
since, owning and running a first-class general 
store, aud doing a large business. Politically 
he is a republican, and served as a justice of 
the peace of Clymer four years, declining a re- 
election, and has also served as suj)ervisor of 
Clymer seven years. 

John A. Slotboon was married on January 
13, 1866, to Magdalene Kooman, a daughter 
of Peter Kooman, of Dutch extraction, but 
born near Antwerp, and emigrated to Buffalo, 
this State, in 1847, where he resided eleven 
years, and then came to this county, settling in 
Clymer, where he died January 6, 1879, aged 
seventy-three years. To Mr. and ]\Irs. Slot- 
boon have been born five children : Sarah W., 
wife of Abrara Beckriuk, a gardener in James- 
town, near Falconer, they have one child, a 
son, Marvin Edward ; William Leonard, who 
lives in Clymer, and is iu business with his 
father ; Ada Paulina, at home ; one who died 
in infancy ; and Lvdia Louisa. 



TT JOHX PETERSOX was born a subject 
'^*-» of the King of Sweden, on June 18, 
1844, and is a son of Andrew and Anna 
(Thranck) Peterson, of the town of Kaulstarp. 
His grandfather, Peter Peterson, was a life-long 
resident of his native land, Sweden, but his 
maternal grandfather, John P. Thranck, emi- 
grated to America and settled in Jamestown, 
where he resided until his death. He was a 
carpenter aud farmer, in politics a republican. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



aiul in religion a Metliodist. He married 
and reared cliildren. His fatlier, Andrew 
Peterson a native of Sweden, was born about 
1815. He came to America in 1858, located in 
Jamestown, but subsequently removed to Sugar 
Grove, Pa., wbere lie remained one year, and 
tlien returned to Jamestown, wbere be passed 
the remainder of bis life. By trade he was a 
carpenter and joiner, and was also a contractor 
and builder. He was a republican in politics, 
a member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
and married Anna Thrauck, by whom he bad 
nine children : Theodore, enlisted in the Union 
army, July, 18(52, in Co. A, 112th regiment, 
X. Y. Vols., and served until the clo.se of the 
war. He was wounded in the arm at the battle 
of Cold Harbor, but this did not prevent his 
engaging in .several other battles, and died in 
Jamestown, July 27, 1881 ; Louisa married 
Peter Morgan, who was drowned in Lake Chau- 
tauqua, and after his death married John 
Kofod, of Jamestown; Matilda, wife of George 
Howard, of Jamestown ; Christina, married to 
James Holmes, of Jamestown ; Josephine, wife 
of Gustavus Carlson, a tailor of Jamestown ; 
William 0., married to Aleoia Tingwall for bis 
first wife and after her death married Dora 
Fox, and resides in Jamestown ; and Edward 
A., married to Edith Kirkpatrick, and is a 
salesman in bis brother's store. 

A. John Peterson received a common scliool 
education in Jamestown, supplemented by a prac- 
tical business experience and by wide reading 
and ob-servatiou. He began life on his own ac- 
count as a contractor and builder with his father 
and brother, and after his father's death he 
formed a partnership with his brother under 
the firm name of T. & A. J. Peterson, continu- 
ing therein fifteen years. During the latter 
part of that period they also engaged in the 
grocery business at No. 110 Main street, and 
finally abandoned contracting and building and 
devoted their attention to the grocery business 
uutil 1885, when he sold out, and the following 



year purcha.sed the clothing business in which 
Mr. Peterson .still continues, his brother having 
died. As merchant tailor, clothier, hatter and 
gentlemen's furnisher, he transacts a large and 
paying business. He is a republican in politics 
and has served on the board of aldermen of 
Jamestown two terms. He enlisted with his 
brother Theodore in the same company in July, 
1862, serving until the close of the war, partici- 
pating in all the battles in which the Army of 
tiie Potomac was engaged and never received a 
scratch, although at the battle of Chapin Farm, 
he found seven bullet boles through his clothes 
at the close of the engagement. 

On Aug. 16, 1866, A. J. Peterson united in 
marriage with Clara Lanson, of Jjottsville, Pa., 
and after her death espoused Sophia Jones, of 
Jamestown. Their union has been blest with 
four cbildreu, three .sons and one daughter: 
James C, a clerk in his father's store ; Conrad 
(dead) ; Mabel Jenevieve, and John T. 

Loyal to his adopted country and his friends, 
yet having an affection for his native land, 
liberal in his ideas and broad in his sympathy, 
be is an excellent type of an ideal naturalized 
American. 



TOHX M. HA1{E>ENBI KG is an honest, 

^ industrious and hard-working man, who 
has successfully conducted several farms, mak- 
ing money out of each, and after a more than 
average life-time, spent in agricultural pursuits, 
has, in the sere and yellow leaf of life, turned 
his attention to horticulture and enjoys it, for it 
is healthful, keeps one in touch with advancing 
methods, and is pecuniarily compensating for 
the time and labor employed. At least four 
generations of the family of Hardenburg have 
been Americans by birth, so that the more 
moderate Teutonic blood neutralizes the swifter 
and more nervous fluid which pulsates through 
the veins of an American, whose ancestors 
peopled Albion or Scotia. The paternal grand- 
father of John M. Hardenburg was a native of 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Ulster comity, Xew York, being born in 1775. 
He became a farmer and removed to Oneida 
county, N. Y., locating on a farm there, but not 
being satisfied with his environments, he went 
to Tonjpkins county, where he bought a farm, 
which he a few years after sold and moved to 
Chautauqua, this county, where he purchased a 
farm, which he subsequently sold to his son 
Volkert, father of John M., about 1835. It is 
located nearly four miles from ^Slayville and is 
now owned by Nelson Crandall. He married 
Jane Vedder, by whom he had six children : 
Maria, who married Jacob Mowers ; Betsy, who 
married Israel Denman ; John ; Judith, who 
married Adam Hoffman ; Volkert, father of 
John M. ; Cornelius, whose wife was Adeline 
Tucker; and James. The father of these chil- 
dren died in 1840, and the mother in 1858. 
The maternal grandfather of John ]M. Harden- 
burg, John Miller, was a life-long resident of 
Oneida county. New York. The father of John 
M. was born in Oneida county. New York, 
January 25, 1799, and came to this county in 
1834. He purchased a fifty acre farm three 
miles east of Mayville, worked it a short time 
and selling it, bought the farm of his father 
above alluded to and lived there two years. 
Thence he removed to the south-western part 
of Stockton, this county, where he bought a 
farm of one hundred and sixty-seven acres and 
continued investing in land until he became 
possessed of three hundred acres. He uow lives 
in Portland, Chautauqua county, a hale, hearty 
and hajjpy nouogenarian. He married, October 
4, 1818, Susan Miller, daughter of John Miller, 
of Oneida county. New York, by whom he had 
six children, three sons and three daughters, of 
whom Jane A., the first-born, married George 
Munger, a blacksmith in Portland, this county ; 
Jacob is a farmer and dealer in cattle in West- 
field, and married Antoinette Hassett, Dec. 30, 
1851 ; Catharine, now dead, married Thomas 
Ralph, a farmer in Stockton ; Cornelia, also de- 
ceased, married Stephen Reinhart, January 9, 



1850. He is a farmer in Stockton, this county ; 
and Henry, a farmer in Westtield, married 
Diana Pane. The mother of these ciiildren died 
August 1st, 1868, and was buried at Westfield. 

John M. Hardenburg, a son of Volkert and 
Susan (Miller) Hardenburg, was born in 
Oneida county. New York, October 4th, 1823, 
and was educated in the common schools of 
Stockton, which he continued to attend, but 
only a few montiis in each year, until he was 
twenty-foiu' years old, when he rented a farm iu 
Stockton, where he remained two years and 
then bought a farm of one hundred acres, which 
he cultivated a brief time and sold it, only to 
buy another comprising one hundred and 
fifteen acres, on which he remained fourteen 
years. He then disposed of it and removed to 
Portland, where he purchased a smaller farm, 
some sixty acres, and lived three years. He 
bought, occupied and sold these farms success- 
ively and after the disposal of the third, he re- 
moved to Westfield, where he conducted a dairy 
farm for one year. Returning to Portland he 
purchased a farm of one hundred and sixty 
acres and occupied it sixteen years, after which, 
he sold it and came to Fredonia, whoe he now 
owns seven acres in the village on which he raises 
choice grapes. In religion he is a member of 
the Baptist church. 

John M. Hardenburg was married to Juliu 
A. Denton, September 12, 1848. She was a 
daughter of Fowler and Sophia (Colwell) 
Denton (her father being a farmer in Stockton), 
and by her had two .sons and two daughters, of 
whom Sophia, the eldest, married Homer Burr, 
a farmer in Portland, the union resulting in 
eigiit children ; Medora married A. J. Walker, 
a grape-grower in Portland, and they have one 
child ; Warren died in infancy ; and Fowler 
Denton, a grape-grower in Portland, who mar- 
ried Lizzie Burrows, and they have three 
children. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



^HARLES 31. DOUGLASS, a descenJant 
^^ of one of tlie pioneer families of Cliaii- 
tauqua county, is a son of Zattu and Elizabeth 
(Frazier) Douglass, and was born in the town 
of Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, N."Y., June 
21, 1839. The Douglass family is of Scotch 
descent, and one of its members, Richard Doug- 
lass (grandfather), was a native of Connecticut, 
but removed early iu the present century to 
Chautauqua county, and bought a farm in the 
town of Dunkirk, which embraced part of the 
present site of Dunkirk city. He was a prom- 
inent Freemason, and although his " clearing " 
did not consist of over fifty acres, yet he M'as 
considered one of the rich men of Chautauqua 
county at that time, for his farm was one of the 
few to supply provisions to the new settlers 
until such time as their land would be cleared 
and become productive. One of his sons, Zattu 
Douglass (father), was born in the State of Ver- 
mont, and was engaged iu farming during the 
most of his life. He was a stanch supporter of 
the Republican party until he died in October, 
1862. In 1835 he married Elizabeth Frazier, 
daughter of Fill Frazier, of Chautauqua county, 
by whom he had seven children. 

Charles INI. Douglass was reared on his father's 
farm, and attended the subscription schools of 
the town of Dunkirk. He owns a valuable 
farm, about one-half mile southeast of the city, 
on which he has resided all his life. In addition 
to his own farm he cultivates the lands of sevei'al 
of his neighbors. 

On April 27, 18G7, he married Dinah Harri- 
.son, a native of England. To their union have 
been born five children : Frederick and Diana, 
twins, were born January 27, 1868 ; Charles 
M., Jr., born March 20, 1869; Clarence E., 
born July 27, 1872; Arthur, born April 1-5, 
1878 ; and Walter, born October 7, 1886. 

Charles M. Douglass is a republican in poli- 
tics, and is ranked among the energetic farmers 
of his town. 



rj BKAH.\3I BULL, the sexton at Lake View 
'•^*- cemetery, is a son of Benjamin and Ann 
(Lyons) Bull, and was born in the city of 
London, England, November 5, 1836. His 
grandfathei-, Abraham Bull, was a native of 
England, but emigrated to Amei'ica and settled 
at Jamestown, remaining, however, but a short 
time, when he returned to his native land and 
died. He gained a livelihood by following the 
sea. The maternal grandfather, John Lyons, 
came from Ireland. When Xapoleou was lead- 
ing his seemingly irresistible forces to victory 
after victory, until he met with disa.ster, dis- 
grace and a banishment to end in death at St. 
Helena, Mr. Lyons joined the army that defeated 
him and was never heard of after the battle. 
Benjamin Bull was born in England in 1812, 
and came to America, settling at .Jamestown 
about 1849, where he still resides. He married 
Ann Lyons, who is still living, and by whom 
he had ten children, five S()ns and five daughters. 
Politically, INIr. Bull affiliates with the Repub- 
lican party. 

Abraham Bull received such education as his 
own efforts would secure him, and in early life 
was a day laborer. Mr. Bull is, and since April 
10, 1864, has been, the sexton at Lake View 
cemetery, performing the trying and responsible 
duties satisfactorily. 

On November 30, 1857, he married Lucy 
Cossart, daughter of Peter and Roxanna Cos- 
sart, of Jamestown. They have had five chil- 
dren : Jennie, mai'ried Perry Goodwin, a son of 
Augustus Goodwiu, and lives in Jamestown ; 
Nellie, wife of Darwin Clark, a farmer; Faunie 
(dead) ; Lucy, wedded Frank Dickerson, a resi- 
dent of Jamestown ; and Ciyda (dead). 

Politically, Mr. Bull is a republican, belongs 
to tiie ^Methodist church, and is a member of 
•Jamestown lodge. No. 34, A. O. U. W., and of 
Chautauqua Lake lodge. No. 46, Knights of 
Honor. The Jamestown Journal, speaking of 
the beautiful Lake View cemetery, says : 
" Twenty years have elapsed since Abraham 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Bull was first appointed sexton of Lake View 
cemetery, which is nearly ever since it was first 
used. It is now one of the best kept concerns 
in the country, nicely laid out in walks and 
drives. He has always been reliable, and 
carried out his portion of every contract to the 
letter." 



Y\ H. LIBBY, who served for twenty-one 
"**■• years as foreman of the H. G. Rrooks 
Locomotive works, of Dunkirk, was born in 
the town of Gorham, Cumberland county, 
Maine, December 20, 1819, and is a son of 
Daniel and Martha Ann (]\Iorton) Libby. Tlie 
Libby family is of English descent and some of 
its members were among the earliest and fore- 
most settlers of the province of Maine. In a 
book compiled and published by Charles T. 
Libby of Portland, Maine, the history of the 
Libby family is accurately traced from 1602 to 
1881. Simeon Libby, the grandfather of Al- 
bert H. Libby, w-as a Maine farmer, born Sep- 
tember 3, 1755, and served as a soldier in one 
of the Indian wars of the frontier and in the 
War of 1812. He died March 11, 18.50, when 
considerably past his four-score years of age. 
His son, Daniel Libby (father), was born on the 
home farm, March 18, 1792, and learned tiie 
trade of wheel-wright and carpenter, wliicli he 
followed for some years before turning his at- 
tention to farming. He was an attendant of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, a strong dem- 
ocrat, like his father before him, and died in 
Gorham, Maine, May 11, 1826, at the early 
age of thirty-four years. His wife, Martha 
Ann Morton, was a Methodist and a native of 
Gorham, where she died in 1821, when but 
twenty-one years of age. 

Albert IT. Libby grew to manhood in his 
native town. As his parents died when he was 
quite small he was compelled to do for himself 
at an early age, and thus was able to secure but 
a limited education. He learned the trade of 
blacksmith and upon attaining his majority re- i 



moved from Gorham to Portland, in the same 
State,wliere he was foreman of the Portland 
Company's locomotive and nuu-liine works for 
twelve years. In l.SGO he left his native State 
and came to Dunkirk where he became fore- 
man of the H. G. Brooks Locomotive works, 
now the largest manufacturing establishment of 
the city, which position he held until 1881, 
when he resigned. Since leaving the locomo- 
tive works, Mr. Libby has been engaged to 
j some extent in the real estate business, in which 
his investments have been reasonably profitable. 
He now resides with his son, Frank L. Libby. 
On the 12th of August, 1845, he married 
Eliza A. Woodward, a daughter of Samuel 
Woodward, of Gorham, Maine, and who died 
in January, 1881, leaving three children, one 
son and two daughters : Josephine A., wife of 
Francis Lake ; Clara I., married to Arthur J. 
Scott ; and Frank L., who married Margaret 
J. Morris, and resides in Dunkirk. Mr. Lib- 
by has seven grandchildren : Florence I., daugh- 
ter of Mrs. Lake ; Emma L., Nettie L., and" 
Gertrude A., daughters of Mrs. Scott; and 
Mabel S., Alice Gertrude, and Albert W. H., 
children of Frank L. 

Politically Mr. Libby is a democrat like his 
father and grandfather before him, and has 
been a member of the common council, besides 
serving several terms as assessor of Dunkirk 
City. He is a Knight Templar in Masonry 
and holds membership in Irondequoit Lodge, 
No. 301, Free and Accepted Masons, Dunkirk, 
N. Y., Dunkirk Chapter, No. 191, High Royal 
Arch Masons and Dunkirk Commandery, No. 
40, Knights Templar, and is a i)ast master and 
a past high priest. 



/^EOROE B. DOUGLASS, a descendant of 
^* the Scotch family of Douglass, who were 
among the earliest settlers of Chautauqua coun- 
ty, is a son of Arnold and Nancy (Baldwin) 
Douglass, and was born on the farm on which 
he now resides, in the town of Dunkirk, Chau- 



BIOORAPJir AXD HISTORY 



tauqiia county, New York, January 14, 1833. 
His grandfather, Richard Douglass, the pioneer, 
was a native of Connecticut and removed with 
his family, in 1806, to Chautauqua county, 
this State. He purchased a large tract of land, 
to which he added from time to time, until he 
owned 750 acres of the finest farming land in 
the county. He was a Free Mason, a member 
of the Baptist church, and died in 184.5. His 
son, Arnold Douglass (father), was born in 
Connecticut, December 14, 1802, and accom- 
panied his parents to Chautauqua county in 
1806. He was a successful farmer, a supporter 
of the Democratic party, aud died .July 6, 1838, ' 
when in the thirty-sixth year of his age. He 
married Xancy Baldwin, daughter of Samuel 
Baldwin, of Pawlet, Vermont. They had three 
children.: George B., Sarah, wife of Russell 
Jones, of Dunkirk ; aud Betsy, who died at the 
age of five years. 

George B. Douglass was reared on his father's 
farm, attended the subscription schools of Chau- 
tauqua county, and learned the trade of carpen- 
ter. In 1856, he went to Illiuois and entered 
the employ of the Illinois Central Railroad 
Company, in the capacity of delivery clerk. 
He remained with them .some time and then 
engaged ia farming and afterwards in carpen- 
tering, until 18G1, when he returned to Dun- 
kirk, where he bought a pi'oductive farm of 
sixtv-five acres (the old homestead), on which 
he has since resided, aud has erected a good 
house, barn, and other necessary out-buildings. 
He has also a vineyard of four acres. 

In 1850 he married Aurelia E. Blakely, 
daughter of David Blakely, of Springville, Erie 
county. New York ; she was the twelfth child 
of fifteen children. They have four children: 
George M., a resident of Dunkirk, in the em- 
ploy of the American Express Company ; 
Frank E., who is engaged in farming near his 
father; Clarence E., baggage master on the 
Dunkirk & Warren R. R.; and Lilly \., who 
died in 1868, at the age of eleven years. 



George B. Douglass is a member of the Bap- 
tist church of Dunkirk, and an active republi- 
can. He has held several of the most impor- 
tant of the offices of his town. He is a pros- 
perous farmer and law-abiding citizen of the 
town of Dunkirk. 



"P3IEKY ^\. FEXTOX, the senior member 
-*"^ of the well-known firm, Fenton, Robert- 
son & Co., of Jamestown, is a son of William 
H. and Hannah (Tracy) Fenton, and was born 
in the village of Fluvanna, Chautauqua county, 
New York, March 23, 1836. The family on 
either side were natives of New England for 
some generations. The paternal grandfather, 
Jacob Fenton, came to Jamestown in 1811, and 
being a potter by trade, he established a kiln 
and pottery between what is now First and 
Second Streets, and manufactured all kinds of 
earthenware. His wife was Lois Hurd, and 
she bore him nine children. Jacob Fenton died 
in 1822. Elias Tracy (maternal grandfather) 
was a native of Vermont, and came to this 
State, locating on the Conewago flats, in 1814, 
where he followed farming until he died. 
William H. Fenton was born in New England 
in 1796, and came to Jamestown when sixteen 
years of age, and entered the earthenware 
manufacturing house with his father. They 
worked together until the old gentleman's death 
in 1822, when William H. Fenton continued 
the business alone until 1826, and then took 
Samuel Whittemoro as a partner. They moved 
their lousiness to Fluvanna. This partnership 
remained effective until 1839, when they dis- 
solved, and W. H. Fenton moved back to 
Jamestown, and shortly after was elected justice 
of the peace, a position that he held for fifty 
years. The old gentleman is still living, hale 
and hearty, and although ninety-five years of 
age is as enthusiastic a republican as can be 
found in the county of Chautauqua. Prior to 
the inception of this party he was a whig. Mr. 
Fenton is a member of the Congregational 



OF CHAVTAVQUA COVyTY. 



cluirch, being the oldest member in the State. 
In 181G he married Hannah Tracy, who bore 
him fourteen children, eight of whom are still 
living: Erasmus D. is living in Minnesota; 
Elias J. is a farmer in Iowa; Harriet is the 
wife (if John Harvey, of Iowa ; Carlos lives in 
Austin, Minn. ; Merriette is Mrs. Charles 
Jeffords, and resides in Jamestown ; Dana is 
engaged in the lumber business here ; and Emily 
H. married James Smith, and lives in this city. 
Emery W. Fenton spent his boyhood days at 
Fluvanna and Jamestown, and attended the 
public schools and academy at the latter place. 
He began to work in a pail factory when about 
eighteen years of age, and followed that line of 
business for a number of years, but at present 
is engaged in the furniture manufacturing, being 
the senior member of the firm of Fenton, 
Robertson & Co., of Jamestown. Their factory 
employs from fifty to seventy-five men, and the 
output of the factory is about fifty thousand 
dollars per yeai'. The plant is equipped with 
all modern improvements, and is one of the 
business enterpri.ses to which Jamestown's citizens 
may point with pride. 

In 18G1 E. W. Fenton married Louise Myers, 
a daughter of Peter JNIyers, of Frewsburg, 
N. Y., and has two daughters living: Lulu E., 
born August 10, 18G8 ; and Grace J., born May 
5, 1871. Both of these young ladies were edu- 
cated at the Jamestown high-school, and are 
charming entertainers. 

Emery W. Fenton is a democrat, and belongs 
to Jamestown lodge. No. 1.3, A. O. U. W., and 
to the Equitable Aid Union. He has been 
throughout his life a straightforward and 
thoroughgoing man, and by his earnest will and 
untiring industry has risen to opulence. He is 
a good citizen and successful business man. 



lllfELVIN J. KNOX, who has been a suc- 
4 cessful contractor and builder for many 

years, has erected man.y of the fine residences in 
Silver Creek, and is one of the most enterprising 



citizens of that village. He was born near 
Wattsburg, Erie county, Pennsylvania, March 
13, 18.5.3, and is a son of Charles and Ami 
(Beart) Knox. His grandfather, James Knox, 
was born in 1794, in Connecticut, and was a 
.soldier in the War of 1812. He resided in 
Sheridan, this county, several years, and died 
in 1866, aged seventy-two years. Charles Knox 
(father) was born in Cortland county, this State, 
on August 24, 1 824. ' For several years he lived 
in Erie county, Pa., but removed to this county 
in 1854, locating in Sheridan, where he remained 
until 1868, when he came to Silver Creek, where 
he has since resided. He is a carpenter by trade, 
but ha.s been a contractor and builder most of 
his life, and politically is a republican. In 
1850 he married Ann Beart, who was born in 
England in 1827, and she bore him five chil- 
dren. 

Melvin J. Knox was reared in this county, 
receiving his education in the common schools, 
and after leaving school at the age of fourteen 
years learned the trade of a carpenter, and has 
worked at it ever since, although he has largely 
added to it by taking up contracting and build- 
ing. He came to Silver Creek in 1868, and 
worked at his vocation until 1884, when he built 
the large plant he now owns on Buffalo street, 
known as the Silver Creek planing-mill, where 
he manufactures doors, sash, blinds, shutters, 
mouldings, lumber, lath, shingles and deals 
largely in builders' hardware and general sup- 
])lies. He is a large contractor and builder, and 
has built all the way from three to twenty-three 
hou.ses a year for several years, and generally 
has a very flourishing and steadily increasing 
business. Politically he is a republican, and is 
assistant chief of the fire department. 

Melvin J. Knox was married, September 8, 
1875, to Lily Holcomb, of Silver Creek. Their 
marriage has been blest with three children, one 
son and two daughters : Edith, Porter and 
Drusilla, aged thirteen, eleven and two years 
respectively. 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



JOHN T. GREE?f, who has been a leading 
citizen and merchant of Sherman, this 
county, for twenty-seven years, was born Janu- 
uary 31, 1829, in Lincolnshire, a pastoral 
coainty on the east coast of England, and is a 
son of William and Martha (Tomlinsou) Green, 
both natives of the same place. His parents 
came to America in 1830, locating near Utica, 
this State, for a short time, thence coming to 
Chautauqua town, and finally settled in Sher- 
man, this county, where the father spent the 
remainder of his life. He was a carpenter and 
joiner by trade, was supervisor of the town of 
Sherman from 1856 to 1857, and in 1858, 
married Martha Tomlinson, by whom he had 
five children. He died March 25, 1862, at the 
age of fifty -nine years. 

John T. Green was reared on a farm, and re- 
ceived his education in the common schools. 
After leaving school he learned the carpenter 
trade, at which he worked for a short time, 
when he bought out the firm of Adams & Har- 
rington, and engaged in the mercantile business, 
associating with him W. F. Green, now cashier 
of the bank of Sherman, the firm name being 
J. T. & W. F. Green, which w-as dissolved in 
1886, since which time John T. Green has car- 
ried on the business alone. He also owns two 
hundred acres of good land near Sherman, was 
supervisor of that town from 1870 to 1872, and 
was again elected in 1874. In politics he is a 
republican, and when the village of Sherman 
was formed, he was elected its first president, 
in October, 1890, and at the spring election in 
1891, he was re-elected. This is a distinction 
of which any man might feel proud. 

John T. Green was married January 7, 1851, 
to Livia P. Hall, a daughter of Ahira Hall, a 
farmer of Portland, this county. Mr. and Mrs. 
Green have been blest with three children, two 
sons and one daughter : William A., the eldest 
son, is now in Australia, having been sent there 
by a manufacturing syndicate to represent them ; 
Frederick R., who is the present cashier of the 



Fredonia National Bank, this county ; and 
Florence, is at home. 



TA3IES A'ES'CENT is one of the largest 

^ dealers in cattle, and is one of the prosper- 
ous and enterprising farmers of this county. 
He is a son of Sampson and Rhoba (Smith) 
Vincent, and was born in Herkimer county, 
New York, December 14, 1818. His grand- 
father, Caleb Vincent, was a resident of Herk- 
imer county for a number of years, but was 
born in Providence, Rhode Island. By occu- 
pation he was a farmer, and died in Crawfoi-d 
county, Pennsylvania. He married, and had 
five children, four sons and one daughter. The 
maternal grandfather of James Vincent was a 
Mr. Smith, who was born near Utica, Oneida 
county, this State, where he died. Sampson 
Vincent (father) was born in Rhode Island, 
and came to this county in 1825, and located 
on a farm of three hundred and fifty acres in 
Sherman, which, with the help of a few hired 
men, he cultivated, in connection with running 
a saw-mill, the remainder of his life. In re- 
ligion he was a member of the Free Will Bap- 
tist church, and in politics belonged to the whig 
party first, then became an abolitionist, and 
later on joined the republican party. He served 
a short time in the war of 1812, being sta- 
tioned at Sackett's Harbor, this State, on the 
east shore of Lake Ontario. Sampson Vin- 
cent married Rhoba Smith, by whom he had 
eleven children, eight sons and three daughters, 
all the daughters and two of the sons being 
dead. Of the sons living, Dressor B. lives in 
Cold Water, a manufacturing city in Branch 
county, Michigan, and having studied medicine, 
is a practicing physician there; Jeremiah H. is 
a farmer in Wyoming county, this State ; 
Walker B., William B., and Stephen D., are 
all farmers in Sherman ; also James. 

James Vincent was educated in the common 
schools, and began his business career as a farm- 
er and a cattle dealer, having nearly always 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTi'. 



157 



dealt extensively in cattle. He owns a farm of 
four hundred acres in Sherman, which he oper- 
ates. Some years he has bought and sold two 
thousand head of cattle. When the Sherman 
bank was organized in 1883, he was one of the 
first board of directors, and has been a promi- 
nent member of the directorate ever since. 
In politics he is a republican, and has served 
two terms as road commissioner. When he 
was tweuty-five years old he was elected a jus- 
tice of the peace, but would not serve. James 
Vincent was married in 1845 to Ann Price, a 
daughter of Alexander .Price, of Owasco, 
N. Y., and by her has had three children, one 
son and two daughters : Jay S., who is a grad- 
uate of Eastman's business college in Pough- 
keepsie. New York, and a hotel-keeper at 
Eureka Spring,?, Ark. He is married, and has 
one sou, Claude; Mary, married to Cornelius 
Myrick, formerly a hardware merchant, and 
now owns two large farms in Sherman ; they 
have one child, a son, Preston R. ; Adelaide, a 
graduate of Syracuse University, who is mar- 
ried to Almon Taylor, the principal of the 
Union school at Westfield, and has one son and 
one daughter : Vincent and Katheryn. 



TOSEPHUS H. CLARK, M'ell known to 

^^ the citizens of Jamestown, for a number 
of years as president of the Board of Education, 
was born in Worcester county, ]\Ias.sachu.setts, 
December 1, 1819. He attended the common 
.schools of the Commonwealth of Massachu.setts, 
and in 18-30 removed to Chautauqua county, to 
the town of Carroll. Five years later he came 
to Jamestown and learned the trade of foundry- 
man, at which he worked for about eight years 
as a day workman. In 1851 he purchased the 
foundry on Fourth street and has run it, and a 
machine-shop in connection with it ever since, 
employing some fifteen men. July 13, 1851, 
he married Jane Marsh, a daugliter of Closes 
Marsh, formerly of Sutton, Massachusetts. Jo- 
sephus H. Clark is an active member of the 



Eepublican party in Jamestown, and has served 
as one of the Board of village trustees, of which 
board he was president. For twenty-one years 
he had been j^i'ominently connected with the 
educational interests of Jamestown, and for fif- 
teen years has been president of tlie Board of 
education. He attends the Baptist church and 
has been one of the trustees of that churcii for 
over thirty years. 



nEV. WILLIAM LYMAN HYDE, a min- 
ister of the Presbyterian church and a 
graduate of Bowdoin college, is a son of Capt. 
Henry and Maria (Hyde) Hyde, and was born 
at Bath, Maine, December 27, 1819. The first 
record that we have of the Hyde family in the 
United States is in 1636, when the name of 
William Hyde appears in the municipal affairs 
of Hartford, Connecticut. He soon thereafter 
removed to Norwich, that State, where he was 
frequently elected and served as a selectman. 
From him was descended General Elijah Clark 
Hyde, the paternal great-grandfather of Rev. 
W. L. Hyde, who was born on June 14, 
1735, at Lebanon, Connecticut, where he died 
on the last day of the first year of the present 
century. He was the confidential friend of 
Gov. Trumbull and served as Washington's 
cpiartermaster-general during the Revolutionary 
war. His son Zabdial (grandfather) was born 
June 4, 1762, at Lebanon, served at eighteen 
years of age in the closing struggles of the revo- 
lutionary conte.st and afterwards removed to 
Bath, Maine, where he died May 15, 1842. 
He married Mary Lyman and reared a family 
of eleven children, one of whom was Capt. 
Henry Hyde (father), who was born at Lebanon 
in 1792, and died at Bath, Maine, November 4, 
1873. He was a book-seller by occupation, 
served as captain of an artillery company in the 
Maine militia for several years, held the office of 
notai'v public fiir .several terms and was a whig 
in polifics. He was twice married. His first 
wife was Maria Hyde, his tiiiid c(jusin, by 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



whom he hail one child — Rev. W. L. Hyde, 

and after her death he married Elizabeth Lov- 
ett, of Beverly, Massachusetts, who bore liiiii 
three childreu — Henry, of Maine, and two who 
died young. 

William Lyman Hyde received his education 
at Bowdoin college, from which he was gradu- 
ated in the class of 1842. Leaving college he 
completed his theological studies, entered the 
ministry of the Presbyterian church and was 
ordained May 4, 184!). He was first settled as 
a minister over the church at Gardner, Maine, 
in 1849, where he remained until 1856, when 
he accepted the call of the Presbyterian church 
of Dunkirk, this county, of which he had charge 
for six years. At the end of that time (18(32) 
he became chaplain of the 112th regiment. New 
York Vols, and served until the close of the 
war, wheu he accepted a call from the Presby- 
terian church at Ripley. He left Ripley in 
1871 to become pastor of Sherman Presbyterian 
church, with which he labored until 1874. 
For the next ten years he was principal of the 
high school at Ovid, N. Y. In 1884 he came to 
Jamestown, where he has been principally en- 
gaged in journalism ever since. Mr. H^'de is a 
republiciui in politics and a member and the 
chaplain of James M. Brown Post, Xo. 285, 
Grand Army of the Republic. 

On May 4, 1852, Rev. W. L. Hyde married 
Frances E. Rice, granddaughter of Dr. Thomas 
Rice, circuit court judge of Wiscassett county, 
Maine. To their union have been born three 
sons — Dr. Henry Warren, a practicing physi- 
cian of Omaha, Nebraska, who married Naucy 
Plato, of Sherman ; Wallace E., who died iu 
infancy, and Captain Frederick W., born at 
Dmdiirk, N. Y., and who is in command of the 
Fenton Guards of Jamestown, where he has 
been editor of the Jamestown Evening Journal 
for fourteen vears. 



/CORNELIUS W. MYRICK is a son of 

^^ Nehemiah and Abba D. (Reed) Myrick, 
and was born May 31st, 184(J, in Chautauqua, 
Chautauqua county, N. Y'. His grandfather 
was John Myrick, who was a native of Putnam 
county, N. Y'., where he was a life-long resi- 
dent and a farmer by occupation. John Myrick 
married Hannah Merritt, by wliom he had six 
children, three sons and three daughters. The 
maternal great-grandfather of C. W. ^lyrick 
was John Reed, who was a native of Middlesex 
county, Connecticut, where he .spent his entire 
life, being by occupation a farmer and black- 
smith. He married Abbie Whitney and by 
her had four children, three sons and a daugh- 
ter. One of the sons was Moses Whitney 
Reed (maternal grandfather of C. W^. Myrick), 
a native also of Middlesex county, where he 
ended his days. He studied for the ministry, 
but was compelled to abandon the idea of 
preaching on account of ill health and turned 
to teaching school for a few years. In his 
religious views he was a Presbyterian, being a 
member of the church of that denomination. 
IMoses Whitney Reed married Polly Middle- 
brook and they had one child, a daughter. His 
wife dying, he married for his second choice 
Hannah Haight, whose father svas a soldier iu 
the Revolutionary war, and by her he had two 
children, both daughters : Miriam, married to 
AVilliam Dougherty, who is in business in New 
Y'ork ; and Abba D. The mother of these tw-o 
children died November 17th, 1886, aged 
ninety-three years. Nehemiah Myrick was 
born in Putnam, New Y^ork, September 3d, 
1806, and for a few years was engaged in the 
river business on the Hudson, coming to this 
county in May, 1838, and .settling in Sherman, 
where he died August 6th, 1876. He entered 
the mercantile business iu Sherman, but for 
several years followed farming in the town of 
Chautauqua. Politically he was a republican, 
and firm in his convictions. Nehemiah Myrick 
was married October 24th, 1831, to Abba D. 



OF CIL 1 [ 'TA I 'Q U. 1 CO I 'XT ) '. 



159 



Heed, a daughter of Moses Whitney Reed, and 
a native of" Connecticut, where she was born 
January 16th, 1814, this union being blessed 
witli four children, three sons and a daugliter : 
Sylvanus H., who was born June 5th, 1833, 
married Mary Ij. Hawley, and lives on the old 
homestead in Chautauqua, where he cultivates 
the farm ; he served in the 112th regiment New 
York Volunteers a few months during the late 
civil war; Elmore, born March 10th, 183G, 
married to Martha Button, and lives in Sharjjs- 
burg, Pennsylvania, where he is a retired mer- 
chant ; Marion E., born December 9th, 18-10; 
and Cornelius W. 

Cornelius W. My rick was educated in the 
common schools of this county, and began his 
business life as a hardware merchant in Sharps- 
burg, Pennsylvania, where he remained five 
yeai's, and then came to Sherman and continued 
in the same business an equal length of time. 
He is now engaged in farming, owning two 
large farms. Politically he is a rei)al;lican. 
Cornelius W. JSIyrick is married to Mary P. 
Vincent, a daughter of James Vincent of Sher- 
man, by whom he has one son, Preston R. 



T 1). 31 AYXAKD is one of the leading drug- 
^^ • gists and pharmacists in Fredonia, and 
has, by his own exertions, accumulated a very 
comfortable competency. He was born in On- 
tario county, New York, June 19, 1820, and is 
a son of John and Sarah (Putney) Maynard. 
His i)aternal grandfather, John Maynard, had 
four sons and one daughter : Elisha ; Need ham ; 
John (father) ; Permelia and Joseph. The last 
named son was a house joiner in Lockport, 
Niagara county, this State, acquired considerable 
property and was one of the influential men in his 
section. John Maynard (father) was born in 
Goshen, Hampshire county, Massachusetts, in 
1783, and was a mechanic and contractor until 
1830, when he came to this county and settled 
in Charlotte, where he bought a farm of one 
hundred and forty acres. Prior to this trans- 



action he had built a mile and a half of the 
Erie canal under the administration and super- 
vision of Governor DeWitt Clinton. He oc- 
cupied and cultivated this farm until his death, 
in 1862, aged seventy-six years. He was col- 
onel of a regiment in the war of 1812, and wor- 
shipful master in a lodge of F. <t A. M. in 
Niagara county. In religion he was a mend)er 
of the Christian church, first in Niagara county 
and then in Sinclairvillc, this county, of which 
he was a deacon for several years. He was 
always a conscientious and able man and filled 
local offices in his town. John Maynard mar- 
ried Sarah Putney, in 1805, and by her had 
seven children, four sons aud three daughters : 
Abigail, who married Pascal Darling, a farmer 
in Michigan ; Almeda, married to Daniel Bur- 
gess, a merchant and extensive farmer in Wis- 
consin, where he owns eight hundred acres ; 
Needham, a farmer in Niagara county, this 
State, where he owns one hundred and sixty- 
five acres, was keejier of Ijockport poor-house 
two 3'ears, married first, Polly Buzbee, second, 
Elmira Culver; Addison, a' farmer in Gerry, 
and merchant in Ellington, this county, and re- 
moved to Michigan, married to Amanda Bron- 
son ; Adeline married Evison Maynard, a far- 
mer and speculator in Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; 
IClisha, who died young ; and J. D. Mrs. May- 
nard died in 1823, aud John Maynard, the fol- 
lowing year, married Charity Andrew, a daugh- 
ter of Loudon Andrew of Royalton, Niagara 
county, this State, by whom he had six children, 
three sous and three daughters : John, a farmer 
in Iowa, married to Lydia Smith ; Harriet 
married James Lacker, a farmer in Niagara 
county ; Daniel, a farmer in Wisconsin, married 
to Mary King of Niagara county, this State; 
Eliza married Joel Fletcher, a farmer of 
Greeley, Colorado ; Perry, farmer, but now a 
merchant in Iowa, married to Mary Fletcher ; 
Martha married to Job Reynolds, a wealthy re- 
tired gentleman in Iowa. The second wife of 
John Maynard, died in 1870. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



J. D. Maynard was educated at Siuclairville, 
this county, attending the common schools 
until he was eighteen years old and spending 
two years in the select schools. Being brought 
up on a farm, he worked at farming until he 
left school in 1840, and then labored at the bus- 
iness of carpenter and joiner in summer and 
taught vocal music in winter for eighteen years, 
two years in Pennsylvania and the remainder 
in this State. In 1862 he euliste<l in Co. B., 
112th i-egiment, New York Volunteers, of which 
he was first lieutenant, and served one year, 
during which time he was besieged twenty days 
by General James Longstreet's army, and par- 
ticipated in the battle of Deserted House, where 
the first man of the 112th regiment was killed. 
Lieutenant Maynard's health failing so as to in- 
capacitate him for service, he was honorably 
discharged May 28th, 1863, and in the follow- 
ing September he engaged in selling musical 
instruments, which business he continued for 
three years, then bought an apothecary store in 
Fredonia, a very fine three-story brick, now 
known as Maynard's drug-store, and has con- 
tinued in the drug business ever since, having 
one of the best selected and most complete lines 
of drugs, chemicals, etc., in the county, his 
average stock being worth seven thousand dol- 
lars. A farm of one hundred and thirty-eight 
acres in Siuclairville, is also owned by him. In 
religion he favors the Presbyterian church, 
(Mrs. Maynard being a member), is a constant 
attendant upon its meetings, and contributes 
toward its support. He is a member of Holt 
post, G. A. R. in Fredonia. 

J. D. Maynard was married September 30, 
1845, to Amelia Bronson, a daughter of Samuel 
Bronson, a farmer and mechanic of Siuclairville, 
this county, and this union was blessed by the 
birth of a daughter, Margaret, who was born 
Feb., 1847. She married Charles P. Ingersoll. a 
merchant at Jamestown, who is now in politics, 
having been in the Assembly for several years. 
He is also interested in the insurance business 



in New York city. Margaret was drowned in 
Cassadaga lake with her three-year-old son, July 
3, 1876. Mr. Maynard then took an orphan 
boy, three years old, who is a bright young 
man and has taken the name of Mavnard. 



HOX. HEXKY C. LAIvE, a successful finan- 
cier of Fredonia and an ex-member of the 
Assembly of New York, from the Second dis- 
trict of Chautauqua county, was born in that 
part of Gerry which is now included in the 
town of Charlotte, Chautauqua county, New 
York, May 30, 182-3, and is a son of Calvin 
and Sarah (^Mathers) Lake. The numerous 
Lakes throughout the United States are de- 
scended from three Lake families, one of which 
was of English origin, another of German lin- 
eage and the third of Irish descent. The sub- 
ject of this sketch traces his paternal ancestry 
back to three brothers by the name of Lake, 
who came from England to Massachusetts soon 
after the voyage of the "Mayflower" and the 
landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth. Two of 
these brothers returned to England, while the 
third brother remained and was afterwards 
killed by Indians. One of the descendants of 
this third brother was Henry Lake, grandfather 
of Hon. Henry C. Lake. Henry Lake was a 
resident of New Hampshire, and served in the 
Revolutionary war, and his son, Calvin Lake 
(father), was born in 1792 and died in Septem- 
ber, 1851. Calvin Lake was a native of New 
Hampshire, and in 1819 removed to the town 
of Gerry. Some years previous to his death he 
lost his sight. He married Sarah iNIather, 
daughter of Eu.sebius Mather, of Vermont, who 
was a Revolutionary soldier and a lineal de- 
scendant of the celebrated Rev. Cotton Mather, 
who figured so conspicuously in the early history 
of Massachusetts and New England. 

Henry C. Lake was reared on the farm, at- 
tended Fredonia academy, and after leaving 
school taught several terms in the public schools. 
While teaching he read law for the purpose of 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



fully qualifying himself for business pursuits 
and not with any intention of entering the legal 
profession. In 1851 he removed to Charlotte 
Centre, in tlie town of Charlotte, where he 
opened a general mercantile store and engaged 
in the manufacture of a wood-sawing machine 
for cutting railroad wood, besides giving some 
attention to various other lines of business. In 
1865 he came to Fredonia, where he has resided 
almost uninterruptedly ever since and been en- 
gaged in various business enterprises. He was 
weigher for two years at the New York custom- 
house, and then was appointed assistant surveyor 
of that port, M'hich position he held for over 
four years. Mr. Lake was interested for some 
years in iinancial matters. He was one of the 
proprietors of the Union bank of Fredonia. He 
was also interested in the Chautauqua County 
Savings bank for several years as vice-president 
and director. 

On August 31, 1847, he married ^Margaret 
M. Ames, who is a native of New Hamjjshire. 
Their children are : Clarence H., assistant cash- 
ier of the Ciiautauqua County National bank 
and ex-sheritf of Chautauqua county ; Nellie C. 
and Mary M. 

In ])olitical matters Mr. Lake is a republican 
and has iield the various offices of his native 
town. He was elected in 1862 as a member of 
the Assembly from the Second district of Ciiau- 
tauqua county, was re-elected in 1863 and served 
two full terms as an assemblyman at a very try- 
ing and stormy period in the history of New 
York, when the duties and responsibilities of 
that position were as numerous and important 
as at any other time within the career of the 
Empire State since its colonial days. 



HONORABLE GEORGK BAKKEK, who 
served as a justice of the Supreme Court 
of New York, in the Eighth Judicial District, 
from 1868 to 1889, is one whose career well il- 
lustrates the great lesson that tiiere are few (ib- 
stacles which industry, energy, integrity and in- 



tellectual ability cannot overcome. He was born 
at Venice, Cayuga county, New York, Novem- 
ber 6, 1823, and is a sou of John A. and Phebe 
(Ogden) Barker. His parents Avere botli of 
English ancestry, and his paternal grandfather 
served in the Revolutionary war, in Connecti- 
cut, and removed to Long Island, where he was 
widely known for his kindness, generosity and 
hospitality. His son, John A. Barker (father), 
was born in 1787 and died in Cayuga county in 
1858. He learned the tanning business, which 
he followed in connection with farming, after 
removing, in 1810, to New York. " He was a 
man of activity and energy, of great force of 
character, prosperous in his business pursuits, of 
good repute and of considerable local influence 
in public affairs." In 1810, at Chenango Forks, 
Broome county, he married Phebe Ogden, who 
was born at Elizabeth, N. J., and passed away 
in 1860 in Cayuga county. She was a member 
of that Ogden family of New Jersey, which has 
produced so many eminent and distinguished 
men. One of the able jurists of this family was 
David Ogden, a graduate of Yale college and a 
judge of the Supreme Court of New Jersey, 
whose son, Hon. Abraham Ogden, one of the 
great jury lawyers of his day, was the founder 
of Ogdensburg, New York, and the father of 
Thomas Ludlow Ogden, who was the law part- 
ner of Alexander Hamilton and the legal ad- 
viser of the Holland Land company. Among 
the many other Ogdens of New Jersey who 
were distinguished divines, inventors and states- 
men, was United States Senator Aaron Ogden, 
who graduated at Princeton and served under 
Washington in the Revolutionary war. 

George Barker grew to manhood on his 
father's farm and received his education in the 
common and select schools of his neighborhood 
and Aurora academy. He commenced the study 
of law in 1844, with David ^Yright, of Auburn, 
and was admitted to the bar of that place in 
November, 1847. In January, 1848, he came 
to F'redonia, where he entered upon the practice 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



of his profession and wliere he has resided ever 
since. He was clerk of the village in 1850, 1851 
and 1852, and served as president of the village 
in 1853, 1857 and 1858. In 1853 he was 
elected district attorney of Ciiautanqnu county 
and again in 1862, but resigned before the ex- 
piration of his second term. He devoted his 
time assiduously to the practice of his profession 
with good success until 1867, when he served as 
a member of tiie Constitutional convention of 
New York, of that year, and rendered good ser- 
vice on the committee of '" the judiciary " and 
"the legislature and its organization." His 
colleague from Chautauqua county was Augustus 
F. Allen. After the close of his labors in the 
Constitutional ccmvention, he returned home and 
was elected during the same year as a justice of 
the Supreme Court of New York in the Eighth 
Judicial District, composed of the counties of 
Allegany, Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Erie, Nia- 
gara, Genesee, Orleans and Wyoming, to suc- 
ceed Hon. Martin Grover, whose .second term 
was then expiring. Judge Barker served his 
full term of eight years, was re-elected in 1875 
for a term of fourteen years, and at its expiration, 
in 1889 retired from the bench. In the fol- 
lowing year, 1890, he was appointed and served 
as a member of the commission, consisting of 
thirty-eight members, created by an act of tiie 
legislature, to propose amendments to the article 
of the constitution relative to the judiciary sys- 
tem of thckState, and to report their recommend- 
ations to the legislature for their action. 

On October 13, 1857, Judge Barker married 
Achsah Elizabeth Glisan, of Frederick county, 
JNIaryland. They have one child, a daughter, 
Mary E., who is the wife of John Woodward, 
of Jamestown. 

Judge Barker has never been a politician in 
the popular sense of the term, and while quiet 
and unostentatious in manner, he has never been 
lacking in the courage to express his convictions 
on pultlie questions. 



T A>^AL,TER W. HOLT, a lawyer of over forty 
-"*- years active practice before all the courts 
of the State of New York and senior member 
of the legal firm of Holt & Holt, of Dunkirk 
city, was born at Springfield, Otsego county, 
New York, September 24, 1821, and is a son of 
General Walter and Sarah (Van Benschoten) 
Holt. Tiie Holts of New York trace their 
English lineage through the Connecticut family 
of that name, of which their fiimily is a branch, 
and was founded by Deacon George Holt (grand- 
father), who removed from Connecticut to Ot- 
sego county, where he followed farming until 
his death, when eighty-six years of age. He 
was a democrat and an active member of the 
Baptist church. His son, Gen. Walter Holt 
(father), was born in 1791 and came with his 
parents about 1796 to Otsego county, where he 
died in 1867. Gen. Holt was an extensive 
farmer and a large stock-raiser. He was a 
deacon of the Baptist church, served as a major- 
general in the New York Militia and was a man 
of energy and unusual will-power. He was a 
democrat until 1856, when he became a repub- 
lican and afterwards served for seven years as a 
justice of the peace. His wife, Sarah Holt, was 
a member of the Van Benschoten family of Ot- 
sego count}", and a Baptist in religious belief; 
she died in 1857, aged fifty-six years. 

Walter W. Holt spent his boyhood days on 
the farm and received his early education in the 
common schools. He then entered Gilbertsville 
academy, but completed his academic course at 
Clinton academy of Oneida county, where the 
principal gave him charge of several classes 
while he attended there. Leaving Clinton 
academy he became principal, in 1845, of Akron 
High school, Ohio, and while there that year he 
aided in establishing a union school, and organ- 
ized the first teachers' institute ever held in the 
State of Ohio. 

In 1847, while on his way to visit his fatlier, 
he was taken sick at Fredonia, and after recov- 
ering from his sickness he was so liivorably im- 



OF CHAUTAVQUA COUNTY. 



pressed with this county tiiat lie decided to settle 
in it. He then read hiw with Stephen Snow, of 
Fredonia, was admitted to practice in tiie Sii- 
Ijreiue Court of New York in 1849, and four 
years later opened an office at Fredonia, where 
he practiced until 1861. In that year he came 
to Dunkirk, where he soon acquired a lucrative 
l)racti(;e, and where he now stands in the frt)nt 
rank of the resident lawyers of the city. He is 
au active democrat and was city counselor for 
several years, but resigned in 1882 in favor of 
his son, Walter D. Holt. 

He married, in 1845, ]\Iary S., daughter of 
Stephen Stewart, of Warren, N. Y., and who 
died in 1853, leaving one child, a daughter, 
Isabella S. Ou October 3, 1855, he united in 
marriage with Sarah S. Brown, daughter of 
Euos Brown, of Utica, New York. To this 
second union was born one child, a son, M^dter 
D., who read law, was admitted to the l)ar, 
served as city counselor since 1883, and since 
1879 has been a partner with his father in the 
practice of law. 

In early life Mr. Holt was engaged in several 
extensive business enterprises, and furnished the 
stone used in the construction of several set^tions 
of the Erie & Lake Shore railroads, besides 
building a plank walk from Dunkirk to Fre- 
donia. He has been the counsel of the Chau- 
tauqua Assembly for over twelve years, and is 
also counsel of the Free Association of Cassa- 
(iao-a Lake. 



TA^II.I.I \>I H. WALKKK, postmaster of 

-**■ Westfield, and a jiast commander of 
Wm. Sackett Post, No. 324, Grand Army 
of the Republic, was born at Warsaw, Wyo- 
ming county, New York, July 18, 1838, and 
is a sou of William and Abigail E. (Ensign) 
Walker. His parents were natives of St. 
Alfcaus, Vermont, where his father, William 
AValker, learned the trade of harness-maker. 
He served as a solcher from Vermont, in the 
War of 1812, and afterwards came to Warsaw, 



where he followed farming and harness-making 
and where he died in 1885, at the advanced age 
of ninety years. 

William H. Walker was reared at Warsaw, 
where he received au academic education. In 
1861 ho enlisted in Co. K, ITtli New York as 
a private and was afterwards promoted to ser- 
geant major of his regiment. He was at Han- 
over Court-house, Second Bull Run and Antie- 
tam, and was honorably discharged iu June, 
1863, having served the full term of his enlist- 
ment. He returned to Warsaw where he was 
in business until 1866, when he came to West- 
field and became a partner of L. Parsons 
in the drug business. Mr. Parsons died 
eighteen months later and Mr. Walker pur- 
chased the interest of Mr. Parsons' heirs iu the 
business and since then has successt'ully con- 
ducted his drug store. He has a large stock 
of pure aud carefully selected drugs, and en- 
joys a liberal patronage. Having received the 
appointment by President Harrison, as post- 
master of Westfield, he assumed the duties of 
the office on March 3, 1890, which office he has 
held with credit to himself ever since. 

On September 3, 1863, he married Jeannette 
A. Taber, of Warsaw, New York. They have 
two children : Charles T., a graduate oi Wil- 
liams college, now a teacher iu the ''Berkely 
school," New York City ; and Edward T., 
book-keeper of the National Bank of Westfield. 

William H. Walker is a republican in poli- 
tics, but was never an office seeker, and as post- 
master of Westfield has endeavored to discharge 
faithfully every duty of his office. The West- 
field postoffice is the successor of Chautauqua 
postoffice, the first postoffice in the county, and 
was established on May 6, 1806, on the west 
side of the creek, with Col. James McMahan as 
postmaster. It continued until June 15, 1818, 
when it was discontinued, aud Westfield post- 
office was established as its successor, with Fenu 
Demming as postmaster. The ])ostmasters since 
then have been ; Orvis Nichols, William Sex- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



toil, Hev. H. W. Beers, Dr. M. Kenyon, David 
Mann, Byron Hall, F. C. Borger, W. E. 
AVheeler, C. U. Drake, F. A. Hall, J. La Due, 
and the present incumbent, W. H. Walker. 
Mr. Walker is an active member of Wm. Sack- 
ett Post, No. 324, Grand Army of the Repub- 
lic, and the present secretary and past regent of 
Westfield Council, Xo. 81, Royal Arcanum. 



HARVI:Y 3IOXTGOMEKY is a descen- 
dant of a very old family in Ireland, 
which has sent several representatives to Amer- 
ica, who have become distinguished in military, 
naval, religious and political fields. He is a 
son of Ezekiel and Fidelia (^lartin) Montgom- 
ery, and was born in Hanover, Chautauqua 
county, New York, October 8, 1843. His 
father was a native of the eastern part of New 
York, born in 1800, and came to Chautauqua 
county, locating in Hanover in 1832. 

By trade he was a mill-wright, and for a 
number of years was engaged in the manufac- 
ture of milling and grain-cleaning machinery, 
in partnership with two of his sons, Henry and 
Martin, under the firm name of E. Montgom- 
ery & Co. They continued in this business un- 
til 1866. He died in 1868, aged sixty-eight 
years. Politically he was a republican. Eze- 
kiel Montgomery married Fidelia Martin, by 
whom he had eight children. One son, Bald- 
win, lives in Silver Creek; another, Plenry, 
died in Buffalo, October, 1887; and a third, 
Martin, in Newark, Ohio. Mrs. Montgomery 
was a native of eastern New York, born in 
1806, and died in the autumn of 1886, aged 
eighty years. She was a member of the Pres- 
byterian church. 

Harvey Montgomery was brought up in Sil- 
ver Creek, this county, and received a common 
school education. After leaving .school he 
learned the machinist's trade, which he followed 
for the last thirty years. In JIarch, 1886, he 
engaged as foreman in the establishment, where 
he still holds that position, and is considered 



an expert, skillful and reliable workman with 
excellent executive ability. He is a member of 
the fire dejjartment, and also of Silver Creek 
Council, Royal Arcanum, No. 139. 

Harvey Montgomery was married Novem- 
ber, 1871, to Helen Horton, a daughter of 
Albert Horton of Silver Creek. 



JOSEPH W. HUNTLEY is a son of 

^^ Michael and Mercy R. (Higgins) Hunt- 
Icy, and was born in Lyme, Connecticut, April 
21, 1812. His grandfather, Reuben Huntley, 
was also a native of Connecticut, but emigrated 
to Chenango county, this State, where he passed 
the remainder of his days as a farmer. In 
politics he was a democrat. Sylvanus Higgins 
(maternal grandfather) was a native of Lyme, 
where he spent his life on a farm. Michael 
Huntley (father) was born in Lyme on October 
27, 1777, and for a few years followed farming 
as an occupation. He then .sought the sea for a 
livelihood, and became captain of a merchant 
vessel running between New York city and the 
West Indies, and during a passage home from 
the latter port, died of yellow fever, January 
23, 1818. Politically he was an old-line whig. 
In 1800 he married Mercy R. Higgins and had 
five children, all of whom are dead except 
Joseph W. 

Josejjh W. Huntley was educated in the com- 
mon schools of his native town, and after leav- 
ing school began the life of a sailor, which he 
followed until twenty-three years of age, when, 
in 1836, he exchanged the tempestuous king- 
dom of Neptune for the more quiet and peace- 
ful realm of Ceres b\' coming to Sherman, this 
county, and buying a farm of two hundred 
acres in the primeval forest, where an axe had 
never been seen, which he cleared and cultivated 
until April, 1881, when, feeling he was justly 
entitled to enjoy the harvest of his labors in a 
serene old age, he moved into the village of 
Sherman, where he has since resided. In his 
political opinions he is a republican, and has 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



held the offices of road commissioner and 
assessor several terms. 

Joseph W. Huutloy was married on October 
10, 1835, to Mary E. Eeed, a daughter of Ely 
Reed. To this union have been born three 
children, two sons and one daughter : Sylvanus 
H., who died at seven years of age ; William 
It., who married Delia Frost, of Cherry Creek, 
and is a farmer iu Sherman ; and Elizabeth ]\I. 



rfLBERT C. WIDMAX, one of the suc- 

-■^ cessful and enterprising young business 
men of this city, was born in Dunkirk, Chau- 
tauqua county, N. Y., September 15, 1860, and 
is a son of Charles and Sabina (Hiller) Wid- 
man. His father was a native of Heiningen, 
Germany, and was born in 1827. He was 
brought up in his native country, receiving his 
education in the schools there, after which he 
taught school. He then learned the trade of a 
pattern-maker, and in 1853 emigrated to Can- 
ada, where he resided in Quebec for one year. 
He came to the United States in 1854 and 
located at Dunkirk, where he spent the re- 
mainder of his life. As a pattern-maker he 
worked in the Brooks locomotive works for 
twenty years, at the expiration of which time 
he engaged in the grocery business with William 
Wyman, the firm-name being W^idman & Wy- 
man. At the end of two years he withdrew 
from the firm and went into the same business 
alone, in which he remained during the rest of 
his life. He was a very successful business 
man, and built a handsome two-story brick 
block, using the ground floors for his business 
and the second story as his private residence. 
The block was erected in 1874 at the corner of 
Railroad Avenue and Courtney Street. Politi- 
cally he was a democrat, and died July 25, 
1889. In 1847 he married Sabina Hiller, a 
native of Ulm, Germany, who was born July 
21, 1822, and now resides iu Dunkirk with 
Albert C. They were the parents of four chil- 
dren, two sons and two daughters. 



Albert C. Widman was reared in Dunkirk, 
received his education in the public schools, and 
in 1889 bought his father's saloon and grocery 
business and still continues at the old stand. 
He not only has a most excellent trade, but 
adds materially to his revenue by handling 
flour and feed. In politics he is a democrat, 
has served as inspector of election boards, and 
is a promising and popular young man. 

Albert C. Widman was married. May 28, 
1889, to Nellie Westerberg, daughter of S. J. 
Westerberg, of Hartfield, this county. This 
union has been blest with one child, Barbara 
L., who was born September 1(!, 1890. 



TOHX HILLIAKD is one of the men to 

^ whom several of the best citizens and 
firms of Dunkirk owe the solidity and durabil- 
ity of their residences and places of business. 
He was born on Staten Island, New York, 
October 26, 1842, and is a son of Samuel and 
Elizabeth (Tims) Hilliard. His father, Samuel 
Hilliard, was of Quaker ancestry, born in New 
Jersey, in 1808, spending his early youth iu 
that State and in Philadelphia, Pa. He was a 
contracting mason by occupation, moved to 
Staten Island in 1839, where he worked at his 
trade until 1844, moved to and resided iu 
Buffalo until 1849 and then came to Dunkirk 
to complete the Loder House, which was opened 
to the public late iu 1850, when the Erie rail- 
road was completed to Dunkirk. He moved 
his family here in 1850, and for twenty-three 
years was foreman of the masons in the employ 
of the western division of the Erie railroad. 
In religion he was an attendant at the Episcopal 
church and politically was a democrat. He 
was a member of the Board of Education at 
Dunkirk for two years and was a very energetic 
man. In 1839 he married Elizabeth Tims, a 
native of England, who came to America when 
quite young, and they were the parents of ten 
children, si.x sons and four daughters. Mr. 
Hilliard died iu 1882, at the age of .seventy-four 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



years, and Mrs. Hilliard in 1884, aged sixty- 
tliree years. 

John Hilliard came to Dunkirk with Jiis 
parents in October, 1850, and received his edu- 
cation in the common schools of that place. 
He then learned the trade of a mason and for 
the last twenty years has been engaged in con- 
tracting and building, and among the buildings 
which show his haniliwork are the Avery, Book- 
staver, Brooks and Hinman residences, St. 
Mary's Retreat, the offices and additions of tie 
Brooks Locomotive Works and scores of others. 
Since the organization of the Brooks Locomo- 
tive Woi'ks in 1869, he has done all their mason 
work and is accounted as skilled a workman as 
this section affords. He is a member of St. 
John's Episcopal church, of which he is also a 
vestr3'man, is a democrat in politics and has 
been a member of the common council. He is 
a member of Dunkirk Chapter, No. 191, R. 
A. M., and Dunkirk Council, No. 25. 

John Hilliard, on May 1st, 1872, was mar- 
ried to Alice Cruser, a daughter of Samuel 
Cruser, of Dunkirk, and to their union have 
been born three children, one sou and two 
daughters : Maud, Ethel, and John, whose ages 
are respectively, eighteen, sixteen and nine years. 



FRANK KI)WAK1> (ilFFOKO, a son of 
Horace H. and Rlioda (Steward) Gifford^ 
was born November 6, 1845, at Wrightsville, 
Warren county, Pennsylvania. His paternal 
grandfather was William Gifford, one of the pio- 
neers of Chautauqua county, and one of its 
most respected citizens. 

Frank E. Gifford received his education, 
after the common schools, at the Fredonia 
Academy, and at Fort Edward, New York. He 
developed marked business tastes early in life, 
and at the age of sixteen began a career for 
himself. During the war he held a respon- 
sible position in the quartermaster's depart- 
ment at Albany, N. Y. After business ven- 
tures in New York City and elsewhere, he 



returned, in 1870, to Jamestown, where his 
family all reside, giving his attention to tiie 
Jamestown Cane-seat Chair Works. In 1880 
he, with his brothers Charles H. and William 
S. GifFord, bought the entire plant, and F. E. 
Gifford became president of the company, 
which office he still holds. 

On June 29, 1881, Mr. Gifford was married 
to Miss Josephine Fenton, daughter of Gov- 
ernor R. E. Fenton, of New York. To them 
have been born two children. Governor Fenton 
died August 5, 1885, leaving a large estate, 
of which Mr. Gifford was executor. He 
succeeded Governor Fenton to the presidency 
of the First National Bank of Jamestown, 
and still retains the office. 

Mr. Gifford is a democrat politically, a man 
of large ideas and wide influence. 



HrOH W. TH03IPS0X, editor and pro- 
prietor of the Westfield Hepublicnn, the 
seventh established and now oldest newspaper 
of Westfield, is a son of Hugh W., Sr., and 
Eliza (IVIcDowell) Thompson and was born at 
Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, 
October 2, 1858. His pareuts are natives of 
County Down, Ireland, and came in 1851 to 
Westfield, where his father has followed car- 
pentering. 

Hugh W. Thom])son was reared at \\'est- 
field, where he attended the academy of that 
place until he was eighteen years of age, when 
he went to Mayville and learned the trade of 
printer in the office of the Sentinel. In July, 
1885, he returned to Westfield and worked on 
the Republicun until May 13, 1889, when he 
purchased the paper of A. E. Rose, then its 
proprietor, and has published it ever since. 
The Republican was started April 25, 1855, 
by a company composed of G. W. Patterson, 
W. H. Seward, Alvin Plumb and Austin 
Smith. Its first editor was M. C. Rice, and 
its circulation under his charge was about one 
thousand copies. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTY. 



1G7 



Hugh W. Thompson has always been inde- 
pendent in politics, and is a member and for 
the last three years has iiecn an elder of" tlic 
Westtield Presbyterian cluireh. His paper is 
a folio, 3() by 44 inches in size, has a circu- 
lation of one thousand copies and is a reliable 
weekly ; crisp, attractive and interesting. 

The Westfield Republican, as its name im- 
plies, lias always been and is republican in 
jiolities. It has always been aggressively re- 
publican, and has never been neglectful of the 
interests of Westfield or Chautauqua county. 
It has been so edited and conducted by Mr. 
Thompson as to command attention and re- 
spect from his political opponents, as well as 
to win support and advocates within iiis own 
party. He has succeeded in giving his county 
a clean and newsy sheet while establishing a 
fearless and successful organ in the interests of | 
the party of Lincoln, Grant and Garfield. 



TOHX K. 1>EKBY, an aged citizen of 
^^ Jamestown, Cliautau(jua countv, New 
York, lias resided here since 183'i, and for 
many years was a painter, and conducted a 
paint and oil store here until 18G6; he then 
sold out the business to his brother Silas S. 
Derby, who had been a partner for a number of 
years. Mr. Derby is tiie third son of Joseph 
and Elizabeth (Kenyon) Derby, and was born 
near Batavia, Genesee county, New York, Feb- 
ruary 9, 1816. He comes from two very old 
families. Phineas Derby (paternal grandfather) 
was one of two brothers who came from Eng- 
land and settled in Vermont ; he followed 
farming until his death. He was active, politi- 
cally, and served in the Colonial army ; the 
maternal grandfather, Rouse Kenyon, was a 
native of Rhode Island, but removed to Gene- 
see county, near Batavia. Joseph Derby was 
born in the State, whose bosom holds the form 
of the glorious Ethan Allen, and he remained 
there until reaching manhood, when he left the 
place of his nativity and saw it no more. He 



first went to Genesee county. New York, and 
thei'e married Elizabeth Kenyon, and a few 
years after they removed to Monroe county, 
this State, and still later he removed to Warren 
county, Pennsylvania, and died there March 
14, 1837. Mr. Derby gained a livelihood by 
farming and stone mason work. His marriage 
resulted in five children : Phineas, died October 
6,1887; Sylvanns, died in 1886; John K. 
and Silas S. Derby (see his sketch) reside in 
Jamestown, New York ; William R. Derby 
resides in North Warren, Pennsylvania, where 
he is engaged in the butchering business. 

John K. Derby was educated in the common 
schools of Monroe county, pcipiired the paint- 
ing trade at Rochester, New York, and was em- 
ployed in that city five years. He afterward, 
in 1836, came to Jamestown, and for twenty- 
eight years was jiroprietor of a paint aud oil 
store. He then went out of active business, but 
since then has not been idle, but has been en- 
gaged in building and repairing his houses 
and has done considerable joiner's work and 
painting, besides building two steam yachts and 
a i'ayf row-boats for his own use on Chautau- 
qua lake. 

He has been twice married, first to Ruth 
Smith, of Busti, New York, December 13, 1837, 
by whom he had two children, a son. Ami, died 
at the age of thirteen months ; and a daughter, 
Edna, who married N. A. Arnold and died 
when twenty-three years of age. His second 
was L. Antoinette Dill, by whom he has one 
child, I. Frederick Derby, born May 30, 1882. 

J. K. Derby is in more than comfortable 
circumstances, owning considerable real estate, 
houses and lots. Politically he is a repub- 
lican, his first vote being cast for Martin 
Van Buren, when that gentleman ran for Presi- 
dent. He has held no office except that of 
poor-master for ten years, and a trustee of the 
Jamestown schools. Mr. Derby is a member 
of Ellicott lodge. No. 221, 1. O. O. F., of which 
he has been a member for eighteen years. 



168 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



ri T.VlfKI> A. ST.\RKING, a member of the 

-**■ well-known and enterprising firm known 
as the Silver Creek Step-Ladder company, is a 
son of Sylvanus S. and Grace A- (Stearns) Star- 
ring, and was born in Barry county, an agri- 
cultural region in southwest central Michigan, 
September 24, 1860. His father, Sylvanus S. 
Starring, is a native of Utica, Oneida county, 
this State. When a young man he followed the 
avocation of a sailor on the lakes for seven years, 
until he was wrecked on Lake Erie by ths burn- 
ing of the boat on which he was employed. He 
then started for the west, but fell in with a party 
expecting to work for the Detroit & Milwaukee 
railroad, then being constructed. He worked 
on the road-bed until it passed through Lowell, 
wdiere he quit and, going five miles south, 
he cleared a farm from the wilderness in Barry 
county, Michigan, which he cultivated until 
1861, and then enlisted in Co. D, 3d regiment, 
Michigan Infantry, serving until the close of the 
war, when he was honorably discharged, on 
June 3, 1865, at \Yashington, D. C. He was 
with Berdan's Sharpshooters one aud one-half 
years, and rose to the rank of captain, and while 
with them was wounded in front of Petersburg, 
Va. In 1866 he moved to Irving, this county, 
with his family, where he remained until 1879, 
engaged in the blacksmith's business. In that 
( year he came to Silver Creek and resumed the 
same trade, which he followed until 1884, and 
then organized the Silver Creek Step-Ladder 
company, which manufactured the Starring pat- 
ent truss step-ladder, the shelf-lock and half- 
truss step-ladder, the folding wash-bench and 
wringer stand, aud the standard ironing-table, 
in which business he is nt present engaged. In 
politics he is a republican, and iu 1890 was 
elected a coroner, which office he is now holding. 
In religion he is a Methodist, being a member 
aud steward of the church of that denomination. 
He is a member of Lodge No. 757, F. & A. M. 
In 1856 he married Grace A. Stearns, a native 
of Bergen, Genesee county, this State, by whom 



he had five childreu. Three are deceased. Mrs. 
Starring is a member of the M. E. church, aud 
is now in the forty-ninth year of her age. 

Alfred A. Starring came to this county with 
his parents, was educated in the public schools, 
learned the trade of a blacksmith with his father 
and in 1880 became his father's partner in that 
business. In the spring of 1885 he bought out 
his father's interest and continued the business 
alone until 1888, when he bought a half-interest 
in the Silver Creek Step-Ladder company, the 
firm-name remaining the same. They have a 
large aud rapidly-increasing trade, will double 
their capacity, aud are now erecting new build- 
ings for the purpose of manufacturing fine parlor 
furniture. They expect to have this plant in 
operation July 15, 1891, and will then employ 
fifteen additional men. They have a branch 
office in Baltimore. About fifteen men are 
emploj-ed. Mr. Starring is a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, politically is a 
rcjiublican and takes an active part in politics. 

Alfred A. Starring was married, on October 
26, 1881, to Jennie M. Fuller, a daughter of 
Albert C. Fuller (deceased), of Silver Creek. 
To this marriage have been born four children, 
one son and three daughters: Albert, Beulah, 
Gertrude and Vera. 



T ^EWIS ROESCH was born in Baden, Ger- 
^"^ many, January 4th, 1851, and is a son of 
Philip and ^lary ((JIaser) Roesch. His parents 
are both natives of Baden, where his father was 
born in 1825. His youth was spent in his 
native home among the foot-hills of the Black 
Forest, in the beautiful valley of the Wiese, 
celebrated for the numerous large cotton, wool 
and other mills that line its banks, as well 
as by its own native poet, J. Peter Hebel, the 
Robert Burns of that country. 

There Mr. Roesch received a common-school 
education and in 1868 came to Albany county, 
N. Y., and the year following to Fredonia, 
where he has resided ever since. Having no 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY. 



1G9 



particular trade or occupation, he fi>llo\ved his 
natural bent and soon drifted into the growing 
of fruit and vegetables, which business he started 
Avith a capital of two hundred and eighty dol- 
lars. This he soon developed beyond the re- 
quirement of the home market, and he opened a 
line of trade along the Erie and D. A. Y. & P. 
railroads. This trade in turn was pushed be- 
yond the ability of his own gardens to supply, 
and he became a dealer in country produce, 
which trade by the year 1880 amounted to over 
$10,000 a season. 

The growing of strawbei-ries, raspberries, etc., 
incidentally got him into the small fruit jilant 
trade, which he also developed and added to it, 
dealing in general nursery stock. In 1879 Mr. 
Roescli contracted to grow grape-vines for an- 
other nursery on a larger scale for four years, 
at the expiration of which term he continued 
the business on his own account. This trade 
flourished and in a couple of years became of such 
magnitude that he decided to drop that of grow- 
ing and dealing in fruit and vegetables, which 
by the way had grown poorer and more unsatis- 
factory every year, owing to over-produetiou, 
southern competition and the failure of canning 
factories. Mr. Roesch continued to increase the 
grape-vine and small fruit nursery, and has re- 
cently extended the same to include general \ 
nursery stock. At present Mr. Roesch's busi- 
ness consists of forty acres of grape-vines, cur- 
rant and gooseberry plants, etc., ten acres of 
fruit and ornamental trees, four acres in experi- 
mental and sample vineyard and some two acres 
of lawn and ornamental grounds, fruits and vege- 
tables, etc., all in a high state of cultivation and 
fertility. 

lie has a fine office; a cellar 60 by 100 feet 
for the storage of grape-vines and other nursery ' 
stock ; a large packing-house and gradiug-room 
connected and under one roof. He employs ! 
from ten to forty men and boys, according to 
the season. His market extends all over this 
country and Canada, but principally in the . 
9 



grape-growing section east of the Rocky Moun- 
tains. 

In 1879 Mr. Roesch married Sophia :\r:]ler, 
of Dunkirk, X. Y. To their union have Ijeen 
born three cliildren, two sous and one daughter : 
Flora ]\I., Sidney C. and Milton E. Witiiout 
political aspirations, Mr. Roesch is a business 
man ; he gives most of his attention to business 
and jjersonal affixirs, is careful, patient and 
methodical, and never embarks in any enter- 
prise without a thorough investigation emljrac- 
ing every possible detail of the same. To these 
(jtiaiities as well as to his enterprise and push is 
due the large degree of success attained in a 
business for which he had no special education 
or prejjaration. 



T1>ILLIA3I I.. HI3IEBAUGH. The term 
German-American is usually synonymous 
with success. William L. Himebaugh began 
life with nothing, and to-day, although less than 
forty years of age, is at the head of a manufac- 
turing business emj^loying not less than twenty- 
five men. He was born in Yenango, Crawford 
county, Pennsylvania, April 14, 1854, and is a 
son of Joseph and Susan (Sherrard) Himebaugh. 
The ancestors of W. L. Himebaugh were all of 
sturdy German stock, his grandparents emigrat- 
ing to this country from the fatherland. The 
paternal grandfather was the parent of three 
children : Polly, Jacob and Joseph. These 
children were born in the northwestern part of 
Pennsylvania, near Erie. Joseph, the father of 
William L., died at Yenango, Pa., wliere, up to 
the time of his death, he was a fiirmer and car- 
penter, and also filled the office of justice of the . 
peace for many years. He was a popular man 
in his locality, had recognized good judgment, 
and after once occupying the office the people 
continued to re-elect him to it, until advanced 
age compelled him to peremptorily decline to 
again serve. Like most of the Germans of his 
day he was an uncompromising democrat, but 
was also a deeply religious man and a communi- 



BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY 



cant of the Gei'man Lutheran cluiich. Susan 
Sherrard was Mr. Himebaugh's second wilie, 
and she bore him seven children ; witii a 
former wife, Matilda Grear, he had live chil- 
dren. They were : Jacob, David, Gusta, Delila 
and Sarah ; and Matilda, now Mrs. Lesher, 
livino- at Venango, Pennsylvania ; Almira, liv- 
ing at Edinboro', Erie county, Pennsylvania, is 
the wife of Alex. A. Torrey ; Hiram, who mar- 
ried Orlina Hotchkiss, lives at Venango, Pa. ; 
Joseph, whose wife was Anna Beystone, lives at 
Jamestown and is connected with William L. 
in the manufacture of woven-wire bed-springs, 
cots and spiral springs ; John, also living at 
Venango, Pa, married to Lydia Hotchkiss; 
Eausom, married Emma Baker and moved to a 
point in Kansas near Shiloh ; and William L. 

William L. Himebaugh, like many of our 
best men, got his education in the public schools, 
and when grown to manhood began to toil as a 
dav laborer in a saw-mill, alternating with farm 
work. This he continued for a while and then 
moved to the oil region, where for a season he 
continued to labor, but later took an interest in 
two wells while working by the day. This 
continued until 188(5, when he came to James- 
town, and with his brother Joseph began the 
manufacture of bed-springs, in which they are 
still engaged. Politically Mr. Himebaugh is an 
unswerving prohibitionist, theoretically and 
practically, and also is a member of the INIethod- 
ist church. 

On the 22d of May, 1877, he married Henri- 
etta Staudish, daughter of Alonson and Lora 
Standish, who resided near Northeast, Pa. This 
union has been blest with three children : Bertha 
E., Neal and Henry. 

William L. Himebaugh is still a young man, 
and the goods he manufactures are of recognized 
merit, so it may be expected that the business 
he has already made prominent may, in the 
future, become vast. 



■J^EAKL C. KI3IBAI.L, a respected geutle- 
-*■ man, advanced in years, living at Xo. .338 
Allen street, Jamestown, is a son of Sylvester 
and Lydia (Atwater) Kimball, of Montgomery 
county. New York, where he was boru Dec. 
16, 1818. His great-grandfather, Richard 
Kimball, came from English parents ; lived in 
Novia Scotia for a time and afterwards came to 
the State of Connecticut, where he died. His 
paternal grandfather, Lebbeus Kimball, came to 
Ames, jNIontgomery county, this State, and fol- 
lowed the trade of stone-cutting in early life. 
Prior to his removal inland, he had been a 
sailor. He married Sarah Crafts and had three 
children, two sons and one daughter. Caleb 
Atwater (maternal grandfather) was born in 
New England, but came to this State, first to 
Columbia county, and later to Ames, Montgom- 
ery county, where he died, a farmer. Sylves- 
ter Kimball was born in Connecticut, but came 
to New York and settled at Ames, where he 
was employed as millwright. He married 
Lydia Atwater and had four children : Matilda, 
died young ; Norman (dead) lived at Cherry 
Creek at the time of his death ; Jane, married 
Geo. N. Frost, and is living at Cherry Creek; 
and Pearl C. ^Ir. Kimball was a democrat and 
a Mason, standing high in the councils of the 
lodge. 

Pearl C. Kimball, after receiving his educa- 
tion, apprenticed himself to a carriage-maker 
and learned the trade. In 1836 he went to 
Cherry Creek and worked at his trade for a 
number of years and was also engaged here in 
the mercantile business for a time. In 18-47 he 
came to Jamestown and established a carriage 
manufactory, continuing it until 1873, when he 
sold out and lived quietly for two or three 
vears, but he was too energetic to remain idle 
longer, so he opened a grocery store, which he 
conducted until 1887, when having reached 
nearly threescore years and ten, he sold put and 
has since lived quietly and in retirement. 

On May 27, 1838, he married Lucy Shattuck, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY. 



a daughtfT of Pliuy Shattuck, aud they have 
been the parents of" live children, four of whom 
are living: Matilda, now a widow, married 
Willard Smith ; Corolin, wife of Fred L. Far- 
lee, a traveling man for the Jamestown Plush 
mills ; Maurice was twice married, iirst to 
Rhoda Williams, by whom he had one child, 
Ernest ; his second wife was Anna Spies, who 
bore hira one child, Frances ; and Allen, who 
married Julia Macy, a daughter of William 
Macy, of Poland, and has one child. Pearl L. 
P. C. Kimball is a republican in politics aud 
has been town clerk for three years, in the town 
of Cherrv Creek. 



nEV. .\XDKEW FIJEY, pastor of the 
Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus of 
Dunkirk, was born in the city of Cassel, Ger- 
many, February 26, 1856, aud is a son of 
George and Christine (Baker) Frey. George 
Frey was a member of the Catholic church, 
served in a civil capacity under his governmeut 
for several years, and died in his native city of 
Cassel in 1886, at sixty-seven years of age. 
His widow, who is a consistent member of the 
Catholic church, was born in 1827, and still 
resides in Cassel. 

Father Andrew Frey was reared in Cassel, 
where he received a collegiate education, and 
then took a five years' course in theology at 
Louvaiu University, Belgium. Upon complet- 
ing this course in October, 1879, he wasordaiued 
priest, and came to Buffalo, New York, where 
he had been appointed by Bishop Ryan, as as- 
sistant pastor of St. Louis church of that city. 
He served in this capacity uutil June, 1884, 
when he came to Dunkirk, and assumed his 
present pastoral charge of the Church of the 
Sacred Heart of Jesus. 

This church, which is the second in age of 
the three flourishing churches of Dunkirk, is 
the successor of St. George's church, which was ! 
built by the German catholics of Dunkirk, in : 
1857, and used for church purposes until 1877. ! 



The Jesuit, Franciscan and Passion ist orders 
had charge of St. George's church until 1874, 
wheu it was made an independent parish, and 
on June 11, 1876, the corner-stone was laid of 
its successor, the present handsome Church of 
the Sacred Heart of Jesus, which was dedicated 
on November 18, 1878. It is a fine brick 
structure, admirable in architectural design, and 
beautiful and rich in all of its interior furnish- 
ings. It was erected at a cost of tweuty thous- 
and dollars, and one who contributed liberally 
towai'ds its erection was the late George Dotter- 
weich (died in April, 1884), who also paid for 
the town clock in the steeple, the chime of bells, 
and gave the beautiful five thousand dollar 
marble altar, which was consecrated .July 23, 
1882. 

Since 1884, the membership of the Ciiureh 
of the Sacred Heart of Jesus has increased rap- 
idly under Father Frey's charge, and now num- 
bers two hundred aud seventy-five families. 
In 1885 he erected the present handsome brick 
parsonage, which is gothic in design, conveni- 
ently arranged, and cost over five thousand ilol- 
lars. After the completion of the parsonage he 
turned his attention to the educational needs of 
his congregation, and carried out the long cher- 
ished design of erecting a first-class school 
building adjoining the church. This three- 
story brick structure — St. George's Hall — was 
erected in 1884 at a cost of nine thousand dol- 
lars, and is fitted '.vith gas, steam and water. 
The first floor is divided into thr(!e large school- 
rooms, the second floor is St. George's Hall and 
stage, while the third floor is occupied by the 
Catholic Mutual Benefit Association. Father 
Frey has labored faithfully in Dunkirk for his 
people and the cause of Christianity, and his 
efforts have been duly appreciated by his con- 
gregation and all who know him. He is a 
pleasant gentleman of classical education, gen- 
eral information and good address. 



BIOGRAPHY AM) HISTORY 



V\AVID H. TAYLOR is oue of the ijrouii- 
-'^ ueut grape-gvowei's of Chautauqua couuty. 
He was born iu Murray, Orleans county, Xew 
York, Sejitember 4, 1822, and is a sou of Jona- 
than H. and Polly (Heudrick) Taylor. He 
comes from an old and honored family, iiis 
ancestor, a Taylor, coming from England to 
America in 1630 and settling in Massachusetts. 
His grandfather, Theoj)hilus Taylor, was born in 
Connecticut, January 28, 1760, and died No- 
vember 2-4, 1831. He was a farmer by occu- 
pation, and one of his sons, Jonathan H. Taylor 
(father), was born at New Fairfield, Connecticut, 
1792. He M'as stationed with the State militia, 
of ■which he was a member, at New London, 
during the blockade of that port by the British, 
and in (1814) received a commission of lieuten- 
ant from Gov. John Cotton Smith. He came 
to Westfield in 1831 and built the first foundry 
in this town. In religion he was a member and 
a deacon of the Presbyterian church, and died 
April 28, 1846, aged fifty-four years, at West- 
field, where he had resided fourteen vears. He 
married Polly Hendrick, a native of Fairfield, 
Conn., by whom he had two children. She was 
a member of the Presbyterian church and died 
in 1860, at sixty-six years of age. 

David H. Taylor was reared princi]>ally at 
"Westfield and received his education in the com- 
mon schools and in the Westfield academy. In 
1860 he began operations as a farmer, adopting 
the latest and most imjiroved methods, and has 
continued to keep pace with the strides iu im- 
provement. He has fifty acres in the village of 
Westfield devoted to the cultivation of grapes. 

On November 22, 1851, D. H. Taylor united 
in marriage with Harriet P., the only daughter 
of Judge Thomas B. Campbell, who had been 
a prominent citizen of Westfield and Chautau- 
qua couuty since 1817, when he came to this 
town from Batavia, and built a saw and grist- 
mill. Westfield was then known as Portland. 
Judge Campbell was born in 1788 in Alexan- 
dria, Grafton county, N. H., a town now some- 



what famous for its extensive mica mines. He 
continued the milling and flouring business for 
forty-seven years. He owned hundreds of acres 
of farm lands and in 1860 sold sixty acres iu 
the southern part of the village for fair ground 
purposes. In 1819 he was appointed clerk of 
this county, a.ssociate judge in 1826, and first 
judge in 1845, which office he held until the 
election of judges under the constitution adopted 
in 1846. He was supervisor eight years, 1819- 
'27, a member of Assembly from 1822 to 1836, 
and a member of the board of commissioners 
for building the present county court-house. 
He had two .sous and three daughters, all of 
whom are dead but Mrs. Taylor. Judge Camp- 
bell died at the house of Mr. Taylor, on Presi- 
dent Cleveland's inauguration day, aged ninety- 
seven years, in full possession of all his fiicul- 
ties. Mr. and Mrs. Taylor have been the parents 
of four children, three of whom are living, oue 
son and two daughters — Mary L., wife of Dr. 
Charles G. Stockton, one of the most prominent 
physicians in Buffalo ; Anna, wife of Henry W. 
Huuter, of Canton, Ohio, and Tliomas B. C. 
married to Charlotte Flower, of St. Lawrence 
county, this State. 

In politics Mr. Taylor is an uncompromising 
democrat, a good substantial citizen, houorable 
and enterprising, broad and liberal-minded and 
a very pleasant and agreeable gentleman. A 
community which possesses such citizens geuer- 
allv feels a just pride in them, and the more thej- 
have of such men the greater is their material 
advantage and advancement. Mr. Taylor occu- 
pies a high place in the respect and esteem of 
the peojjle among whom he has dwelt so long. 



FRED. W. TH03L\S. The press to-day 
is a factor of potential jDower; has a 
wonderful influence over the people among 
whom it circulates, and molds jJublic opinion 
to a large degree. The gentleman whose name 
heads this sketch is the proprietor and editor of 
the Hanover Gazette, the successor of a pajier 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY. 



called the Silver Creek Local. Fred. W. 
Thomas is a native of Wales, where he was 
borii, December 28, 1853, and comes from 
Cymric ancestors as far remote as the family 
can be traced. His parents were James and 
Ann Elizabeth Thomas, honorable and respect- 
ed people of their native country. 

Fred. W. Thomas was reared and educated 
in the old country and remained close to the 
scene of his birth until he reached his twenty- 
fourth year, having been trained and practiced 
in the art of book-keeping. As was custoniary 
with those who aspired to the higher employ- 
ments, he received a good classical and com- 
mercial education, in a prominent grammar 
seiiool. After his arrival in America ]Mr. 
Thomas found employment in various capaci- 
ties until 1885, when he embarked in the fire 
insurance business in Silver Creek, and his suc- 
cess in this line has been pronounced. In Feb- 
ruary, 1890, his business mind saw that a news- 
paper here would be a good investment, and 
although it might not at once net large returns, 
the succeeding years would increase its value, 
and he bought the Hanover Gazette, the name 
to which the Silver Creek Local had been 
changed. This paper was founded by J. I. 
Spears, who was attached to the New York 
Sun's I'ecent expedition to explore Greenland. 
The circulation of the Gazette is constantly in- 
creasing under the new management and it is 
entering into the confidence of its readers in a 
way that is gratifying and creditable to Mr. 
Thomas. 

Journalism in Silver Creek has had a check- 
ered career for thirteen years, but the Gazette 
is founded on a solid basis, is a clean and care- 
fully edited paper such as commends itself to 
every home, and whilst its future is full of 
promise, it may truthfully be asserted, that to 
the present editor belongs the honor of estab- 
lishing the most successful newspaper ever pub- 
lished in Silver Creek. 

October IS, 1882, he married Hattie Wells 



Ward, a daughter of Dr. Spencer Ward, who 
was a pioneer physician of northeastern Chau- 
taufpm county, and lived iu this village. Dr. 
Ward was a native of Vermont, from which 
State he came and settled here. Fred. W. and 
IMrs. Thomas have been blessed with three 
children, all daughters : Helen Elizabeth, An- 
nie Spencer and Marian Ward, who are yet, 
young and live witli their parents. 



■pi>WARD A. SKIXNER, a well-known 
'•■^ business man and president of the Na- 
tional Bank of Westfield, was born in the towu 
of Aurora, Erie county. New York, May 10, 
1841, and is a son of Rev. Levi A. and Laura 
(Patterson) Skinner. His paternal grandfather, 
Levi Skinner, was a farmer, and a native of 
Massachusetts, from which he came to Oneida 
county, this State, where he died in 1850. He 
was of Euglish origin and had been a member 
of the Presbyterian church for many years be- 
fore his death. His son, Rev. Levi A. Skin- 
ner (father), was reared iu the faith of the 
Presbyterian church, iu which he became a 
minister in early life. After preaching for sev- 
eral years in Erie county, this State, his 
voice failed him, and he was thus comjielled 
to retire from the pulpit. He then (July 
1, 1854) came to Westfield and succeeded 
J. N. Hungerford as cashier of the Bank 
of Westfield, which position he held un- 
til 1864, when he became a stockholder and 
director of tiie First National Bank of West- 
field. In October the bank commenced busi- 
ness and he was elected cashier, which position 
he held until 1875, wheu he was elected presi- 
dent and .served iu that capacity until his death, 
April 12, 187(j, at sixty-five years of age. He 
was a man of moderate means, stood well in 
financial circles, and married Laura Patterson, 
a daughter of John Patterson, who was of 
Scotch-Irish descent. 

Edward A. Skinner was reared in Erie 
C(.)untv until he was twelve vears of aue, when 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



he came with his parents to Westfield where he 
completed his education in the Westfield acad- 
emy, from which he was graduated. At six- 
teen years of age he went into the Westfield 
Bank as book-keej)er, remained two years and 
then was engaged in mercantile business until 
1861, when he enlisted in Co. G, 9th N. Y. 
cavalry, and served as second lieutenant several 
months. In 1862 he was promoted to first 
lieutenant and shortly afterwards was commis- 
sioned regimental quartermaster, which position 
he held until March, 1864, acting as brigade 
quartermaster much of the time. He was then 
discharged on account of physical disability, re- 
turned to Westfield where he became assistant 
cashier of the First National Bank of Westfield, 
which position he held until 1870, when he 
helped organize the First National Bank of 
Ottawa, Kansas, with which he is still identi- 
fied. He returned from Ottawa in 1874, was 
elected in 1875 vice-president of the Flr.st Na- 
tional Bank of Westfield, which position he held 
until 1886, when at the death of his father he 
succeeded him as president, and has acted in 
that capacity ever since. This bank was organ- 
ized in 1848 as the Bank of Westfield, has a 
cajjital of fifty thousand dollars aud its deposits 
average over two hundred thousand dollars. 
A well established and well conducted bank is 
a marked feature of progress in any community 
and the National Bank of Westfield has been so 
conducted that it has always commanded pub- 
lic confidence. 

In 1864 Mr. Skinner married Frances M. 
Barger, who died in June, 1872. On August 
19, 1874, he married Augusta Wheeler, of 
Portvilie, New York, who is a daughter of 
Hon. William F. Wheeler, president of the 
First National Bank of Olean, this State. By 
his second marriage he has three children : 
Floi-a, Egbert and Frances. 

Edward A. Skinner is a republican in poli- 
tics and was supervisor of Westfield several 
years. He has served since 1880 as treasurer 



of the Supreme Council of the Royal Arcanum, 
and disburses nearly three million dollars per 
year of the funds of that organization which 
numbers over one hundred thousand members 
in the United States and Canada. 



^HAKLES 1>. COLBUUX is a fiirmer of 
^^ prominence and was born to David L. 
and Ann (AValter) Colburn in the town of 
Poland, Chautauqua county, New York, Dec. 
2, 1841. David Colburn (grandfather) was a 
native of Otsego county, but died in Chautauijua 
county. David L. Colburn was born in Otsego 
county, this State, and removed to the town of 
Poland, where he worked by the day as a 
common laborer for a number of years, begin- 
ning when eighteen years of age. He after- 
wards became a landed farmer. He married 
Ann Walter and reared three children : William 
entered the Federal army in 1861, joining the 
42d regiment, Illinois Infantiy, where entering 
as a private he was discharged at the close of 
the war with a captain's commission. Return- 
ing to his home in Michigan, he died in 1873. 
He carried a number of scars of wounds re- 
ceived, none of which were permanently dis- 
abling; Mary married a farmer named John 
Smith, and lives in Yillanova, this county; aud 
Charles D., who married Elizabeth Ingersoll, 
a daughter of Peter Ingersoll, who was a riative 
of Chenango county, and from there reuioved 
into Chautauqua county, locating in the town of 
Ellington, where he died in 1872, aged seventy- 
two years. "When a young man he engaged in 
merchandising, but later became a farmer. 
Politically a democrat, he was elected justice of 
the peace soon after his arrival in Chautauqua 
and held the office almost all his life. His wife 
was Lois M. Smith, who became the mother of 
the following children. Martin Y. B., a farmer 
residing in the town of Ellington ; Erastus S., 
resides at Randolph, Cattaraugus county, and is 
a prominent merchant. He was a member of 
the New York State Assembly two years ; 



OF (JIIAUTAVQUA COUSTY. 



Charles P., also represented his district in the 
Assembly, aud has until lately resided at West- 
field, hut uow lives in New York city, holding 
the position of graud dictator of the Knights of 
Honor ; J. Lambert was a lawyer and died at 
Jamestown, in 1881 ; and Martha, married 
Perry Slater ; she is now dead ; before her mar- 
riage she was a teacher in the public schools. 
They were all members of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. Air. Colburn married the 
second time to Theda M. Lily, aud had a large j 
family, four of whom are living. 

Charles D. Colburn has always followed farm- 
iug and owns a farm of one hundred and eight ; 
acres, a portion of it lieing in the corporate 
limits of Jamestown, and has recently pur- 
chased one hundred acres on the sliore of Chau- 
tauqua lake. 

On February 15, 18G5, he married Elizabeth 
E. Ingersoll and their union has been blest 
with three children : Mina B., is a very popular j 
teacher in the Jamestown Kindergarten schools, 
having graduated from the Jamestown High 
school and prepared especially for teaching . 
Martlia died when fourteen years and five 
months old ; and B. Vincent. The maternal j 
grandmother of Mrs. Colburn was among the 
oldest inhabitants of Ellington, and lived to the 
advanced age of one hundred and two ye.irs. 

Air. Colburn is a republican, and with his 
wife and entire family are members of the 
Methodist church. He is also a member of i 
Lodge No. 34, Ancient Order of United 
AVorkmen. 



T .EVERETT BARKER GREENE, of Fre- 
^^ donia, is a grandson of General Leverett 
Barker, and a lineal descendant of the brother 
of General Nathaniel Greene, of Revolutionary 
memory. He is a sou of Eosell and Eliza 
(Barker) Greene, and was born at Fredonia, 
Chautauqua county. New York, November 23, 
1839. The Greenes are of English origin, aud 
the founder of the American branch of the 



family was a Quaker, among whose descendants 
were General Nathaniel Greene and his brother, 
from whom Rosell Greene (father) was descended. 
Rosell Greene was born in Herkimer county in 
1815, and came, about 1830, to Mayville, where 
he attended school. He afterwards i-emoved to 
Fredonia, learned the trade of tanner with Gen. 
Leverett Barker, and then took charge of the 
tannery of the latter. He continued in the 
tannery business until his death, in 1859, when 
he owned the Fredonia tannery, besides a large 
tannery and mills in Cattaraugus county. He 
married Eliza Barker, the second child and 
eldest daughter of Gen. Leverett Barker, and 
had two sous and three daughters, all of whom 
are dead except Leverett B., the subject of this 
sketch. General Leverett Barker (maternal 
grandfixther) was a son of Russel Barker, of 
Branfort, Connecticut, where he was born 
May 6, 1787. He came to Chautauqua county 
in 1817, and on March 3, 1811, married Desire, 
daughter of Hezekiah Barker, who had come to 
Cauadaway in 1806. He built at Fredonia the 
fir.st cannery in the county, had an intere.st in a 
large tannery afterwards erected at Jamestown, 
and died in 1848. He was one of the prime 
movers, in 1831, in establishing the first bank 
in the county — the Chautauqua County Bank — 
of which he was president for several years. 
He served in the war of 1812, and was succes- 
sively commissioned lieuteuant, adjutant, lieu- 
tenant-colonel (1818), colonel (1823), brigadier- 
geueral of the 43d brigade (1824), and major- 
general of the 26th division of New York 
Infantry (1826). He left a family of two sons 
and six daugliters. 

Leverett Barker Greene .spent his boyhood 
days at Fredouia, where he received his educa- 
tion in the old academy of that place. At the 
death of his father he a.ssumed charge of the 
estate, aud is uow engaged in the tanning busi- 
ne.ss and looking after his real e.state interests in 
Chautauqua, Cattaraugus aud Erie counties. 

On February 27th, 1868, Air. Greene married 



176 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Isabella Burnliam, a native of Madison county, 
and tbey have one adopted daughter, Kate. 
Mrs. Greene is a lineal descendant of the De 
Burnlumi, who was lord of the Saxon village 
in England which was afterwards known as 
Burn bam. 

L. B. Greene is a republiean in politics, and 
has been for several years a member of the 
Masonic fraternity. He is a stockholder of the 
Fredonia Xational Bank, the successor of the 
Fredonia Bank of which his father was the first 
president. He owns some valuable property at 
Fredonia, which is his present home. The 
General Leverett Barker homestead was bought 
by his uncle, Darwin R. Barker, who willed 
this property to the village to be used for a 
public library. 



TT IJAD FULLER. The material wealth of 
-^^ a community is largely advanced by the 
possession of good live stock. Chautauqua 
county is justly renowned for the superior stock 
she raises, and to Arad Fuller the credit is 
largely due for its introduction. This gentle- 
man, a son of Amos and Charity (Roberts) 
Fuller, was born November 13, 1822, at Nor- 
wich, AVindsor county, Vermont. His great- 
grandfather, William Fuller, was born in Bos- 
ton, Mass., where he married Persis Paine, 
either a sister or niece of Robert Treat Paine. 
Their children were: William, Persis, Witt and 
a daughter (name forgotten). 

Witt Fuller was born in Massachusetts and 
married Deborah Garfield, by whom he had 
eight children: Persis, Betsey, Lucy, Laura, 
Walden, Nathan, Arad and Amos. He re- 
moved to Vermont, where he died in 1809 or 
1810. Amos Fuller was born in Vermont, but 
in 1833 he emigrated to Chautauqua county and 
settled in the town of Poland, where he lived 
until his death, which occurred September 27, 
1879, aged eighty-one years. By occupation he 
was a luml)ermau and farmer, in politics a whig 
and republican, and was a member of the Meth- 



odist church, but before his death he became a 
Universalist. Amos Fuller married Charity 
Roberts and had six children, two sons and four 
daughters, of whom Arad is the oldest. The 
daughters died when young, and the other son, 
Danford D., went to Iowa and afterwards to 
Dakota, where he died in 1885. 

Arad Fuller was educated in the early public 
schools and began life as a lumberman, subse- 
quently purchasing a small farm in Poland, to 
which he added until his death, when he owned 
about six hundred aci'es of land. He early de- 
voted his attention to raising fine stock, and 
brought some fine blood to Chautauqua county. 
A clipping from a Jamestown paper, published 
at the time of his death, April 11, 1887, says: 
"All these years Arad Fuller has been one of the 
re])resentative men of southern Chautauqua, 
full of ambition, possessed of great industry, and 
loving his work he has lived for a purpose and 
filled it well. He \vas a great lover of fine stock 
and always spent his money freely in any in- 
vestments that tended to elevate and develop 
the same. 

" Chautanquans owe much of their celebrated 
stock, to-day, to the good judgment exercised in 
the past by Arad Fuller. 

"It is proper here to say that no man was 
better or more favorably known to this commun- 
ity than Mr. Fuller. He was genial and always 
glad to meet his fellow -citizens, they, in return, 
ever had for him a warm and cordial reception. 

"He will be greatly missed. His counsel and 
advice will no more encourage his friends, but 
his memory will remain, and in future years, as 
now, many of us will recall the grandeur, the 
integrity and the association of Arad Fuller." 

Ai'ad Fuller married Malvina Bill, on March 
4, 1846. She was a daughter of Norton B. and 
Cemeutha (Ransom) Bill. The father of Mrs. 
Fuller was a native of New England, and came 
to this county from Oneida county, N. Y., in 
1830, and located in Poland, where he followed 
farmino- until his death, in 1871. Mrs. Fuller 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY. 



177 



was the second child of a family of seven. Mr. 
and ^Irs. Fuller had three children : Sophia, 
married John Ely, a farmer living in Kennedy, 
Poland town, this county; Martha A., at home; 
and Frank, who wedded Elizabeth Phillips, of 
Villauova, and lives in South Dayton, Catta- 
raugus county. 

Politically he was a republican, a kind friend 
antl a devoted husband and father. 



TOHX JAY LIVIXGSTOX is a venerable 

^ and dignified old gentleman of James- 
town, who was familiar with the use of the 
compass, tripod and chain for more than half a 
century. He is a sou of William and Sarah 
(Tracy) Livingston, and came into the world at 
Hebron, Washington county, N. Y., ou October 
19th, 1798. His grandfather, John Livingston, 
was a native of Monaghan, Ireland, and from 
there came to America, locating in Saratoga 
county, jSTew York, where he lived three years, 
and during this period subject's father, William 
Livingston, was born, the scene of his birth 
overlooking the now renowned, but then un- 
known, historical battle ground where General 
Burgoyne, the haughty Briton, was compelled 
to acknowledge defeat and surrendered his 
sword and entire army. The elder Li\ ingston 
moved to Salem, Washington county, N. Y., 
while subject's father was a toddling infant. 
His wife was a Miss Boyd, who bore her hus- 
bend a fiimily of six sous and one daughter. 
Two of the former, Francis and John, served 
in the Continental army and were present at 
the surrender of Burgoyne. AVilliam Living- 
ston was born in 1768, and early in manhood, 
or soon after the close of the war, he studied 
medicine and was a practicing physician for 
about fifty years. He was a republican in poli- 
tics, and represented Washington county in the 
State Legislature four terms. Later he went to 
Essex county, this State. About 1830 he re- 
moved to Chautauqua county, residing at Hart- 
field for a few years ; then returned to Essex 



county, where he died in his ninety-second 
year. William Livingston married Sarah 
Tracy, who was born in Connecticut, and was 
twelve years old when Benedict Arnold betrayed 
New London. 

John Jay Livingston was born and educated 
in Washington county, and then went to Essex 
county, where he remained until 1830, and then 
he came to Chautau(jua county and stayed two 
years. In 1832 he went to Venango county, 
Pennsylvania. Eight years later the county 
was divided and Clarion county was erected 
from the detached portion. Mr. Livingston 
was a citizen of that county, the town being 
called Shippenville, for fifty-eight years. He 
was a student of languages, and attained a 
wonderful proficiency in French and German, 
and was also well informed on general subjects, 
particularly mathematics, and observing the de- 
mand for proficient surveyors, he took up the 
study of that profession and followed it more 
or less since 1832 until 1883. After his eigh- 
tieth birthday he performed field work with 
transit and chain for twenty -seven consecutive 
days. He was married first to ]Mary Ball, and 
for his second wife he took Maria Rice, of 
Washington county. New York. By that 
union be had seven children, four of whom yet 
live : James B. is a physician at West Middle- 
sex, Pennsylvania; William R. lives at Silver 
Lake, Minnesota, and is a farmer. He served 
four years in the 10th regiment Pennsylvania 
Reserves, and was wounded in battle; Mary 
married I. G. Laeey, a lumberman at Warren, 
Pennsylvania; and Harriet E., still unmarried. 
John Jay Livingston, for his third wife, mar- 
ried Elizabeth J. Whitehill. Her father was a 
native and citizen of Centre county, Pennsyl- 
vania, until late in life, when he moved up into 
Clarion county, and was a blacksmith by trade. 
He died at the latter place. Mr. and Mrs. 
Livingston lived happily together during more 
than thirty-eight years, until June 7th, 1880, 
when the latter died. She had one child, a son, 



BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY 



Alfred T., who is uow a practicing physician at 
Jamestown, Xew York. He married Catherine 
Paclver, of "Williarasport, Pennsylvania. Al- 
fred T. Livingston was born in Clarion county, 
Pennsylvania, and educated at the Jamestown 
academy and Allegheny college. He then 
studied medicine with his half-brother, Dr. 
James B. Livingston, and then attended the 
medical department of tlie University of Buf- 
falo, after graduating at which he began tlie 
practice of medicine in that city in 1873, but 
staid there less than a year before he was ap- 
pointed assi.stant physician of the State Insane 
Asylum at Utica, where he remained for five 
years. After this he went to Philadelphia, 
Pennsyh-ania, and established a home-hosj)ital 
for the treatment of mental disorders, which he 
conducted for eight years and then he came to 
Jamestown, where he is now established. 

John Jay Livingston is one of the oldest citi- 
zens of western New York, and his virtuous 
and upright life has gained him the confidence 
and respect of all his acquaintances. He is uow 
living at the home of his son Alfred, with 
whom he has resided for seven years. Rapidly 
approaching his ninety-third year, he realizes 
that his time upon earth is short at the longest, 
but he is at peace with liis Maker and worships 
Him in the Methodist Episcopal church, of 
whicli Mr. Livingston iias been a member since 
1833. 



TA>1IJJA31 31. XEWTOX. Many of our 
most brilliant men are cut down in the 
prime of life, seemingly becau.se the physical 
man is too weak to sustain, the mental strain 
under which it labors. William M. Jsewtou 
was of this class. His early life was pas.sed 
with toil and hard study to attain an eminence 
whicli he finally reached. His maturer years 
were marked hy close application, that his 
client's interests should not sutler, and he had 
the confidence of tliose wiio employed his talent, 
and the respect and consideration of his brother 



barristers, even though they were opposed to 
him at tlie bar, because he disdained .subterfuge 
and petty advantages. William M. Xewtou was 
a son of John and Sally (Loomer) Newton, and 
was born in Norwich, New York, October 30, 
1827, and died at Jamestown April 11, 1887, 
aged fifty-uine years and si.v months. His 
father, John Newton, went to Busti town in 
1832 and settled as a farmer, and died a num- 
l)er of years ago. 

Wdliam !M. Newton early gave evidence of a 
bright mind, which developed rapidly as he ap- 
proached mauliood, but his parents were strug- 
gling to maintain a family of five children, and 
the young man got naught but such advantages 
as the common .schools afforded. He early de- 
termined to master the law for his life profes- 
sion, and ids studies were directed to attain this 
end. Various labor was performed to secure 
means, and he spent the winters teaching sciiool, 
principally in Chautauqua county. 

On June 3, 1848, he married Prudence Bar- 
ber, a daughter of Elihu Barber, an old resident 
and farmer of Poland, who .served as a drum- 
mer boy in the war of 1812. He had two 
children : Agnes, who married Ed. D. Warren ; 
and Otis J., who wedded jSIary E. Wilcox, and 
has two children, Burt and Maud. Mrs. New- 
ton was of great assistance to her young husband 
in his .studies. Instead of being a burden to 
him, she was the bright .star which led him on- 
ward, and Mr. Newton, in later years, gave her 
great credit for his attainment in legal study. 

In 1850 he entered the office of JNIadison 
Burnell, of Jamestown, who was one of the 
most prominent lawyers of western New York. 
His practice was extensive, and the young stu- 
dent had excellent opportunities for practice in 
the justices court long before his admission to 
the bar. After spending two years with Mr. 
Burnell, he attended the law school at Ballston 
Spa, Saratoga county, this State, where he 
rapidly improved in legal knowledge and style 
of oratory. Naturally gifted with an eloquence 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTV. 



which swept away all (hmlit, he soou acquired 
a reputatiou for effective advocacy. He was 
admitted to practice iu all the courts of the 
State early in 1853, and on the 5th of Decem- 
ber, followiug year, he formed a jwrtnership 
with the Hon. C. R. Lockwood, of Jamestown, 
which continued only a year, when Mr. Newton 
went to Waterloo, Black Hawk county, Iowa, 
where he remained about seven years, and was 
elected district attorney. During the sixties he 
returned to Jamestown and followed his profes- 
sion with great success until his death, whicii 
occurred in 1887. Mr. Newton's death cast a 
gloom on the legal frateruity of Chautauqua 
couuty. Probably, excepting his family, none 
missed him so completely as his brother lawyers, 
who were wont to listen to his eloquence and 
wit. Politically, Mr. Newton was originally a 
democrat, but being of large ideas he saw the 
fallacy of parties and expressed himself as a 
rigid adherent of no party. His integrity of 
purpose and regard for the people, induced him 
to act for the maintenance of right." "To his 
cou.science, there were inconsistencies in the 
prevalent teaching of orthodox religionists, 
which he regarded as inconsistent with divine 
goodness, and from a sense of duty, although 
uot allying himself to any particular denomina- 
tion, he advocated the more liberal sentiment of 
the time." "He regarded superstition and 
bigotry as relics of darkest ages, which should 
succumb to the purer light and higher educa- 
tion of the present." He was devoted to his 
family, to his friends and to his profession, and 
although nearly sixty years of age, was still 
a youug man-, for age cannot be numbered by 
years. He is survived by his wife, one sou 
and a daughter, Agnes, — Mrs. Warren. 

Ed. D. Warren was a journalist of extraor- 
dinary ability. He was born in Trenton, Onei- 
da county, N. Y., July 1, 1849, was educated 
at Jamestown academy and learned the printer's 
trade. He then took up editorial wt)rk and 
was soon recognized as a l>rilliant writer and 



a successful journalist. The Jamestown, and 
Springfield, Mass., papers were well acquainted 
with him and prized the products of his pen. 
The Union of the last named city was his home 
for ten years. He then went to Concord, N. H., 
and took charge of the Blade. It was there 
that he did the best work of his life. In 1884 
he returned to S[)ringfield and in the fall of 
1888, assumed the editorship of the Paper 
World, a monthly publication devoted to tlie 
news of periodicals and paper production, which 
position he held until a few weeks before his 
death when exhausted vitality compelled him to 
relinquish his pen and surrender his desk. He 
died at Boston, Massachusetts, March 9, 1890, 
leaving a young wife in sorrow. His health 
iiad never been rugged. For years he had been 
a sufferer and many daj-s were spent at work by 
force of will onlj'. His employers respected, 
and fellow employees admired him for the de- 
termination not to give up, which though un- 
spoken was displayed, and it was only when 
completely exhausted that he quit. 

Ed. D. Warren was a republican, a member 
of De Soto lodge, No. 155, I. O. O. F., and an 
active Christian worker iu Sabbath-sciiool and 
church. His wife is now living at iier home, 
on Lake View avenue, Jamestown. 



HON. ALBERT B. SHELDON, one of the 
leading representatives of busiuess, politi- 
cal and social life of central Chautauqua county, 
is a son of Frauklin and Eliza (Brigham) 
Sheldon, was born in the town of Westfield, 
tiiis couuty, on April 7, 1842. The parents of 
our subject came from Pawlet, Vermont, and 
reached this couuty about 1830. Franklin 
Sheldon settled in the town of Westfield aud 
began to farm and deal in cattle, which he has 
followed to a greater or less extent until within 
the past few years. He is now eighty-two years 
of age, and for many years was assessor in the 
town of Westfield, and he filled the olfiee iu a 
most commendaljle manner. 



BIOGRArUY AXD HISTORY 



Albert B. Sheldon was born and reared on a 
farm, and received his education at the district 
scliools. Although the facilities for securing an 
education were far inferior to those of the 
present day, before he had reached the age of 
twenty- one he was the possessor of a teacher's 
State certificate of proficiency, and it is doubtful 
if there is another parallel instance. At fifteen 
years of age he began to teach and followed the 
jjrofession during the winter seasons for ten 
years. The summers were passed in the pur- 
chase and sale of stock, from the proceeds of 
which he accumulated considerable money. In 
18C3 he became a produce dealer, and altliough 
now interested in many other matters, he still 
is identified as a drover. Butter and cheese 
form a large part of his annual business, and 
he is one of the very few who have made it a 
success. Between forty and fifty thousand 
dollars worth of these staple commodities pass 
through his hands yearly. In 1881 he was 
elected to the State legislature, and was re-elected 
the following year, and served as chairman of 
the committee on agricultiu'e. Mr. Sheldon was 
supervisor of the town of Sherman for three 
years, and is now vice-president of the State 
Bank of Sherman, that was organized in Feb- 
ruary, 1890, and of which Enoch Sperry is 
p)resident. The towns of Sherman, Kiantone, 
Westfield and Chautauqua, and the city of 
Jamestown, contain valuable real estate that 
belongs to him. He also has large real estate 
interests at Butfalo. 

Hon. A. B. Sheldon has a fine house at Sher- 
man, in which he takes much comfort and 
pleasure. In 1872 he married Maria Slocum, 
a lady from Frewsbnrgh, this county, and they 
had one child, which unfortunately died. He 
is a hard worker and pays close attention to 
business for nine months each year, but during 
the cold winter months he takes a vacation for 
amusement, rest and pleasure. Mr. and Mrs. 
Sheldon have traveled very extensively both in 
Europe and America, and are well informed 



regarding the manners and customs of foreign 
countries, and the current news of American 
j)olitics and the affairs of State and nation come 
to them daily through the medium of periodicals 
published at Buffalo. 



FKAXK S. WHEELEH, a member of the 
Chautauqua county bar, is a .son of Silas 
and ^Nlaria (Camp) Wheeler, and M"as born in 
the town of Ellington, Chautauqua county, 
New York, December 16, 1864. 

His great-grandfather, Seth Wheeler, was 
born in Xew Hampshire, in which State he 
lived during his life time ; he was a farmer by 
occupation. Moses Wheeler (grandfather) was 
born in Xew Hampshire, but removed to El- 
lington, Chautauqua county. New York, in 
182-1 or 1825. He was a farmer by occupa- 
tion, and a whig in politics until the disruption 
of that party, when he joined the republican 
ranks. When the Free Will Baptist church 
of Ellington was orgar.ized in 1824, Closes 
Wheeler was one of the eight original mem- 
bers. He had four children, two .sons, Albert 
and Sila.s, and two daughters, Emily and ^Eary 
Jane. One of his .sons, Silas Wheeler (fatlier), 
was born in the town of Ellington in 1834, and 
is a prosperous farmer of the town of Poland, 
owning about three hundred acres of land in 
the towns of Ellington and Poland. He is a 
republican, and always votes that ticket. In 
1862 he married ^laria Camp, daughter of 
William and Eliza Camj), of the town of Po- 
land. Mr. and Mrs. Wheeler have had one 
child, Frank S. Wheeler. William Camp, 
Mrs. W^heeler's tather, was born in Onondaga 
county, New York, and i-emoved to Chautauqua 
county about 1831, and settled in the town of 
Poland. He is a farmer by occupation, and a 
republican. He married Eliza Wheelock, 
daughter of Eliab WHieelock, of the town of 
Poland. Mr. and !Mrs. Camjj had three chil- 
dren : ^laria, Julia and INIartha. 

Frank S. Wheeler received his education in 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



the 2>iiblic schools of tlie town of EHington, in 
the Ellington academy and the Chamberlain 
institute at Randolph, Cattaraugus county, from 
Mhich latter institution he was graduated in 
1883. In the fall of 1884 he began the study 
of law, reading first with Theodore Case, of 
Ellington, and with Bootey, Fowler & Weeks, 
of Jamestown, and then attended the law school 
at Albany, fi'om which he was graduated in 
1887, and was admitted to the bar as attorney 
and counsellor of the State in 1887, since which 
time he has been actively engaged in the prac- 
tice of his profession, first at Ellington, but 
since July, 1890, at Jamestown, where he has 
decided to make his permanent home. 

He votes the Republican ticket, but avoids all 
political complications. During the Harrison 
campaign he unfortunatel)' lost his left leg by 
the bursting of a cannon. He is a member of 
Lodge 97, A. O. U. W., of Ellington, and I. 
O. O. F., No. 522, of Kennedy. 



nEVElJEXD CHAKLES EDWAKD 
S3IITH, D.D., pastor of the First 
Baptist church of Fredonia, is of New Eng- 
land birth and parentage. He is a son of 
Philip and Roby (Simmons) Smith, and was 
born in Fall River, Bristol county, Massachu- 
setts, January 22d, 18.35. His grandfather, 
Edward Smith, was born at Newport, Newpoi-t 
county, Rhode Island, in 1770, and was a 
farmer by occupation. One of the beaches on 
the sea-coast near Newport is named Smith's 
Beach in honor of his ancestors, who settled 
there when they came from England. He 
moved to Massachusetts in 1822, and settled in 
Fall River, and there lived a retired life, being 
of a theological turn of mind and an acute 
reasoner. He died in 1834, in his sixty-fourth 
year. Brown Simmons, the maternal grand- 
father of Rev. C. E. Smith, was born in 
Somerset, Bristol county, Massachusetts, where 
he spent his whole life in the occupation of a 
farmer. In religion he was a member of the i 



Baptist church. His ancestors were English 
people, who reached Massachusetts not long- 
after the " Mayflower." Brown Simmons was 
' married to Huldah Brown in 1770, and for 
that reason was excused from serving as a 
soldier in the Revolutionary war. By this 
marriage there were seven children, two sons 
and five daughters. The father of these chil- 
dren died in 1838, and the mother in 1848, in 
her ninety-third year. Philip Smith (father) 
was born in Newport, Newport county, Rhode 
Island, in 1804, and worked on the form until 
he was eighteen years old. Being ingenious to 
an unusual degree, and to develop this gift, he 
went to Fall River, IMassachusetts, served three 
years' apprenticeship) in a machine-shop, event- 
ually became a contractor for building cotton-mill 
machinery, and continued in this business the 
remainder of his life. In religion he was a 
member and deacon of the First Baptist church 
of Fall River, of high moral character, and 
very highly respected. Politically he was a 
member of the so-called Liberty party. Philip 
Smith was married (1.828) to Roby Simmons, 
and had three children, two sous and a daughter: 
Philip B., born in 1830, and died at the age of 
twenty-three years; Roby M., born in 1832, 
and died in 1834; and Charles Edward. 

C. E. Smith graduated from the Fall River 
(Massachusetts) High school in 1856, then went 
to the university of Rochestei-, New York, 
where he graduated in 1860, and then entered 
the Rochester Theological Seminary, graduating 
therefrom in 1863. He was licensed to preach 
by the church the night after he left home for 
college, and that summer had been assistant 
editor of the Fall Biver News. His first pas- 
toral charge was in Pawtucket, Providence 
county, Rhode Island, where he was ordained 
in August, 1863, as pastor of the first Baptist 
church. In 1868 he became pastor in Cincin- 
nati, Ohio, which pastorate he was compelled to 
resign in 1870 on account of ill-health. He 
then spent a year at Fulton, Oswego county. 



BIOGRAPHY AM) IILSTORY 



this State, whcrt' lie was assistant engineer on 
the Erie canal, at the same time being active 
pastor of the church there. From 1871 to 
1875 he was pastor of Calvary Baptist church 
in New Haven, Connecticut, a large church 
with a seating capacity of twelve hundred. In 
the latter year he came to Syracuse, this State, 
where he was pastor of the First Baptist church 
for six years, when lie was again forced to resign 
on account of ill health. While recuperating, 
he wrote and published the book known as 
"The Baptism in Fire." In 1885 he came to 
Fredonia as pastor of the Baptist church, where 
he has since resided and occupied that pulpit. 
This church was organized October 8th, 1808, 
and is believed to be the second church organ- 
ized in the county, and the present brick edifice 
was built in 1853. Rev. Mr. Smith has just 
published another book entitled, " The World 
Lighted," a study of the Apocalypse. 

Ou June 16, 1891, the University of Roches- 
ter, N. Y., conferred upon him the honorary 
degree of Doctor of Divinity, a title which he 
is well (jualified to sustain with dignity. 

Rev. C. E. Smith was married February 17th, 
1864, to Catherine A. Kimball, a daughter of 
Morris and Louisa C. Kimball, of Fulton, New 
York, her father being a civil engineer all his 
life on the Erie canal. By this marriage there 
is one daughter, who is married to Dr. Nelson G. 
Richmond, a prosi)erous physician of Fredonia. 



IS.\AC A. SAXTOX. Within the last half- 
century several citizens of Chautauqua 
county have been very successful in the gold- 
fields of the Pacific slope and prominent in the 
founding and early progress of some of the 
leading cities of the great west. Among these 
was the late Isaac A. Saxton, of Fredonia. He 
was a son of Major Isaac and Lucy (Chapin) 
Saxton and was born in Oneida county, New 
Y'ork, June 24, 1818. Major Isaac Saxton re- 
moved with his family from Oneida county to 
uear Brocton, in the town of Portland, where 



he afterwards died. He married Lucy Chapin, 
who was a descendant of the Massachusetts 
family of that name. 

Isaac A. Saxton, after completing his academic 
course, was engaged for a short time in teaching 
in Kentucky, where he received one thousand 
dollars per year and was furnished a negro page 
to attend him. After returning from Kentucky 
he entered Hamilton college, from which he was 
graduated at the close of his senior year. He 
then went to Shreveport, Louisiana, and was in 
business for some time, after which he became 
a I'esideut of New Orleans, but his place of 
business burned soon after its establishment. 
To repair his loss, he sought the then new dis- 
covered gold-fields of California, where numer- 
ous ventures iu locating and developing gold 
territory were successful, although at various 
times he met with reverses and had his residence 
and business buildings burned. Returning from 
California to Chautauqua county, he read medi- 
cine for a short time, but then abandoned all 
idea of that profession and applied himself to 
the .study of law at Fredonia in order to fully 
fit himself Tor a business career as well as for a 
professional life. He was admitted to the Chau- 
tauqua county bar and did a large amount of 
real estate and other business during his life. 
At an early day in the history of Chicago he 
had strong faith in the future development of 
that then mere town. He invested largely in 
Chicago real estate, which advanced rapidly in 
value, as he had anticipated, and yielded him a 
wonderful iucrea.se of profit on his investments. 
He purchased western lands which became val- 
uable and had various other profitable business 
interests in this county and in the western States, 
besides forty acres of land within seven miles of 
the heart of the city of Chicago. He accumu- 
lated a fortune of large proportions by his un- 
ceasing activity, unwearied energy and successful 
investments. While cool, calculating and con- 
servative, while heeding carefully boom and lull 
in busine.ss, yet he was far-seeing and able ta 




(iM^z.^:^^^, yk^^^t^ 



OF CHAUTAVql'A COVXTY. 



predict the future successtul results of various 
investments in which many substantial business 
men were afraid to become interested. In polit- 
ical matters he supported the Republican party. 
After nearly half a century of active and suc- 
cessful business life he died on March 4, 1884, 
when in the sixty-sixth year of his age. His 
remains were entombed with appropriate cere- 
monies in Forest Hill cemetery. 

Ou January 2, 1855, Isaac Saxton married 
Louisa W. Pier, of this county. Their union 
was blessed with four children, of whom one 
son still lives: Isaac Henry, who is married and 
resides in Chicago when not engaged on his horse 
ranch of nearly four thousand acres in the State 
of Kansas. 

At the time of her marriage Mrs. Saxton w as 
teaching in the city of New York. She resides 
at Fredonia, where she has a beautiful and 
pleasant home. Mrs. Saxton is a daughter of 
Daniel Pier, who was boru at Cooperstown, Xew 
York, and removed to the site of Dunkirk city 
in January, 1814, where he engaged in farming. 
He and his father-in-law, Amon Gaylord, two 
of his brothers-in-law and four other parties 
sold their farms to a company who laid out on 
their purchase the village of Dunkirk. Daniel 
Pier had purchased the larger part of the site of 
the village for seventy dollars and sold it to this 
company for twenty-four hundred dollars. He 
died in 1837, aged fifty-four years. Before 
removing to Dunkirk he had followed merchau I 
dising, although by trade a hatter. He was a 
public-spirited man, and married Candace Gay- 
lord, daughter of Amon Gaylord, by whom he 
had seven children, of whom three are living : 
Amelia S., Mrs. Aveline H. Morey and Mrs. 
Louisa AV. Saxton. 



TA Ml,LIA3I J. COBB, a prosperous merchant 

-**■ and retired agricultural implement man- 
ufacturer of Jamestown, is a sou of Adam B. 
and Thetis (Bishop) Cobb, and he first saw tiie 
light of day February 17, 1823, inElizabethtown, 



Essex county, New York, where his father was 
married. Zaciiariah Cobb, grandfather of the 
subject of (Hir sketch, was a native of Connec- 
ticut, but early in manhood enjigrated to Essex 
county, this State, where he followed farming 
until his death. During the Revolution, like 
Putnam, he left his plow and with musket on 
his shoulder, remained in the Colonial service 
until the contest was decided, and again, at the 
breaking out of the second war with England, 
he went to the front. He married a Miss 
Brady and reared a family of four sons and 
three daughters. Elijaii Bishop (maternal 
grandfather) although of English extraction 
was born in New Milford, Connecticut, 1760. 
While young he emigrated to Vermont and 
later came to New York where he died. He 
was a man of considerable ingenuity, which he 
employed to good advantage. During the war 
of 1812 he served as major with distinction. 
When interested in politics he was identified 
with the democrats. He was twice married, 
his first wife being Dorcas Holcomb, who bore 
him eight children, of whom Elijah Bishop and 
the mother of "William J. Cobb, are the only 
ones now living. Adam B. Cobb (father) was 
born in 1801, in Essex county, and when thirty- 
two years of age, with his family, came to this 
county and died in Jamestown, in 1883. Like 
his son he was a whig and afterwards a republi- 
can. For a number of years he was associated 
with his son, William J. Cobb, in the manufac- 
turing business, but several years before he died 
he disposed of the business. He was a member 
of the Congregational church in which faith he 
died. In 1822, he married Thetis Bishop, who 
was born March 4, 1800, and who bore him 
four children : William J., Norval B., now 
dead, who served ou the Union side during the 
Rebellion; Sheldon B., (dead); and Lucy, who 
is the wife of William Broadhead, and resides 
in Jamestown. 

William J. Cobb received his early education 
in the common schools of his home, and early ia 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



life engaged with his father in the manufacture 
of agricuhural tools, from which he retired 
about twenty-five years ago and since then has 
been engaged in the grocery business. An en- 
thusiastic republican he is also a patriotic cit- 
izen, and enjoys seeing the government properly 
conducted, and is with his wife an active mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. !Mr. 
Cobb has a very pleasant home whicli it is 
hoped he will yet enjoy for many years. 

On Dec. 23, 18^6, Mr. Cobb married for his 
first wife Miranda Woodward, a daughter of 
Reuben Woodward, a resident of Chautauqua 
county, who was the mother of two children : 
Ordello \\. was a merchant tailor of James- 
town, but is now in the insurance business, and 
was married to Clara Brooks ; and Orlando W. 
(dead). The youngest son, George D., a conduc- 
tor on the electric street cars, is a child by IMr. 
Cobb's second wife, and is also married, his 
wife being Vesta A. Fox. After the death of 
the first Mrs. Cobb, he married Mrs. Martha 
T. (Simmons) Clements, with whom he had a 
very happy home for many years. Martha T. 
Cobb died June 11, 1891. 



-t>EXJ.\3IIN J. COFFIX, a promineni resi- 
-'^ dent of Sherman, who at first became well 
known as a gallant soldier, and later, through 
his business abilities, was born at Xantucket, 
Massachusetts, on July 30, 1821, and is a son of 
John G. and Rebecca (Joy) Coffin. The CofSn 
family is of English extraction and the Ameri- 
can branch are all descended from Tristam Cof- 
fin, who landed from the mother country about 
1642. His first residence was at Salem, Massa- 
chusetts, but during the persecutions he removed 
to Nantucket, where he might enjoy his Quaker 
religion without being molested. Tristam Cof- 
fin was I'emote from our subject nine generations. 
He married Dionus Stevens. The great-grand- 
father of our subject was James Coffin, who en- 
tered the world at Nautucket, lived there, served 
as justice of the peace and a member of the 



General Assembly of !Massac!iusetts, and died 
in the town of his birth. His sou, Samuel 
Coffin, was boru at the same place and learned 
tailoring. The latter's wife was Eunice Folger, 
and belonged to the same family as Ex-Secretary 
of the Treasury, Folger. They had six children. 
The maternal grandfather, Obed Joy, was of 
English descent, although born in the town of 
Xantucket, and his fatlier's name was jSIoses 
Joy. Obed Joy was a skillful mariner aud fol- 
lowed the sea throughout his life. He married 
Ann Cartwright aud reared seven children. 
John G. Coffin was boru at the town of Xan- 
tucket in 1797. While yet young he went to 
sea aud followed it all his life. He rose to the 
dignity of a master and died while on a voyage. 
His remains were iuterred at Tombos, South 
America. 

Captain Coffin was a member of tlie Pres- 
byterian church and married Rebecca Joy, 
who was born October 29, 1798, and is still 
living (1891), and enjoying good health. They 
had three children — subject, and two daughters: 
Keziah J. now lives at Xantucket witii her 
mother on the old homestead ; and Mary A., who 
married George Simpson, now dead, aud she, 
too, is living with her mother. 

Benjamin J. Coffin was educated in the com- 
mon schools of his native town, and as they 
ranked with the average of their day, the extent 
of his instruction may be imagined. Wheu he 
left home he went to Xew York city and Brook- 
lyn and learned sash and blind making. In 
March, 1843, he united in marriage with Eliza- 
beth G. Paddock, a daughter of George Pad- 
dock, a Bay State mariner. He was master of 
a vessel aud while at Xew Orleans was attacked 
with yellow fever and died. Mr. and Mrs. Cof- 
fin have been blessed with two children : John 
G., who married Adaliue Miller, now lives in 
Westfield, where he owns aud operates a saw- 
mill — he has five children : George, Ruth, Eli- 
zabeth A., Mary aud Lueretia ; and Rebecca, 
now the wife of A. Jerome Peck, a gents' fur- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTy. 



nisher and clothiug dealer at Sherman — they 
have a daughter Louise. 

Benjamin J. Coffin first worked at carpenter- 
ing in Siierman and Westfield up to 1860, and 
then went to the oil regions of Pennsylvania 
and lived at Rouseville for one year, but in 
July, 1861, he returned to Sherman and re- 
cruited Company E, 9th regiment, New York 
Cavalry, and they were mustered out of service 
in October, 1864. Mr. Coffin was captain of 
his company for two years and eight months. 
After leaving the army he returned to the oil 
regions and engaged as a superintendent for two 
or three years, and then came back to Sherman, 
where, soon after, he was elected justice of the 
peace on the Republican ticket, and he has been 
re-elected at every election since. This is com- 
plimentary to the gentleman's integrity aud per- 
sonal popularity. In addition to his office of 
trust he does a large business in conveyancing 
and settling up estates, most of that work in this 
community coming to him. He has been supei'- 
visor of his town for eight years — first in 1856, 
and for the last seven years has served consecu- 
tively. Benjamin J. Coffin is a member of 
Sheldon Post, No. 295, G. A. R., and also be- 
longs to the Equitable Aid Union. 



"PLIAS FORBES, who is now enjoying a 
-'"^ well-earned aud comfortable repose in the 
evening of life, was born in Greene, Chenango 
county, N. Y., January 10, 1819, and is a sou 
of John and Statira (Phelps) Forbes. Nothing 
is known of his paternal grandfather, except 
that he was a sailor aud passed to the world 
beyond when his son John, (fsither) was nine 
years old. Jonathan Phelps, maternal grand- 
father of Elias Forbes, was a native of Con- 
necticut and a sea-faring man, who, became a 
captain of a privateer during the Revolutionary 
war and captured several prizes. With the 
money tluis gained, added to the pension which 
was awarded him, he was enabled to live in 
luxuiy in his old age. He came to this countv 
10 



in 1835 and settled in Fredonia, where he re- 
sided uutil 1850, when he went to Rutledge, 
Cattaraugus county, to live witli his daughter 
I and subsequently died there at the age of ninety- 
six years. In religion he favored the Baptists, 
being an attendant at a church of that denomina- 
j tion, of which his wife was a member. Jona- 
I thau Phelps married Charity Beckwith, by 
whom he had twelve cliiklreu, of whom Rodney 
[ is a farmer in Chenango county ; Beckwith is a 
liatter in Central New York ; Newell is a farmer 
at Bear Lake, Penua.; Statira (mother), Julia, 
married Lymau Shattuck ; Susan, married 
Jonathan Thompson ; Celestia, married a JMr. 
Wheeler; Aseuath married David Shattuck, 
and China Maria married Edwin Adams. The 
mother died in 1870 in her ninety-sixth year ; 
husband and wife by a singular coincidence each 
lacking just four years of completing a century 
of life. John Forbes (father) was born in 
New Haven, Conn., in 1790, and being left 
fatherless at the age of nine years, was thus 
early in life compelled to aid his mother in the 
maiutenauce of the family, which moved to Ciie- 
nango county, this State, aud settled in Greene; 
John having learned the trade of a tanner and 
currier. Afterward he purchased a farm of two 
huudred acres, which he cultivated in connection 
with operating a tannery. In the fall of 18.31 
he was compelled to dispose of his farm aud 
tannery on account of ill health, and in the 
spring of 1832 he moved to this county and 
bought a farm of one luuidred acres (now owned 
by Clinton Ball) in the corjwration of Fredonia, 
where he remained two years and then sold it, 
shortly afterward engaging in the mercantile 
business at Fredonia, in which he continued 
until 1843. In 1852 he moved to Batavia, 
Genesee county, where he resided eleven years, 
and then went to Rochester, Mouroe county, 
where he died May 2, 1878, aged eighty-eight 
years. He was colonel of a regiment in Che- 
nango county and was drafted for the war of 
1812, but peace was declared before he was or- 



188 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



dered iuto service. la freemasonry he was W. 
M. of a Lodge in Greene. In religion he was 
a member of the Baptist church, of wliich he 
was a trustee nearly all his life, and always a 
very prominent man in church affairs. John 
Forbes was married in 1814 to Statira Phelps, 
the union resulting in the birth of five children, 
three sous and two daughters : Julia A., born 
in 1815 and married Louis B. Grant, a merchant 
at Forestville, and later at Fredonia; David S., 
a retired merchant of Fredonia, who married 
Catherine J. Abell ; Maria, died at the age of 
three years ; and John B. The mother died 
January 8, 1850, and John Forbes married for 
his second wife Lavinia j\I. Grant, a daughter 
of Jared Grant, of Chenango county, in June, 
1850. She is still living in Rochester, Monroe 
county, at the age of eighty-three. 

Elias Forbes was educated at the Fredonia 
academy and left school when he was eighteen 
years old to work as a clerk in his father's store, 
in which position he remained four years. In 
1844 he bought his father's interest in the store 
and formed a partnership with his brother David 
S., under the firm-name of D. S. & E. Forbes; 
but David was later afflicted with inflammatory 
rheumatism and his father purchased his inter- 
est, \vhich he subsequently sold to Elias and L. 
B. Grant, the firm then being known as Grant 
& Forbes. This firm continued eight years, 
when Mr. Forbes sold his interest to ^Ir. Grant, 
remained inactive for a year and a half and then 
formed a partnership with Robert ilcPherson, 
under the firm-name of McPherson & Forbes, 
with whom he continued two years and then 
bought him out and conducted the business alone 
until his health failed in 1858, when he sold to 
Horace Pemberton, and, in connection with 
Preston Barmore, formed a gas company for the 
purpose of lighting the village and streets of 
Fredonia. The use of natural gas in Fredonia 
was begun in 1821, and among the public places 
into which it was introduced was the hotel that 
occupied the site of the present Taylor House, 



which was illuminated when Gen. La Fayette 
passed through the village by the first gas used 
in the L'nited States, and the gas-works then 
established were the first of their kind in the 
country. The spring first discovered and from 
which this gas was used is located on the north 
bank of Canadaway creek at the bridge crossing 
the stream on Main street. The gas from this 
well was sufficient for thirty burners and was 
used until 1858, when Preston Barmore sunk 
another well in the northwest part of the vil- 
lage, the shaft being thirty feet deep, six feet in 
diameter at the top and fourteen feet at the bot- 
tom, with two vertical borings, one one hundred 
and the other one hundred and fifty feet deep. 
It was this well in which ^Ir. Forbes purcha.sed 
a half interest. At first the well supplied two 
thousand cubic feet per day, through three miles 
of mains. In 1859 the company put in a gas 
receiver of twelve thousand cubic feet capacity 
and supplied private houses. In 1871 Albert 
Colburu sunk a well twelve hundred feet, for 
the purpose of supplying fuel for generating 
steam, but it proved inadequate and he bought 
out j\Ir. Barmore's interest in the gas company, 
connected his with the company's receiver, thus 
enabling them to supply the whole village. Of 
this company Mr. Forbes was elected president 
and held that office until 1878, when he sold 
out his interest and retired from business to 
spend the remainder of his days amid the sur- 
roundings of a most comfortable home. In re- 
ligion he is an Episcopalian. In 1858 he was 
elected one of the wardens of Trinity Episcopal 
church in Fredonia and still holds the same po- 
sition. He has been trustee of the village of 
Fredonia and held the office of treasurer for 
many years, and trustee of the old Fredonia 
academy here, 
i Elias Forbes was married November 5, 1843, 
to Rebecca E. Walworth, a daughter of Benja- 
min and Charlotte (Eddy) Walworth, her father 
being one of the most prominent physicians and 
surgeons in western New York, and for thirteen 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



years was jiulge of Chaiitau(|iia county, and for 
several years was examiner in chancery. He 
resided in Fredonia, whitiier he came from 
Hoosic Falls, N. Y., in ] 824. By this mar- 
riage there were three children : Kosciusko W., 
born Decemijer 14, 1844, married to Nellie A. 
Payne, by whom he has three daughters, and 
lives in Buffalo ; Charlotte E., born November 
26, 1846, married Isaac S. Kingsland, a civil 
engineer, and was J. Condit Smith's chief en- 
gineer — he died in 1883, leaving a widow, one 
son and thi-ee daughters ; and John B., born Au- 
gust 19, 1855 and died May 30, 1862. 



/^OL. SILAS SHEAKMAX & SONS, of 

^^ Jamestown, have been prominent in the 
manufacturing interests of that city for many 
years, and the sous, Rufus P. and Addison P., 
are the members of the present upholstering and 
furniture firm of Shearman Brothers. The 
Shearmans are of English descent, and the 
family was founded in New England by three 
brothers, who settled respectively in Massachu- 
setts, Connecticut and Rhode Island. From 
the family is descended Col. Silas Shearman, 
who was born at Tiverton, Rhode Island, De- 
cember 11, 1803, and is a son of Silas and 
Elizabeth (Perry) Shearman. Silas Siiearman, 
Sr., removed, in 1808, from Rhode Island to 
Cazenovia, Madison county, New York, where 
ten years later he died. He was a cabinet- 
maker and an excellent workman, and his two 
brothers, John and Carletou, learned cabinet- 
making with him in Rhode Island. He was a 
democrat, and married Elizabeth Perry, wiio 
was a daughter of Godfrey Perry, of Rhode 
Island ; he was a son of Stafford Perry, and a 
relative of the famous Commodore Oliver 
Hazard Perry of American naval fame. Thev 
reared a family of nine sons and one daughter: 
Perry, a lumberman of Pennsylvania, where I 
he died ; Noble (deceased), a farmer of near 
Mayville; Eliza (dead); Silas, David, who is 
farming near Hartfield ; Edward, of Ohio, on 



part of whose farm the town of Plymouth is 
built; William, who went to Virginia about 
the commencement of the civil war, and of 
whom nothing has been heard since; Godfrey 
P., who died in Detroit, Michigan ; John P., 
of Jamestown, where he died ; and Elias, who 
removed from Jamestown in 1890, and from 
whom nothing has been heard since he left. 
Col. Silas Siiearman attended the schools of his 
boyhood days in Madison and Chautauqua 
counties. He learned the trade of saddler and 
harness-maker, worked for a time at Fredonia, 
and in 1827 commenced in that lineof busiuess 
for himself in Jamestown, where lie opened a 
shop in the Endlong building, afterwards known 
as the Hawley block. In December, 1832, he 
removed to a brick building, which he had 
erected on Third street opposite the Allen 
house. He dealt to some extent in saddlery 
and hardware, and gradually enlarged his busi- 
ness. In 1854 he associated his son, Rufus 
P., and afterwards his son, Addisoii P., with 
him under the firm name of S. Shearman & 
Sons, in which ixirtnerships he was an active 
member until 1870, when he retired from busi- 
ness life. Tlie sous were in various business 
operations until 1881, when they engaged in the 
upholstery business, and in 1882 erected their 
present large furniture flictory. In early life 
Mr. Shearman took considerable interest in the 
military affairs of his State, from which he 
held, at different times, five commissions under 
Governor Troop and Governor Marcy, — three 
in the cavalry, and those of major and colonel 
in the field. He cast his first presidential vote 
for Andrew Jackson, and was a Democrat until 
the close of Polk's administration, when he be- 
came an abolitionist, and acted as a conductor 
on the underground railroad in assisting slaves 
to reach Canada. Since the late war he has 
been a Republican. He has been a remarkably 
strong man physically as well as mentally; and 
to-day at eighty-seven years of age is still active 
in both mind and body. He has always been 



190 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



strictly temperate as to his use of food and 
drink, and duriug tiie last sixty years of his 
life has used no stimulants of any kind. He 
has witnessed the erection of every building in 
Jamestown except one, and still resides in the 
house which he built in 1829. While no poli- 
tician, Col. Silas Shearman expresses the hope 
that he may live to see the day when the 
elective franchise will be extended to women. 

On the 29th of March, 1829, he married 
]\Iary C. Marsh, daughter of Ebenezer Marsh, 
of Windham county, Vermont. They have 
been the parents of six children : Rufus P., 
Addison P., and four that died in infancy. 

Rufus P. Shearman is the eldest son of 
Col. Silas and Mary C. (Marsh) Shearman, and 
was born in Jamestown, May 31, 1831. He 
received his education at the Jamestown acad- 
emy, and embarked in 1854 with his father in 
the harness business, in which he continued 
until 1870. In 1880 he became a member of 
the present upholstery and furniture firm of 
Shearman Brothers. On October 19, 1854, he 
married Sophronia M., daughter of Adam 
NeiJ, of Cortland county. They have two chil- 
dren : Fred J., a locomotive builder who mar- 
ried Ella ]McCullough, who died and left him 
one child, M. Evelyu, after which he married 
Minnie Rugg; and Frank E., who has charge 
of his father's office, and married Catherine 
Derry, by whom he has three children : Lulu 
C, Frank E. and Florence M. He is a Repub- 
lican in politics, but never takes any active part 
in political affairs. 

Addison P. Shearman, the second son of 
Col. Silas and Mary C. (Marsh) Shearman, was 
born in Jamestown, June 25, 1843. He at- 
tended the Janiestown academy, and then en- 
tered the Jamestown office of the A. & G. W. 
R. R., in which he learned telegraphy, and 
served as a telegrajih operator until 1862. On 
August 25th of that year he enlisted in Co. F, 
112th regiment, N. Y. Vols., and served under 
Grant at Cold Harbor and Petersburg ; Terry 



at Ft. Fisher; Gilmore at Charleston, and 
Sherman in his capture of Johnston's army at 
Raleigh, N. C. He returned home in 1865, 
and was engaged with his father in the manu- 
facture of harness and various other lines of 
business until January 1, 1870. In 1881 he 
became a partner with his brother in their pres- 
ent upholstery and furniture business. He is a 
republican in jjolitics, and a member of James 
M. Brown Post, No. 295, G. A. R. He mar- 
ried Caroline L. Havens, of Elmira, N. Y., 
October 1, 1867, by whom he had one son, 
William Brown Shearman, who died March 
20, 1877. 

The furniture factory of the Shearman 
Brothers is located at Shearman Place, ojjposite 
the Union R. R. Depot. It is a five-story 
building 40x100 feet in dimensions with an L 
32x40. It is equipped with all necessary 
machinery and modern appliances, and the firm 
gives employment to a force of one hundred 
workmen. In addition to the fiictory there is 
a large storage building. They make a spec- 
ialty of lounges and couches, of which they are 
probably the largest manufacturers in the 
United States. They keep six traveling sales- 
men constantly on the road, fill all orders 
promptly, and have an extensive wholesale ti'ade 
throughout this and adjoining States. 



\kt ^' ^^^ '^^ ^ ^^^ ^^ William H. and 
-*"'■ • Maria (Smith) Sly, and was born at 
Parish, Oswego county, New York, March 20th, 
1847. His grandfather, John Sly, was born in 
London, England, in 1784, and came to Amer- 
ica with an uncle, when he was eight years old, 
who settled in De Kalb, St. Lawrence county. 
He remained with his uncle until he was twelve 
years of age and then he went to live with a 
Captain Fowler, with whom he resided until he 
was eighteen years old, when he went to Canada. 
In 1812 he returned to the United States and 
enlisted with Captain Fowler in the American 
army and was stationed at Sackett's Harbor 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



during the war. Forty-two years after the 
close of the war he received a land grant for his 
services. After the war he was engaged for a 
few years in running lumber from Oswego to 
JNIontreal and Quebec. He then purchased a 
farm in De Kalb, St. Lawrence county, New 
York, which he occupied and cultivated until 
his death, which occurred in his eighty-ninth 
year. He was twice married. First to Ellen, 
daughter of Hiram Lovejoy, by whom he had 
four children, two sons and two daughters : 
William H., father of W. S. ; James, Julia, who 
married Philip Fellows, of Parish, N. Y. ; and 
Laura, who married Bradley Taylor, of Michi- 
gan. His first wife died, and in 1842 he mar- 
ried Mrs. ^laria (Fordham) Belden, daughter of 
Theodore Fordham, but had no children. The 
maternal grandfather of W. S. Sly was named 
Harvey Smith, who was born at Cobleskill, 
Schoharie county, N. Y., and was of German 
descent. He lived all his life and died on a 
farm in Parish, Oswego county, New York, 
where he owned three large farms. He died 
March, 1871, aged 77 years. He was a mem- ' 
ber of the Baptist church and was a quiet, re- 
served man, atteuding strictly to his own affairs, 
and accumulated considerable wealth, as fortunes 
were counted in those days. He was married 
in 1822 to Catherine, daughter of Charles 
Simouds, and had five children, three sons and 
two daughters : Maria (mother) ; Nancy, who 
married C. H. Davy, of Parish ; Hiram, a 
farmer and lumberman in Oswego county ; aud 
David, who died while a young man, just after 
graduating from Fredouia academy. ]\Irs. Smith 
died in 1874 aged 76. William H. Sly (father) 
was born at Antwerp, October 18, 1825, and 
was educated in the public schools, supplemented 
by two years in Gouverneur academy. After 
leaving school he served au apprenticeship of 
seven years as a carpenter and joiner, wliieh 
trade he followed the remainder of his life, 
working as a contractor in Oswego and St. 
Lawrence counties. New York, building mills. 



I business blocks, etc. In religion he was a 
Methodist, being a member of the church of that 
denomination, and also a trustee for a number 
I of years. He was married in September, 1844, 
to Maria Smith and had seven children, five 
I sons and two daughters. The first-born died in 
infancy ; the second was W. S. ; then came 
George W., a carpenter and joiner in Philadel- 
phia, Pennsylvania, who was married first to 
Frances Redman, second to ]Mary Eason, and 
third to (name forgotten); Mary J., married to 
T. H. Wolfers, a carpenter and joiner, now fore- 
man in a shop in Buffalo ; Laura, who died 
aged twelve years ; Charles died at four years 
of age; Harvey, a sewing machine agent, who 
married Ada Corlett and died September 20th, 
1888. Mrs. Sly is still living at the age of G5 
years. 

W. S. Sly received his education in the public 
schools of St. Lawrence county, this State. At 
sixteen years of age he entered the shop of G. 
W. Burhaus at .Jamesville, Onondaga county, 
New York, manufacturer of doors, sash, blinds 
aud broom handles, where he remained al)out a 
year and then enlisted .January 6th, 1864, in 
Company C, 9th New York Heavy Artillery. 
He participated in the battles of Cold Harbor, 
Monocacy Junction, "Winchester, Cedar Creek, 
aud Petersburg. In the last named battle he 
was wounded in the right arm between the elbow 
and shoulder. He was honorably discharged 
September 20th, 1865, and returned to the shop 
of G. W. Burhaus at Jamesville, remaining 
there until the next spring, when he went on a 
farm in De Kalb, St. Lawrence county. Sep- 
tember 6th, 1866, he came to Fredonia and 
worked at his trade of carpenter and joiuer for 
Robert Wolfers for three years. He then went 
to Forest vi lie and formed a partnership with 
Robert Wolfers, uuder the firm name of AVolfers 
& Sly, contractors and builders. Mr. W^olfers 
retired from the firm after a year had passed 
and Mr. Sly carried on the business for two 
vears alone. In 1873 he returned to Fredonia 



BIOGn.lPJir AXD HISTORY 



and entered the employ of Wliite & Wells, 
manufacturers of dooi-s, sash, etc., with whom 
he remained until May loth, 1890, when he 
entered into partnership with S. O. Codington, 
buving the White & Wells plant, which firm is 
still doing husiness, manufacturing sash, doors, 
blinds and building material, etc., and contract- 
ing and building. W. S. Sly is a member of 
Temple No. 49, Fredonia, Temple of Honor, at 
Fredonia, of which he is Select Templar. He 
is also a member of Lodge No. 314, American 
Legion of Honor; No. 104, Equitable Aid 
Union, and the Life LTnioii, all at Fredonia. 
In religious matters he is a consistent member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church at Fredonia, 
of wiiich he has been steward three years. 

W. S. Sly was married Se])tember 16th, 1869, 
to Ella B. Smith, daughter of La Fayette and 
Arabella (Hinkley) Smith, her father being a 
dealer in live stock in Laona, this county. By 
this union there have been three children, all 
sons : G. Eugene, who is a clerk for the grocery 
firm of Belden O. Leworthy, of Fredonia ; 
Fred. S., who is at school ; and J. Sidney, de- 
ceased. 



QiaOCH LAPHAM. Of the many old 
^*- families, of which Chautaurpia county 
has an abundant supply, none has kept its record 
moi-e accurately, nor extends farther into auti- 
cpiity with indisputable clearness than that of 
Arioch Lapham, whose grandfather of the 
seventh generation, John Lapham, was a weaver 
at Devonshire, England, and came from there 
about 16.50 and settled in Providence, Rhode 
Island. He married Mary Mann, a daughter 
of William Maun, who lived at the future cap- 
ital of the little state, and after beginning to 
keep house, bad it burned on the night of 
March 29th, 1676, by a band of Indians who 
belonged to King Philiji's red-skinned warriors. 
He was the father of four sons and one daugh- 
ter : Thomas ; William ; John ; Nicholas (six gen- 
erations remote from our snl))ect) ; and Mary, 



who married a Charles Dyer. Nicholas Lap- 
ham married Marcy Arnold, who bore him five 
children : Nicholas ; Abigail ; Arnold ; Rebec- 
ca: and, following the line of succession, Solo- 
mon, who was born August 1st, 1730, and died 
June 24th, 1800. He married his second cousin, 
Sylvia Lapham, and reared seven children : 
Dutee, married first, Mary Caldwell, second, 
Mrs. Amanda Wheeler; William united with 
Susannah Ballon, of Burrillsville, Rhode 
Island ; Ruth ; Rhoda became the wife of Mar- 
tin Harris ; Rebecca was first the wife of Ben- 
jamin Smith and then of Elisha Brown; Zodock, 
born in 1764, died when five years old; and 
Thomas. 

Arioch Lapham is the son of Arioch and Eu- 
nice (Sherman) Lapham and was born near 
Sherwood, Cayuga county, New York, January 
16th, 1821. His graudfiither, before mentioned, 
Thomas Lapham, was born at Smithfield, 
Rhode Island, on April 3d, 1761, and mo%'ed 
to Cayuga county, New York, some thirty-four 
vears after. About 1800 he bought a farm of 
two hundred and fifty acres of land near Sher- 
wood and followed farming all bis life, dying 
between 1835-40. Thomas Lapham was a 
member of the Baptist church, in which he was 
a deacon. He married Thankful Smith, a 
daughter of John Smith, of Gloucester, Rhode 
Island, and by this union there came nine child- 
ren : Cynthia married Elijah Kemp ; Sally 
wedded Benjamin Waldron; Amalek united 
with Charlotte Bullard ; Sinai became the wife 
of Nathaniel Tibbels ; Winsor married Elmina 
Dunham ; Sidney was the husband of Jane Mc- 
Comber; Cyrene was the wife of Jesse Moss ; 
Alva married Laura Hanua ; and Arioch, father 
of subject. The maternal grandfather of 
Arioch Lapham, Jr. was Charles Sherman, a 
native of Massachusetts. He moved from 
Dartmouth about 1800 and settled in the town 
of Venice, Cayuga county, where he owned a 
farm of one hundred acres. He also had a 
tract of four hundred acres in Ohio, in what 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTV. 



was known as the Connecticut Fire Land. He 
spent his life in farming and died about 1820. 
Mr. Sherman's wife's maiden name was Lois 
West, who became the mother of six children : 
Jonathan was a farmer in Indiana ; Charles died 
young; Benjamin was an agriculturist in Erie 
county, New York; Eunice is subject's mother; 
Edith became jNIrs. Dorcey Roberts ; and Lois 
married Samuel Rogers. Arioch Lapham, Sr., 
was born in Smithfield, Rhode Island, and, 
moving with his parents to Cayuga county. 
New York, worked upon his father's farm until 
he was twenty-one years of age. He afterward 
joined David Thomas' engineer corps, then en- 
gaged • in the construction of the Erie canal. 
Wiiile this work was in progress he sickened 
and died at Middleport, Niagara county, in No- 
vember, 1820, two months before the birth of 
our subject. He married Eunice Sherman about 
1815 and three children, all sons, were born : 
Charles, a farmer in Iowa, married Olivia Win- 
ship, but is now dead ; George was a farmer of 
Erie county. New York, living in Eden. He 
married first, Lurena Newell and second, Mrs. 
Mary A. Rogers. Many years after the death 
of her husband, Mrs. Lapham married Deacon 
Benjamin Seamons, and died in 1868. 

Ariocli Lapham was educated in the public 
schools of Cayuga and Erie counties and at the 
age of twenty, entered the store of Thomas Rus- 
sel, of Collins, Erie county, as a clerk. After 
working two years he bought his former em- 
ployer out and conducted the business himself 
for four years and then selling out to B. W. 
Sherman, he went to BuflPalo and clerked for 
Pratt & Co. One year after he moved to Green- 
wich, Hiu-on county, Ohio, and embarked in 
mercantile life, continuing for four years. He 
then came back to Erie county, where, in con- 
nection with his brother-in-law, Charles Sniitii, 
he built a large tannery. A year after, he sold 
out to Mr. Smith and returned to Ohio, the 
scene of his first home, and again followed mer- 
cantile pursuits until 1859. Then ilr. Lapham 



bought a farm of fifty acres in Erie county. 
For eighteen years he was a member of the firm 
of Smith & Lapham, wholesale grocers, on Sen- 
eca street, Buffalo. In 1882 he purchased a 
handsome property in Fredonia and moved into 
it, where he now lives a retired life. While 
living in Ohio, he served as postmaster under 
both Presidents Pierce and Buchanan. 

On December .')Oth, 1842, I\Ir. Lapham mar- 
ried Sylvia Smith, a daughter of Humphrey 
and Deborah (Kniffen) Smith, a farmer, tanner 
and currier, at Collins. Erie county, New York, 
and by this marriage there has been one daugh- 
ter, Ella G, a graduate of Yassar C(jllege in 
the class of 1876. 

Arioch Lapham is a member of the Univer- 
salist church and a gentleman of upright char- 
acter. Few, if any, families of the United 
States can produce an ancestral tree with tiie 
trunk so strongly intact, or witli its escutcheon 
so free from blemish. 



QXDREW BUKX.S, a resident of West- 
^^^ field, and one of the largest manufac- 
turers in the United States of grape baskets 
and fruit barrels, was born in Hanover, now 
one of the northwestern provinces of the great 
German empire, June 3, 185.3, and is a son of 
Theodore and Sophia (Caring) Burns. Theo- 
dore Burns was a native of Hanover, one of 
wliose electors became king of England and 
founded the present royal family of that king- 
dom, and was born in the first half of that 
period which is known in the history of Ger- 
many as the Interregnum, which extended from 
the subversion of the German empire by Napo- 
leon Bonaparte in 1806 until its re-establish- 
ment in 1870 by William L, Bismark and Yon 
Moltke. Theodore Burns was a cooper by 
trade, served as a soldier in the German army, 
and married Sophia Caring, who was a native 
of the same electorate as himself. He came in 
1853 to Batavia, Genesee county, where, after 
remaining a few months, he went to Cattarau- 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



gus county, and afterwards removed to West- 
field, where he now resides, aged sixty-four 
years. His wife was boru in 1828, and they 
have reared a family of four sons and three 
daughters. 

Andrew Burns was reared in Hanover, Ger- 
many, until he was six years of age, when his 
parents brought him to Batavia. He received 
his education in the public schools of Cattarau- 
gus village. He learned the trade of cooper 
with his father, with whom he worked for some 
time at Cattaraugus. He then (1871) removed 
to Westfield, where he worked at his trade until 
1875, when he and J. F. Wass engaged in the 
manufacture of staves, headings and fruit bar- ] 
rels. In 1880 they started a branch factory at 
Sherman, X. Y., and at both places employed a 
total of sixty-five hands. In 1883 they dis- 
solved partnership and Mr. Burns continued 
alone. In 1886 he added to his business the 
manufacture of grape and berry baskets. Mr. 
Burns is the patentee of some very valuable 
machinery for the manufacture of staves and 
baskets, by the use of whicii much labor is 
saved and the work considerably expedited. 

He has served his village for the last few 
years as one of its trustees and is a member of 
the Junior Order of American ilechanics. He 
owns one hundred and ten acres of land in the 
towns of Westfield and Sherman. 

On September 16, 1874, he united in mar- 

' riage with Eva Page, daughter of Calvin Page; 

a carpenter of Westfield. To this union have 

been born three children, two daughters and one 

sou : Jennie ; Adelbert ; and Mabel. 

His present fine residence on Union street, 
which he erected at a cost of over five thousand 
dollars, is a frame structure of modern style with 
slate roof Mr. Burns' plant for the manufac- 
ture of grape and berry baskets, and fruit bar- 
rels covers nearly three acres of ground. He 
employs a regular force of thirty hands, and 
does a business of thirty tiiousand dollars per 
year. Tiie l)asket making department of his 



works has a capacity of one million per year, 
while his barrel naills and shops are run steadily 
during the entire year. His baskets and bar- 
rels are largely used throughout Chautauqua 
county, which is rapidly becoming one of the 
foremost grape and fruit counties of the United 
States. His orders also come from many other 
counties of New York, and from adjoining 
States, and at times tax the utmost capacity of 
his works to fill them. He is one of the lead- 
ing pioneers in a manufacturing industry that 
must ere many years assume proportions of con- 
siderable magnitude, as large orchards and vine- 
yards are being planted in every section of the 
Union which has been found adapted to fruit 
and grapes. 



T^HOJFAS C. JOXES is one of the enter- 
-*- prising and successful citizens of Dunkirk, 
who has an undoubted right to feel an honest 
and just pride in the success he has achieved in 
his business career, as he practically began the 
battle of life at the age of eleven years without 
a dollar. He was born in Buffalo, Erie county. 
New York, September 16, 1840, and is a .son of 
Thomas and Elizabeth (Dear) Jones. His 
father was a native of London, England, and 
was born in 1797. He married Elizabeth Dear, 
of Bedfordshire, England, and had twelve 
children. He came to the United States in 
1835, located at Buffalo, this State, and worked 
at making soap and candles. In 1851 he came 
to Dunkirk, and engaged in the same business 
for Camp Bros. Politically he was independent, 
and in religion was a member of the Episcopal 
church, as was also his wife, who died October, 
1881, aged seventy-three years. In August, 
1886, he joined her in another and a better 
world at the age of eighty-nine years. 

Thomas C. Jones attended the public .schools 
in Buffalo until he was eleven years old, and 
then received employment in a grocery store, 
where he remained one year, and then began to 
learn the butcher's trade, at which lie worked 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyXY. 



until 1862, when he enlisted in company D 
72d New York Volunteers, served until the 
close of the war, and was honorably discharged 
at Kingston, New York. In 1866 he opened a 
butclier shop in Dunkirk, in which business he 
still remains, and now has the largest and best- 
equipped shop and the largest trade in Dunkirk. 
He also owns some valuable real estate here. 
In politics he is a Republican, has once been 
mayor of Dunkirk, and has served four years 
in the City Council, where he now has a seat. 
In the fire department, where he has been 
seventeen years, he has held every position from 
ladderman to chief engineer. In religion he is 
a memlter of the Episcopal church. He is a 
member of Dunkirk Chapter, 191, R. A. M., 
Dunkirk Commandery, Xo. 40, and has received 
the thirty-second degree A. and A. Scottish Rite. 
Thomas C. Jones, in 1869, married Mary L. 
Andrews, a daughter of Horatio Andrews, of 
Pomiret, this county, by whom he has had two 
children (sous), George H. and Charles C. 



/^OUYDON A. RUGG, a citizen of James- 
^^ town and assistant superintendent of the 
knitting mills of A. F. Kent & Co., is a son of 
Di'. Corydou C. and Fidelia (Goodell) Rugg, 
and was born at Irving, Chautauqua county, 
New York, April 1, 1853. The Ruggs point 
to Scotland as the land of their origin where 
their ancestors were known as the " Strong 
Men of Scotland." Isaac Rugg, the great- 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, was 
born near Bloody Point, in Vermont, served in 
the Revolutionary war and died in his native 
State at Ruggtown, which was named in honor 
of his family. He was a Methodist and was 
married three times. His first wife was Katie 
Gates, who bore him one child, Jonathan 
(grandfiither), and after her death he wedded 
Emma Matoou, who died and left two children, 
John and Aurelia. His third wife was Al)igail 
Skinner, by whom he had ten children. J<ina- 
than Rugg (grandfather) was born at the In ad 



of Bloody Point, on Lake George and after a 
residence of some years in Genesee county, he 
removed, in 1818, to what is known as the 
Rugg settlement near Perrysburg, Cattaraugus 
county, where he was a large laudiiolder. He 
was a fanner and a Democrat and served in the 
war of 1812 during which he distinguished 
himself at the battle of Sackett's Harbor. He 
married Maria Tousey and reared a family of 
four sons and two daughters : Carlos A., of 
Silver Creek, a veterinary surgeon in the Union 
Army ; Milton V., was one of the California 
forty-niners and died in 1853 ; Dr. Jonathan G., 
of Gowanda, N. Y. ; Mariette, wife of Dr. C. 
G. Cowell, of Meadville, Pa., who is a graduate 
of Hahnneman IMedical college, of Chicago ; 
Dr. Corydou C, died January 14, 1891 and 
Ann M., who died August 20, 1888. Dr. 
Corydou C. Rugg (father) was born at Rugg- 
town, Cattaraugus county. May 3, 1822. At 
twenty years of age he commenced the study of 
medicine under the Thompson who founded tiie 
Thompsonian Eclectic system of Medicine aud 
was graduated in 1848, from the Cincinnati 
Medical College. He practiced at Gowanda 
in his native county for twenty-five years and 
then in Rutland, Vermont, for four years, after 
which he came, in 1877, to Jamestown where 
he has practiced ever since. He was surgeon of 
154th regiment, N. Y. Vols., was taken pris- 
oner at Gettysburg and after his release served 
at Lookout Mountain aud under Sherman iu his 
march to the sea. Dr. Rugg married Fidelia 
Goodell aud to their union have beeu born two 
sons aud four daughters : Adella D., married 
John F. Clark, a real estate dealer of Detroit, 
Michigan ; Loella V., wife of Orris F. John- 
ston ; Corydou A. ; Estella F., wife of Walter 
D. Russell, formerly of New York City ; Clay- 
ton A., who married Catherine M. O. Donnell 
aud is engaged in the clothing business ; and 
Minnie M., wife of Fred. Jay Shearman, son of 
Rufus Shearman of Jamestown. 

Corydou Rngg attended Oneida (/(jllege and 



BIOGRAPHY AXL) HISTORY 



upon completing his course read medicine for 
some time with his father. He then entered 
Hall's worsted mill where lie remained for ten 
years and served successively as shipping clerk, 
inspector of cloth, and travelling salesman. 
During the next two years he was in the Rey- 
nolds' knitting mill and upon the mill sluittiug 
down he practiced medicine with his father for 
a short time. On September 1, 18 — , he be- 
came assistant superintendent of the knitting 
mills of A. F. Kent tt Co., which position he 
still holds. He is a Democrat in politics. Mr. 
Rugg well understands every part of the busi- 
ness in which he is now engaged and discharges 
efficiently the duties of his important position. 
Ou April 30, 1887, he uuited in marriage 
with Jennie M. Merrit, daughter of Benjamin 
G. Merrit, of Vermont. Their union has been 
blessed with one son and one daughter : Louise, 
and Corvdon Harrold. 



HKXKY SEVEKAXCE, of Dunkirk, author 
of " John Bull in America,' ' and a forth- 
coming work entitled " Chautauqua," was born 
in the town of Cazenovia, Madison county. New 
York, January 30, 1808, and is a son of Elihu 
and Triphena (Gnnn) Severance. The Sever- 
ance family is of French descent, and came from 
France to New England about the time of the 
Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, or a little 
later, say 1635. Elihu Severance was a native 
of Montague, ilassaehusetts, \\'here he married 
Triphena Gunn and in 1799 removed to Madi- 
son county, in which he died on March 7, 1834, 
aged sixty and a half years. He cleared out a 
farm in the woods, was an unassuming man and 
served his town for a number of years as super- 
visor. His widow survived him twenty years, 
and passed away in 1854, when in the seventy- 
ninth year of lier age. 

Henry Severance grew to manhood in his 
native county, and attended the limited schools 
which a new country could only aftbrd. Leav- 
ing school he served an apprenticeship at wool 



carding and cloth dressing, and in 1835 came 
to Dunkirk during the boom of the New York, 
Lake Erie and Western railroad. In a short 
time he went back to iladison county, but in 
1851 returned to Dunkirk, where he has resided 
ever since, and followed the trade of carpenter, 
excepting eight years that he served as keeper 
of the Dunkirk light-house. 

May 23, 1833, he married Helen J., daugh- 
ter of Alford and Mary Wooley, of Madison 
county. JNIr. and Mrs. Severance have two 
children : Harriet, wife of E. M. Lucas ; and 
Emma H., principal of the Intermediate de- 
partment of School No. 2, of Duukirk. 

He is a Republican, and was three times 
elected justice of the peace, twice in Cazenovia 
and once in Dunkirk, which last office he re- 
signed after holding the office for a short time. 
He also served as corporal in the New York 
militia. Mr. Severance has devoted a jiortion 
of liis leisure time to literary pursuits, and has 
written and published an interesting and in- 
structive book entitled " John Bull in America," 
and has in press his forthcoming work of 
" Chautauqua," which is intended to give the 
world at large an adequate idea of the resources 
and advantages of this county which is now so 
largely attracting public attention. In an epic 
poem, published in 1891, he tells in verse the 
story of the races past and gone who dwelt in 
Chautauqua county, narrates present facts and 
indulges in speculations for the future that are 
acceptable to Chautauquans. 



JOSEPH LAND.SCHOOF, JR.,isanativeot 
^ Holstein, Prussia, a territory over the pos- 
session of which much blood and treasure has 
been spent. It was a duchy of Denmark, but 
now is a part of Schleswig Holstein, Prussia. 
He was born August 17, 1830, and is a sou of 
Joseph and INIargaret (Radden) Laudschoof. 
His father and mother were natives and life- 
long residents of the same place, and they were 
the pareuts of three children, two sons and one 



OF CHAVTAUQVA COUXTY. 



201 



(lauifliter. Mr. Laiul.sclioof was a roofer by 
trade at which he worked until his death, 
which occurred iu 1864, in his native land, at 
sixty-seven years of age, and Mrs. Landschoof 
died in 1848, in her fiftieth year. In religion 
he was a member of the Lutheran church. 

Joseph liandschoof, Jr., was reared iu his 
native country, and his education was received 
in her common schools, after leaving which 
he served an apprentieeshij) for four years in 
a mercantile store. By the laws of the country 
he was then drafted for the army, and had 
scarcely had time to be drilled when the war 
with Denmark broke out, and he was ordered 
to the front. In a year Holstein was conquered, 
and he was forced into the Danish army, where 
he served five years, and after his discharge he 
was employed as a clerk in a dry goods store 
until 1857, in which year he emigrated to Can- 
ada, where he remained but a few months; 
coming to the United States, lauding in Buffalo' 
whence he traveled to Silver Creek, this county' 
where he worked on a farm by the month until 
1861, when he came to Dunkirk and secured 
employment in the car repair shops of the Erie 
railroad with which he remained until 1869, 
being steadily promoted from one responsible 
position to another. In the latter year he was 
employed by the Brooks Locomotive Works, as 
foreman of the lumber yard, which position he 
held until the panic of 1873. In May, 1874, 
he was jilaced in charge of the store-room in the 
Brooks Locomotive AYorks, where he has been 
ever since. 

In 1884 he engaged in the mercantile 
business in Dunkirk, which is managed by 
his wife, and they have built up a very flourisli- 
ing trade. In jjolitics he is a Democrat, and in 
religion a member of the Lutheran church. He 
has been an Odd Fellow since 1862, and is now 
a member of Point Gratiot Lodge, No. LSI, of 
that order. In November, 1863, he made a 
visit to his native country, renewing old friend- 
ships and returned in tiie spring of 1864. He 



is a genial gentleman and commands the re- 
spect and esteem of all who know him, 

October 27, 18G1, jNIr. Landschoof united iu 
marriage with Minnie, daughter of Frederick 
Peters, a retired watchmaker of Silver Creek, 
this county, and their union has been blest with 
three children, two sons and one daughter : 
Emma, Charles and William, whose ages are, 
twenty-nine, twenty-seven and twenty-two years 
respectively. 



O-VM. J. GIFFOKl), who is the proprietor 

■*^ of the oldest insurance agency of Dunkirk 
and Chautauqua county, and who dispatched the 
first train ever run over the Lake Shore road by 
telegraphic orders, was born at Ashtabula, Ohio, 
May 14, 1834, and is a son of Samuel and Rose 
(Eraser) Gilford. Samuel Gilford was born in 
1797 at Baubridge, near Belfast, Ireland, where 
he learned the trade of cutter in the tailoring 
business. He came to the United States in 
1831 and .settled at Ashtabula, where he con- 
ducted a large shop, and at one time emj)loyed 
twenty-two journeymen tailors. He was a 
member of the Protestant Episcopal church, 
had been a freemason for sixty-two years, and 
died at Ashtabula, Xovember 11, 1877. He 
Inarried Rose Eraser, a native of Belfast, Ire- 
land, who was an Episcopalian, and died Feb- 
ruary 16, 1874, aged seventy -four years. 

Sam. J. Gifford was reared at Ashtabula until 
he was eighteen years of age, received his edu- 
cation in the public schools and then was engaged 
for a short time in grinding bark in a tannery. 
On Octoljer 1, 1848, he became the first devil 
in the office of the Ashtabula Weehly Telegraph, 
which was established on the above named day. 
He learned telegraphy on the old Speed line 
while iu that printing office, which he left on 
June 1, 1852, to become a telegraph operator in 
the New York and Erie railroad. He was first 
stationed at Dunkirk, but worked all along the 
line, and on June 1, 1854, he was appointed as 
night train-dispatclicr and operator of the Erie 



BIOORAPHY AXD HISTORY 



road at Dunkirk, which he left in February, 
1855, to accept the position of cashier and 
operator in the freight department of the Buffalo 
and Erie (now Lake Shore and Michigan 
Southern) railroad. He was the first operator 
on this road, on which he dispatched the first 
train ever run over it by telegrapliic orders. 
On February 26, 1869, he resigned and acted 
as agent of the Mutual Life Insurance Company 
of Xew York until 1872, when he became a 
member of the Skinner & Giffbrd Manufacturing 
Corajiany, which erected a large iron works at 
Dunkirk for building engines, boilers and rail- 
road fixtures. In 1875 and 1876 this firm built 
the Texas and New Orleans railroad (now 
Soutliern Pacific), after which they failed in 
business and sold their iron works. From 1876 
to 1879 Mr. Gilford assisted in running these 
iron-works, and then became a partner with his 
brother-in-law, J. H. Van Buren, in the insur- 
ance business. Their partnership lasted until 
1882, when he again became cashier on the 
L. S. & M. S. R. R., and served as such until 
April 1, 1885. He then formed a second in- 
surance partnership with his brother-in-law 
which existed until 1888. In that year he pui"- 
chased the insurance business of the late Otis 
Stillmau, which was the first insurance business 
established (1850) in the county. 

Sam. J. Gifford represents some of the most 
economical and reliable life and fire insurance 
companies of the world. His agency represents 
the ^Ftua, Phcenix, and Orient companies, of 
Hartford, Conn. ; the German-American, Conti- 
nental, Fidelity, and L^nited States companies, 
of Xew York city ; the California, and Fire- 
men's Fund companies, of San Francisco ; the 
Liverpool, London and Globe, and Lancashire 
companies of England ; the American Central 
company, of St. Louis, and the Mutual Life 
Insurance company, of New York city, which 
has assets of over one hundred and fifty mil- 
lions. 
In politics Mr. Gifibrd is a straight Republican. 



He is a member and vestryman of St. John's 
Protestant Episcopal church, of whose Sunday- 
school he was superintendent for several years. 
He has been a member of the Masonic fraternity 
since 1861, and holds active membership in 
Irondequoit Lodge, Xo. 301, Chapter and Com- 
mandery Xo. 40, and Ismalia Temple. 



TA>-HIT3IAN fl.AKK comes from English 
-*"*■ ancestry on the paternal side of the 
house, and running with it in his veins, is the 
cool and conservative Scotch blood of his mater- 
nal ancestors. He was born in Erie county, 
Xew York, July 16, 1826, and is a son of 
Simeon Jr. and Hannah (Stone) Clark. Sim- 
eon Clark (grandfather) was a native of Ver- 
mont, served as a soldier throughout the war of 
the Revolution, and then moved to Erie county, 
this State, and engaged in farming. He died in 
1837, aged seventy-four years. Simeon, Jr. 
(father) was also a native of \ermont, and, 
emulating the patriotic example of his father, 
served his country as a soldier, enlisting among 
the first troops summoned to figlit the British 
in 1812, and after that war ended, he too, set- 
tled in Erie county, this State, and engaged in 
the manufacture of chairs and wheels, and also 
in the occupation of a millwright. The latter 
part of his life was spent in Clarksburg, Erie 
county, a town named in his honor, where he 
operated a saw and grist-mill. In politics he 
was a whig and in religion was a devout mem- 
ber of the Baptist church. He was a very en- 
ergetic man and respected by all who knew 
him. Simeon Clark, Jr., married Hannah 
Stone, by whom he had five children. Mrs. 
Clark was born in Rhode Island, in 1794, was 
a member of the Baptist ghurch, and died in 
Erie county, this State, May 28, 1828, aged 
thirty-four years. Mr. Clark died in Clarks- 
burg, March 22, 1859, aged seventy-three 
years and twenty-two days. 

Whitman Clark was reared in Erie county 
and received a common school education. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



After his school days liad ended, he learned the 
trade of a carpenter and joiner, and in 1852 
■went to work as a millwright, which vocation 
he has since pursued, and, in connection there- 
with, handles a large amount of mill machinery 
of all kinds on commission. May 2, 1870, he 
came to Dunkirk and has resided hei-e ever 
since. In politics he is a straight Democrat, 
and takes a very active interest in local, State 
and general political matters. In the election 
of the spring of 1887, he was chosen justice of 
the peace, and was re-elected in March, 1891, 
for four years. He is a very public-spirited 
man and always ready to aid any movement 
beneficial to the city, and is a member of Phce- 
nix Lodge, No. 262, F. & A. M. 

A\'hitman Clark married in 1846, Emily 
Beardsley, a daughter of Solomon Beardsley, of 
Eden, Erie county, by whom he had four chil- 
dren, two sous and two daughters: Simeon, who 
was born in 1846 and died in December, 1854; 
Jennie, born in 1850 and died August 18, 
1871 ; Hattie M., born in 1863 and died May 
19, 1879 ; and Newton L., born December 25, 
1867, who is a clerk in Dunkirk. 



■HIT ATTHEW S. XOXOX. Industry, econ- 
4 omy and good management will secure a 

competency for any man. This is strikingly 
proven in the case of our subject, who was left 
an orplian when one year of age, and started in 
life without a dollar. Matthew S. Noxon is a 
.sou of Claudius and Lodunia (Farington) 
Noxon, and was born in Delaware county, New 
York, April 12, 1822. The maternafgrand- 
father, Matthew Farington, lived in Fishkill, 
Dutchess county, N. Y., M'here subject's mother 
was born. He had a sou, Daniel M. Faring- 
ton, who came to Westfield town in 1832, and 
died in 1881, aged eighty-six years. He Mas 
the foster-father of Matthew S. Noxon. Clau- 
dius Noxon was a native of Dutchess county, 
N. Y., married there and followed farming until 
his death in 1823. His wife was born in 1799, 



and lived until 1881. She was a member of 
the Baptist church. 

Matthew S. Noxon lived in Dutchess county, 
until nine years of age, when he was sent to live 
with his uncle, Daniel M. Farington, who 
reared him. He attended the "\\'estfield schools 
where he received his education and having 
learned practical farming with his uncle, when 
grown to manhood he began to farm on his own 
account. One of the finest farms in Portland, 
consisting of one hundred and ten acres, upon 
which is eighteen acres of neat vineyard, is his 
property, where he has a jiretty home. 

On March 28, I860, he married Ermina 
Weaver, who was born in Allegany county, 
February 21, 1832, a daughter of John "Weaver, 
who still lives in Westfield town, aged eighty- 
seven years. The latter's wife was Ann Benton, 
a gentle Christian woman who died in 1850, 
when but forty-five years of age. Mr. and 
Mrs. Noxon have au adopted daughter : Lizzie, 
aged twenty-two years. 

M. S. Noxon affiliates with the Republican 
party and has served the town as school trustee. 
His success has been due entirely to his indivi- 
dual efforts. Without a dollar's capital when he 
began life, he is now one of the town's sub- 
stantial citizen.s, a position he has attained by 
incessant toil ^and good management. He is 
proud of the fact that a blacksmith shop or 
store has nev-er carried his name on their books, 
it being his rule to jJay cash. Being just and 
exact in his business transactions he has never 
been called to answer to a law suit. Having 
reached nearly seventy years of age he has 
retired from active labor and is enjoying the 
reward of his labors. 



TA^^ILLIS D. liEET, one of the proprietors 
-*"*■ in the large tanning business at Laona, 
is a son of William and Harriet (Belden) Leet, 
and Mas boi'u at Point Chautauqua, this county, 
October 29, 1856. The Leet family came from 
the eastern states, and grandfather Anson Leet 



BIOGRAPHY ASn HISTORY 



settled in the towD of Stockton iu 1811, coming 
there from Connecticut and remaining two years, 
when he moved to the shore of the lake. The 
father of our subject was boru there and has 
been engaged in the produce business for the 
past thirty years, and during that time has been 
twice elected treasurer of the county. 

Willis D. Leet was reared iu Chautauqua 
town, acquired a good common-school educa- 
tion and then entered the produce business with 
his brother, George E., and followed it for eight 
or nine years. Being of a genial, good-natured 
disposition, Mr. Leet became very popular, and 
when only twenty-eight years of age he was 
elected treasurer of Chautauqua county and filled 
the office during the term of three years. In 
1889 he came to Laona and bought a third 
interest in the "White tannery, one of the largest 
in the county. The buildings are very exten- 
sive and the product exceeds .§100,000 annually, 
the priucipal sales being made in Boston, and 
the works give employment to about twenty-five 
hands. 

Willis D. Leet led Carrie White to the mat- 
rimonial altar in 1884, and their union has been 
blessed with three children : Arthur W., AVillis 
D. and Harvey E. In addition to this Laona 
property Mr. Leet owns a fine home at Mayville. 
Willis D. Leet is a gentleman of recognized 
integrity and of strong force of character. His 
business ability stiiuds out promineutly iu the 
mercantile world, and the older men, who have 
passed tlieir experimental stage, warmly grasp 
his hand and welcome him, for they recognize 
an equal. 



WILLIAM F. GREEN. The prosperity of 
a community is often reflected, as a face 
in a mirror, by the condition of the local bank; 
and the banking facilities of a locality often 
decide whether business shall be active or slug- 
gish. William F. Green, the venerable but 
active and energetic cashier of the bank of Sher- 
man, realizes all this and does much to promote 



the business interests of his village. He is a 
son of William and ]Martha (Tomlinsou) Green, 
natives of Lincolnshire, England, and was boru 
in the town of Chautauqua, this county, March 
3, 1832, two years after the arrival of his parents 
from their mother country. William Green 
was a carpenter by trade, iind when he first 
reached America he made a short sojourn near 
the city of Utica and followed his trade, but iu 
1831 he came to this county, and after a short 
residence in the town of Chautauqua he settled 
permanently in Sherman. He was born in 1803, 
and married Martha Tomlinson in England. 
In 1856 and 1857 he was supervisor of the town 
of Sherman, and he died March 25, 18(52, when 
fifty-nine years of age, leaving five children. 

William F. Green spent the first fourteen 
years of his life in Chautauqua county, and was 
then sent to Oneida county, where he lived with an 
uncle. He was educated at the public schools and 
the Oneida Castle academy, and such was his 
proficiency and aptitude for absorbing knowl- 
edge that he was among the foremost scholars 
of the school. He attended there for six years 
and then took a clerkship in Henry Ransom's 
grocery and dry-goods store at Sherman. He 
remained there until about twenty years of age 
and then went to work for Isaac E. Hawley, a 
prominent dealer at Sherman. Upon attaiuing 
his twenty-third year he embarked in the gen- 
eral dry-goods business on his own account and 
conducted it for about five years, at Oneida 
Castle and Taberg. 

He married ^lartha T. Wiiite, of Taberg, 
Oneida county, and they have had one son, 
Israel W. They left Oneida county and came 
to Sherman and engaged in the dry-goods busi- 
ness with his brother, I. T. Green, for several 
years; afterwards moved to Northeast, Pennsyl- 
vauia, and then returned to this county and 
settled again in Sherman, where he engaged in 
the butter, cheese and grocery business, after- 
wards moving to Jamestown and remaining 
some two vears, where Mrs. Green died i'n 1883; 



OF CJIAUTAU(JUA COUSTY. 



he then again returned to Sherman, and in 1884 
Mr. Green married Hattie S. Underhill, of 
Rochester, Minnesota, and from tiiat date ■ntil 
1889 he was engaged in the wholesale produce 
business. INIr. Green assumed the duties of 
cashier in the Bank of Sherman during the 
month of February, 1890, succeeding ]Mr. W. 
F. Smalhvood, who had officiated as such since 
its opening, on November 6, 1884. It has 
always been a prosperous institution and, al- 
though an individual corporation, it represents 
a capital of 8200,000. Associated are A. Cal- 
houn, Hiram Parker and James Vincent — all 
solid and responsible men. 

William F. Green, although becoming ad- 
vanced in years, retains the vigor of his earlier 
days and transacts the business of his bank with 
the system and skill of a National bank. He is 
punctual and prompt in all his business trans- 
actions, and the increasing volume of business 
of the institution, whose business he directs, 
attests the appreciation and confidence of the 
public. 



T . AWKENCE EUGEXE SHATTUt K. 

■'■^ One of the pioneers of Chautaurpia coun- 
ty, who spent his mature life here and gave 
most valuable aid in reclaiming its fertile lands 
from the wilds of nature was Lawrence Eugene 
Shattuck, who was the son of Pliny and Dolly 
(Rice) Shattuck, born in the State of Massachu- 
setts, July 20, 1810, and died at his home in 
Cherry Creek, January 20, 1890, aged seventy- 
three years and six months. The Shattucks 
were for several generations natives and resi- 
dents of New England. 

Pliny Shattuck was born in Massachusetts, 
and after marrying Dolly Rice, in 1820 moved 
to Virginia ; he was a blacksmith by trade, and 
followed that business in the Old Dominion, 
where he remained for four years and came to 
Sinclairville, and worked at blacksmithing, 
where he lived for eight years and then came 
to Chei-ry Creek, at which place he made his 



home until his death. By his union with Dolly 
Rice Mr. Shattuck became the father of eight 
children, as follows : Jerome B., Dolly H., 
Oliver, Frederick, Lucy, Eugene, Harriet and 
Philemon. Five of these are yet living. 

Lawrence Eugene Shattuck was sixteen years 
of age when his father came to Cherry Creek 
and located upon a wild farm about one mile 
west of the village, where his father built a 
blacksmith shop and carried on the trade. The 
other members of the family cleared up a small 
form and tilled the soil, while L. E. Shattuck " 
worked in the shop with his father, and, having 
learned the trade, succeeded to his father's 
business when the latter died. He was the 
only blacksmith for some distance around that 
could shoe oxen, and had all the work that he 
could do, but as he became older he found the 
work uncongenial, and gradually lessened his 
business until some years before his death he 
discontinued it entirely. 

On April 13, 183(3, Mr. Shattuck married 
Amy Anguline Ames, a stirring, energetic 
young lady, who was born at Trenton, Oneida 
county, New York, February 26, 1S17. Their 
union was blessed with five children, two sons 
and three daughters: L. E. Jr., born April 11, 
1838; Lydia, born September 7, 1839; Amy 
A., born February 10, 1843; Jerome B., born 
May 27, 1847 ; and Rosella, born Novemljer 
12, 1851. 

The old gentleman's fiirm was located at tour 
corners of the road one mile west of Cherry Creek 
village, and the place is still known as Shattuck 
Corners. 

Amy Angeliue Ames was a daughter of Amos 
Ames, who was born in Vermont, and married 
Lydia Franklin. She was the daughter of 
Stephen Franklin, and the latter was a great- 
grandson of the renowned philanthropist and 
American statesman, Benjamin Franklin. Ste- 
phen Franklin married Rachel Car])enter, 
whose father came from England. Mr. Frank- 
lin was a minister of the Gospel, an earnest. 



206 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



devout aud self-sacrificiug preacher, whose 

thought was uot of dollars but the faithful ser- 
vice of his Master. He became the father of 
five childreu, three sons and two daughters : 

John, Ebenezer, Eleazer, Hester and Lydia. 
The latter, the mother of INIrs. Shattuck, died 
May 15, 1830, after which jNIr. Ames married 
Mrs. Phrebe Burnett. He M'as a farmer mid 
cleared one hundred acres of laud on the banks 
of West Canada Creek, in Oneida county, just 
two miles below Trenton Falls, and, building a 

' commodious house, he kept a hotel for a num- 
ber of years. His children by his first wife 
■were Lydia F., Luther Loren and Amy Angel- 
ine, aud to his last wife was born one son, who 
did not reach manhood. Amos Ames died 
May 27, 1847, the same day that Mrs. Shat- 
tuck's youngest son was born. 

Mrs. Amy Ames Shattuck has always been 
characterized by energy, good judgment and 
force of character. "While she was yet a young 
girl, becoming dissatisfied with the arbitrary ac- 
tions of her step-mother, she left her father's 
home aud supported herself until she was mar- 
ried. While yet very young she spent three 
years in succession spinuiug wool for Pliny 
Shattuck and for a number of succeeding years 
she did this and other service. The winter 
following her marriage, after having spent the 
summer in preparing household linen and other 
necessary comforts, she put what goods she 
could command in boxes and barrels, and took 
them to the canal where she shipped them, by 
way of Rochester aud Buffalo, to Chautauqua 
county. During the journey she met a INIr. 
Beverly, who was going to the same place with 
his family, and he assisted her in hiring teams 
at Buffalo to convey them to their new home, 
where, after a tiresome journey, she arrived, 
and the following spring herself and husband 
began keeping house, at that time a lonely 
place in the woods, one half mile from the 
nearest neighbor. Mr. Shattuck and his sons, 
who are now gray-haired old men, have always 



said that their success in life was entirely due to 
the advice, counsel and encouragement received 
from their wife and mother. 

The oldest .son is L. E. Shattuck, Jr., now 
living at Stanbury, Missouri, where he is a 
sheep and cattle breeder, and is well known in 
that line all over the United States and Canada ; 
the youngest son, J. B. Shattuck, is a successful 
farmer living in the town of Cherry Creek, this 
county. It is to such mothers as Mrs. Shat- 
tuck that the county of Chautauqua owes its 
development and the United States of America 

its greatness. 

& 

yNANIEL, LEWIS WAGGONER, although 

^^ for the past decade he has been living on 
borrowed time beyond the allotted span of man, 
enjoys a serene, happy and vigorous old age, 
and well deserves it. He is a son of Calvin 
and Rebecca (Babcock) Waggoner, and was 
born in Cayuga county, New York, August 4, 
1809. His paternal grandfather, George Wag- 
goner, was born in 1756, was a farmer by oc- 
cupation, and served as a good soldier in the 
war of the Revolution, enlisting for a short 
term and re-enlisting at the expiration of that 
term. At the close of the war he resumed 
farming in Cayuga county, whither he moved, 
and eventually moved to Canada, where he 
spent the rest of his life, dying in 1827. He 
mai-ried Mary Connor in 1783, and had four 
sons and four daughters: INIargaret, Israel, 
George, Calvin, Cyrus, Charlotte, Polly and 
Electa. Calvin Waggoner (father) was born 
in Cayuga county, this State, in 1785, and was 
a farmer there until 1810, when he removed to 
Canada, leased some land and resumed his oc- 
cupation, continuing as tiller of the soil until 
his death in 1835. He married Rebecca Bab- 
cock in 1808, and she bore him six children, 
two sons and four daughters: Daniel Lewis; 
Caroline, who married John Vaughn, a farmer 
and tanner in Canada; Matilda, who married 
Rosel Merchant, a farmer in Crawford county, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Pennsylvania ; Charlotte, who married Michael 
Baugher, a lumberman in Crawford county, 
Pennsylvania ; Charles A., a farmer in Char- 
lotte, this county, who married Sarah Johnson ; 
and Rebecca, who married John Williams and 
lives in Canada. The motlier of these children 
died in 1828. 

D. L. Waggoner was educated in the corn- 
man schools of Canada. No better facilities for 
an education then being oiFered him, he was 
obliged to finish his education at home. He 
worked on a farm until a young man, when the 
farm was to be sold for unpaid taxes and rent, it 
being a leased farm. He borrowed money, 
paid the debts, cultivated the land a few years 
and then sold to a Mr. Hall, who came from 
England and moved to this county in 1832, 
and bought a tract containing ninety acres of 
land on the line between Cherry Creek and 
Ellington, about twelve miles from Jamestown. 
Subsequently he sold this and bought one hun- 
dred and fifty acres farther west, and afterward 
purchased two hundred more in Cherry Creek, 
part of which he gave his children. In Sep- 
tember, 1889, he moved to Fredonia, bought 
five acres of land, built himself a nice house 
and enjoys the fortune he has accumulated. 
Beside the land given away, he still owns one 
hundred and sixty acres of land in Ellington 
village, a lot in Jamestown and a house and lot 
in Chautauqua. He is a member of the Meth- 
odist church and politically is a stanch prohibi- 
tionist. 

D. L. Waggoner was married August 14, 
1831, to Maiy Millspaw, a daughter of Jere- 
miah and Margaret ilillspaw, of Canada, and 
has had by her six children, three sons and 
three daughters : Calvin M., died young ; Dan- 
iel Marshall, married to Mira B. Woodward, is 
retired from business and lives in Fredonia; 
Jane A., married Ezra Greeley, who is dead, 
and she lives at Jamestown ; George N., mar- 
ried to Victoria Ferguson, is retired from busi- 
ness and lives in Jamestown ; Mary M., mar- 
11 



ried to William Hitchcock, a farmer in Cherry 
Creek ; and Emily, married to Perry Slater, a 
farmer in Ellington. 

QNTHONY BKATT, an aged and venerable 

*^*~ gentleman, now leading a quiet and re- 
tired life, was born to Christopher and Elizabeth 
(Lee) Bratt, in the town of Stillwater, Saratoga 
county, New York, February 3, 1821. His 
grandfather, Daniel Bratt, was a native of 
Holland, but came to America and .settled ou 
the bank of the Hudson river, between Albany 
and Schenectady and established a hotel, but 
later, about the year 1834, emigrated to Chau- 
tauqua county, and shortly afterwards died. 
His principal occupation, besides keeping hotel, 
was farming. He was a democrat politically, 
like most of tJie early settlers of his nationality. 
His wife was a Dutch woman and they reared 
a family of five .sons and two daughters. Chris- 
topher Bratt (father) was born near the Hud- 
son river above Albany, in 1793, and later 
moved to Stillwater, which is located ou the 
same stream a number of miles above. AI)out 
1834 he moved to Jamestown and farmed in 
connection with his other business until 1871, 
when he died on October 12th. Mr. Bratt 
married Elizabeth Lee, and she bore him tliree 
children : Elzada, married George Nelson and 
moved to Minnesota : Erastus (dead) ; and 
Anthony. 

Anthony Bratt received his education at the 
schools of the localities in which his early life 
was passed, and after coming to Chautauqua 
county, iu 1834, he jjursued farming until ten 
or twelve years since when advancing years 
caused him to relinquish this heavy work. 

Anthony Bratt has been married three times. 
His first wife was Eliza Lee, whom he married 
in 1844, and who bore him two children : 
Charles, now living at Bradford, is in a paper 
store; and Jeauette, wife of Harvey Davis, a 
carpenter of Jamestown. For his second wife 
he married Mary Lee, and had two children : 



BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY 



Orsinius, who married Maria Juden. Mr. 
Bratt married for his third wife Elvira Bailey, 
aud bv her has two children : Bailey, married 
and resides in Jamestown ; and ^lary, wedded 
Fred. ^loon and died. 



ADI>ISON C. CUSHIXO, an nnc-le of the 
renowned heroic Lieutenant Cushing, one 
of the pioneer grape culturists of the town of 
Pomfret, aud oue of the most prominent of 
that town's progressive men, is a son of Judge 
Zattu and Eunice (Elderkin) Cushing and was 
born near the site of his present home in 
Fredouia, May 4, 1820. His grand-parents 
were honorable Puritans who lived in the New 
England States. Judge Zattu Cushing was 
born at Plymouth Rock, Massachusetts, in 1770, 
and was one of thirteen children born to 
Nathaniel and Lydia Cushing. He received 
but a meager education, the schools of that day 
being primitive and their course of study 
limited in extent, but his natural industry, 
eneri;v, self reliance and integrity were of more 
value to him than schools. At an early age he 
was apprenticed to a ship carpenter, and when 
he had mastered that trade, he followed it for 
some time at Boston. The work, however, was 
not congenial to his nature and he decided to 
exchange it for a fiirmer's life and for the pur- 
pose moved to Ballston, Saratoga county, where 
he married Rachel Buckingham and then re- 
moved to Paris, Oneida county, and took up a 
tract of laud in the forest, from which he made 
a farm. In 1799 he was employed to go to 
Presque Isle, adjacent to Erie, Pennsylvania, 
for the purpose of superintending the con- 
struction of a ship. When it was completed it 
was christened the " Good Intent "' and was the 
first vessel of note-worthy size built on Lake 
Erie. She was losi with all on board in 18D5. 
In returning from the scene of his labors, one 
of his horses strayed, and while attempting to 
secure it, night came upon him aud he passed 
the night upon the lands where forty years 



later he built him a home. Having had excel- 
lent opportunities for examining the lands of 
that locality, he determined to locate there, and 
in February, 1805, he moved his family to the 
site where now stands the town of Fredonia. 
Two yoke of oxen, each drawing a sled, were 
the conveyances used and it took three weeks to 
perform the journey that may now be made in 
twice as many hours. At the time ^Ir. Cush- 
ing had eight children: Walter; Lvdia, 
married Dr. Squire White ; Milton B ; Zat- 
tu ; Catharine, married Philo H. Stevens ; 
Lucinda, the widow of William Barker j 
Alonzo ; and Rachel, who married Mr. Tup- 
per. All are dead. When they arrived at 
Buffalo, they started down the Pike upon the 
ice, intending to camp nights on the shore, but 
a driving storm coming on, they were compelled 
to stop, and were only rescued by two men who 
heard their signals of distress. At daybreak 
the ice was broken up so that escape would 
then have been impossible. L^pou his arrival 
here, he was much disappointed to find that his 
choice of lots was taken by Thomas IMcClintock 
and he took another, upon which he cleared 
fifty acres during the ensuing two years. In 
1807 he sold to Mr. ^larsh, father of the 
present occupant, and bought from Mr. Mc- 
Clintock, for one-hundred dollars, the farm that 
he originally desired. He then paid the land 
claim at Batavia and on November 7, 1807, 
received a title to about six hundred acres, a 
great portion of which is now covered by the 
village of Fredonia. About the last mentioned 
date he erected the log -house on Eagle street, 
where A. F. Taylor now lives. Zattu Cushing 
was eminently a pious man, a Baptist of un- 
swerving devotion, aud his first thought upon 
reaching here was to establish a church. In 
1811, when the organization of the county was 
completed, Mr. Cushing was appointed the first 
judge and he wore the ermine until 1822. At 
the battle of Butialo he served as a private and 
was highly indignant, feeling that with a com- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyVY. 



peteut commander, the result might have been 
(liffereut. On the fourth of July 1812, a cele- 
bration was held at Judge Cushing's farm, he 
himself being the orator. Ere long the i-eport 
of u cannon and the rattle of musketry showed 
the presence of an enemy at the mouth of the 
creek. Jumping from his rough rostrum, the 
speaker was the iirst at the scene of action 
ready for <lefense. In August, 1816, a great 
sorrow fell upon his household, the mother of 
his children, who had been the light of his 
home and shared his trials, his joys, his sorrows 
and his hopes, was called away. Never before 
in the history of the village had so large and 
sorrowing a funeral been known. In 1817, he 
married Eunice Elderkin, a native of the town 
of Burlington, Otsego county. In 1826, just 
after the Erie canal was opened for navigation, 
in com{)any with Joseph Sprage, Mr. Gushing 
built a canal-boat. It was built on the flats at 
the foot of Fort hill and was named the 
" Fredonia Enterprise." To draw the boat to 
the water required one hundred yoke of oxen, 
and after it was launched, they loaded it with 
wheat, and the steamer " Lake Superior " towed 
it to Buffalo. In 1823, he was foremost in 
establishing the Fredonia academy and until 
his death, was one of its most liberal support- 
ers. January 13, 1839, after a long experience 
of physical suffering which he patiently en- 
dured, Judge Zattu Gushing passed peacefully 
away. When the battle of life was over, his 
peaceful triumph commenced. At the next 
term of court, upon the motion of Judge Wal- 
lace, the bar of this county procured his portrait 
to be suspended in the court-house above the 
bench where judges sit. Guarded with tender 
care, it still remains there and will for ages to 
come, as a proper memorial of as pure a man 
and upright a judge as ever dispensed justice in 
any tribunal. By his second marriage Judge 
Gushing had four more children. The only 
daughter, Sarah M. L., died. The oldest boys 
were living in the west and his daughters by 



his first wife were hap[)ily married and lived 
near him. The youngest sous, Judson E., 
Addison C. and Frank were at home, the pleas- 
ure of his declining years. All of them are 
now passed away excepting Judson and Addison 
G. Zattu Gushing was the grandfather of 
Alonzo H. Gushing, who was killed at the 
battle of Gettysburg, who, although twice 
wounded, was standing by his gun until the 
fatal leaden missile struck him down, and of 
Lieutenant Gommander William B. Gushing 
(see his sketch), who by repeated and successful 
deeds of valor and patriotic devotion stands 
breast to breast with Paul Jones and Gommo- 
doi'e Perry, and whose name will stand bright 
and fresh in the liearts of the American people 
as long as marble and metal hold their shape 
and this great Republic i-emains intact. 

Addison Gushing was educated at the district 
schools of Fredonia until sixteen years of age 
and then entered the academy and took a three- 
years course. He then employed himself on his 
father's farm until his marriage to Elizabeth 
King, whicli occurred April 9th, 1846, when 
his father's estate was divided and he moved on 
a farm of his own. Agriculture has been his 
life-long pursuit, and in 1860 he began tlie cul- 
tivation of small fruits. Forming a mutual 
company, he erected a canning factory, which 
prepared the product of their oi'chards for the 
market. After running one year, this fixctory 
was destroyed by fire. Addison Gushing was 
one of the pioneers of grape culture and was 
the second man to conduct the business. He is 
a democrat and although the town is strongly 
republican, he has beeu re-elected president of 
the village oftener than any one man. Mr. 
Gushing has served twelve years as justice of 
the peace and when the Normal school was or- 
ganized, he was elected one of its trustees. He 
is a member of the Episcopal church and since 
1884 has been a warden; for nearly forty years 
he was a member of the vestry. Addison 
Gushing is exemplary in his habits and is an 



a I -2 



K/(i.,/.VUW/V .l,V/> IIISI\)I{\' 



K-\\^A\v\\i ('\an\plo I'oi' young imMi lo r<>lli>\\. 
Iliftlii-sl vvito \Vi»>» it ilivujihior of tJonornl Nn- 
ll\!>iuol (^iuul j< Mif<>> (Jivv'l King'. Mr, Kiii)i' 
wtis t> Isnvvor snul litonvtiMti' of llnmillou, 
MiulixMi (Mnin(y,(l\i,« Stato. To tlii-j union \vo)v 
Inirn two >l!\ngl»li>i'!»: Marniui'l ncnritnl .1. .1. 
>Sm'voss, !( InndHMMn.'in living at Porlsmouih, 
\"i(..i»iul tliov lnul ono«li\ngl(tiM' : tind l'!li(r(vl*otl> 
K.. i\o\v tl»o wilv of I', n. i"un\n\inji, !» iVnit 
I'lvisor ol" l''n<»loni!( ; tl\ov \vm\ two sons and two 
ilnnglitoiN, Mr, ('nsl>inj>'s wilo diinl Au,u«,«t 
V!.MI\, l.'^^s. {vn,l o\( (VIoIht i)ih, ISI'A ho wi\f! 
nnilo<l to I'.llon rnniining. a dunsildovor Kolu>vt 
and l,y<lia Cnnuning. Mv, Cniwnting was a 
S\H>toh jivnilontan wl»o wont to Auslmlirt. on- 
a.ajj\Hl in laiming and iliod tl\o\T, To Me, and 
Mi's, Tnshing wvtv l>on\ Mary, who i\varri<sl S, 
1>, 1 1, .laokson. a lawyor )>n»otioitvji' at Yvntngx- 
tvwti, Ohio; slio diisl it» ISvSo; and Kmnk ('., a 
iwoivhant tail»>r ol' l''n>lonia, Kinvnk T, Cnslv- 
ing nianit^d Jonnio («lis)»n, M«y Tll>, 18SI, and 
ho di(>l Soptondvr '2'2\\, «>l'tho s)»n»o \-\\u', Mrs. 
Addison (\ rnshinji diivi Mat>'h Silt. l.*^.*<l.and 
on .hnio od, IS.Sti, Mr, rnsliing t>>ok for his 
tl»i»\l wilo V'slhor T. l'rit\>hai\l. a danghtor ol' 
l^aniol V^, and .VUigail (^iJwltivy^ Prid-ltaivl, 
living i(» l'i\Hlot\ia. 

•Vddison (.\ Ctishii\ii lias i»;issxn1 tho aUottt\l 
thixv-sv\>iv and ton of man, hiil. owing to his 
tonn>or!ito litv and ji\>\Hl (>Mistitntion. ho still oii- 
jv>y>i tino hoaUh, an>l it is hoj><Hi will livo tor 
many y\\n>s to i\>ntiniio t)iou\>od whiv^li h.i'^Kvn 
I'liai-jiotoristii' ol' liis litV. 



ol' tho pivmiiiont, inlUiontial sind pnMio- 
.«|nrit<\l oitinms ot' wrxstiorn Now Y»>rk, as wvU 
(W Chantniinna vvniity, w>Mild Iv iiuvmplot\» 
withont i\s|Hvial montiv>n »»t' tho IvMig and nsot\d 
vN'Uwr ol' dndgx* \\"iUiam l\\u\>»'k. wluvso namo 
will K^ luMionihly pi\\*in'\-\\l t'i»m v>hUviv>n in 
tho history ol'tlio Krio oanal, tho snrvxwTs ot'tho 
Holland Innd »\>mjvu\y, and tlio matorial do\-\^l- 
opmont v^r Dunkirk, Mayvillo and tho ivnnty. 



Mo waK horn in I'lstor iM>iiiity. Now \ oik, 
l'\>lirnary 'J'J, iTSt), and was a .miii oI" 'riuunas 
and Margaivt ^AiidoisoiO lV\'i>>»K'k, Hi> latlior 
sorvod iindor \\"ashiiigti<n in tho Uovoliitionary 
war, and shortly al\or tho tivaty of |>oa(V 
ivmovoil with his wit'o and (jimily to a larm 
wliioli ho owiunI n(\'ir (tonova, this Stalo. Uo 
had ihixv ohildi-iMi, two sons and ono danghlor. 
Tho sons woiv; .Induv William, .lohn an.l 
Ahs'iloni ; and tho daiightor, (lonova, who 
marritnl Sjininol lliijihiiisvm. who liv<sl in \\ ,i^li- 
ingtoii, 0. r. 

William IV^uNvk was iwiivd on his tathor's 
tarin, ivtviv(>l a g\H>d i\lnoatioii, and stiidii^l 
siirvoying. In l.'^Oo ho wvnt to Ritavia with 
tho intvntion o(' jixMng to Now Orhsuis, hiit was 
vlisviuuhnl l\Mm his\Mntvnn>lati\l trip hy .Uvsopli 
Klli<\>tt. aiixMit of tho Holland l.and iMinjviny, 
and ontti'tHl tho omplov ol" that i\>m|>any as a 
snrvoyor. Mo snrvoyo<l largv Uidios ot' tlioir 
Irtiuls on tho (Jonosoo rivor and tho w^vtxMn 
ivirt ot' tho Stato, Uo snrvoy»\l a largx^ |*!Ut ot' 
tho silo ol" UiitValo. whoix' ho piii\'liasi\l sovonil 
U>ls, as wvll as hnyiiiji' t'i\>in tho <\Mn|vniy somo 
valnaMo traots of laiivl in Ohanlaiu^iia >xMinty, 
In l."<10 ho oamo to May\ illo. whon thoiv woix» 
Uiit two or tluHv oahins thoiv, and whoiv ho 
aotixl as .agxMit iW tho Holland 1 /md wnnviny 
until it »lisp(VMxl ot' tho last ol' its nnsold lands 
in Iv'^Jk?. whon his ollivv wasd(\sti\m\l hy a mob 
ot' dohtxM's ol' tho (»m}viny, who sviighl hy this 
unlaw I'nl nuvisniv tv» ohlitvr;Uo all i>\>M>i ol" thoir 
indohtixlnoss {o tho ivm|vniy. hnt in whioh thov 
wviv signally t"oih\l. as ho ha>l svni v»pios v^l'all 
his jvuvi-s to tho gvnoral v^lVuv ol' tlio »\Mn|v\ny. 
,\ t'nll avWMint y^f this (ivnhlo will Iv t'onnd in 
tho hist\n\vortho Holland Ixind »vin|vvny whioh 
is jviwn in a\u>thor phuv in this volnmo, .ludgx^ 
IVuvok was a vory av\nu"!\tx» survt\vor and hnsi- 
n<\ss man, and had ol>vn o\j>»v<»\l himsx^lf to gix\it 
^langx^xs whilojin thosorviivot'tho Holland l^md 
(vnnwny, AtWr 1S;U? ho do\»txxl his time 
m>vstly t\> tho managx^nont ot' tho valuaMo »x>j>l 
and poi-svMial ostnh? whioh ho j^ossx^s^wl at May- 



Ifc"«^ 




fij/ Cr/ />9fJ^ 



OF CHAUTAUQUA VOUSTY. 



ville and elsewhere in south-western New York. 
He was appointed as one of the commissioners 
for bnildiug the first court-liouse at Mayville, 
and was one of the most liberal patrons of the 
academy at that place. 

He was one of the early associate judges of 
the county court, and in 1821 served as treasurer 
of Chautauqua county. Prior to his removal 
from Batavia Judge Peacock took great interest 
in the conception and subsequent construction of 
the Erie canal. He gave Jesse Hawley, the 
engineer in charge of the work, valuable informa- 
tion, and the route he marked out for the canal 
through western Xew York was adopted with 
but little variation. lu 1816 he surveyed and 
located the western part of this canal, and two 
years later was appointed to survey and i-eport 
on the construction of a harbor at Butfalo. 
Judge Peacock was a strong democrat, and a 
great admirer of General Jackson and all demo- 
cratic leaders of the Jacksonian school. He 
was a Free and Accepted Mason from 1803 
until his death. 

On October 3, 1807, he married Alice Evans, 
a uiece of Joseph Elliott, and who passed away 
after a short illness on April 19, 1859, when in 
the seventy-ninth year of her age. They had 
no children, and the Mayville Sentinel stated 
that Mrs. Peacock was no ordinary woman, and 
that her mental and physical powers were alike 
vigorous and active. Her numerous deeds of 
charity, the lives she saved, and the aid which 
she rendered to the sick and sorrowful have been 
handed down from parent to child. Her hand, 
her heart and her purse were ever open to aid 
any Christian enterprise. Her remains were 
interred in the family lot in the Mayville ceme- 
tery, where over them was erected a plain but 
costly monument. Being without other heirs, 
the Judge's nearest relatives were the children of 
his brother Absalom, who married Jane Nichols, 
of Newburg, this State, and in 1814 came to 
Westfield, where he followed farming until his 
death iu 1836. Absalom Peacock had eiirht 



children, one of whom, ]\Irs. Sarah J. Birdsall, 
of INIayville, is the widow of Judge John 
Birdsall, a native of eastern New York, who 
was a well-known lawyer and served on the 
bench . 

Eighteen years after the death of his wife, 
Judge Peacock entered upon his final rest on 
the 21st of February, 1877, when he had attained 
nearly to his ninety-seventh year. His body 
was laid to rest witii the impressive ceremonies 
of the Masonic ritual. He left no will, and 
his large estate was inherited by his nephews 
and nieces. He sleeps by the side of his wife, 
and although the monumental marble above his 
resting-place only records his age and the day 
of his death, yet his memory and virtues are 
written in the hearts of the people among whom 
he lived and labored. 



TOY LOVE, was born in (xerry, Chautauqua 
^ county, on the 28th day of June, 1829. 
His grandfather, John Love, was born in Con- 
necticut, in 1769. He came to Chenango 
county when a young man, and afterwards, 
became an early settler of the town of EUery, iu 
Chautauqua county, where he came to reside in 
February, 1811. He died in Illinois, in his 
ninety-first year. His son John, the father of 
Joy Love, was born January 29, 1789. He 
married jNlary S. ^yard. He was one of the 
earliest settlers of the town of Gerry, and during 
his life, a well-known citizen of that part of the 
county. In 1812, he purchased the farm first 
owned by Amos Atkins, situated about one 
mile south of Sinclairville, on the Old Chau- 
tauqua road. He afterwards erected buildings 
thereon, which were long known as the Love 
Stand. He kept this inn for over thirty years, 
and afterwards, for about four years, the hotel 
in Sinclairville. He died upon his old farm, 
March 18, 1857. 

Joy Love followed the business of farming 
during the early part of his life, upon the old 
homestead, in Crorrv, owned l)v his fatiier in his 



BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY 



lifetime, and afterwards to some extent in Port- 
laud, ChautaiKjua county. In 1882, he formed 
a co-partnership in the business of hanking and 
milling, at Siuclairville with E. B. Crissy, now 
of the Farmers and Mechanics Bank of James- 
town, under the name of E. B. Crissy & Co., 
which continued six years. He then formed a 
co-partnership in the same business with his 
son, John A. Love, under the style Joy Love 
& Son, in which business he has continued at 
Siuclairville, until this time. May 24, 1854, he 
married Rosina Flagg, daughter of Alonzo and 
Caioliue Flagg. John A. Love, who was boi'u 
February 24, 18G1, is their only child. He re- 
ceived his education at the Fredonia I^ormal 
school, and the Poughkeepsie Commercial col- 
lege. His business has always been banking. 
He now has principal charge of the business of 
the firm of Joy Love & Son, and is the present 
supervisor of the towu of Charlotte. October 
29, 1884, he married Fanny A., the daughter 
of Obed and Emily A. Edsou. Their children 
are : Allen J., born in Siuclairville, August 23, 
1885; and Nellie E., born in Siuclairville, Jan- 
uary 2, 1887. 



TA3IES MUI^OKKW is a man who has, by 

^ his own uutiriug energy aud industry, 
accumulated a competency, and commands the 
respect of all who honor a successful mau. He 
was born in Duucaunou, County Tyrone, Ireland, 
June 6, 1843, and is a son of James aud 
Catherine (Gough) Mulgrew. His father was 
a native of the same towu, aud was born in 
1806. He pursued the calling of a farmer on 
a rented farm, aud also transacted an agent's 
business for the queen's warehouse, being a good 
business man, highly respected by all classes. 
In religion he was a member of the Roman 
Catholic church. He died on Christmas day, 
1870, and his wife (mother) is now living on 
the old homestead, in her seventy-fifth year. 

James Mulgrew was reared on a farm, aud 
I'eceived his education in the common schools of 



his native town. He learned the carpenter's 
trade, aud in 1S(J6 he came to America, putting 
his feet on American soil May 1st of that year, 
and shortly afterward located in Silver Creek, 
where he was employed on the construction 
train on the L. S. & M. S. R. R. He worked 
fifteen years on this train, being steadily pro- 
moted until, in 1881, he was given full control. 
It is his pride that he never had a pair of trucks 
leave the track in the twenty-two years he spent 
on that train. While iu Indiana, in 1888, he 
resigned his position, aud left the employ of the 
road December 10th of that year. Since then 
he has lived on his farm in Hanover, one mile 
from Silver Creek, where he has opened a rock 
quarry, aud finds a quick aud ready market for 
all the paviug-stoues and material for macad- 
amizing which he can quarry. He also has a 
good-sized tract of land devoted to grape culture. 
In National elections he votes the Democratic 
ticket, but in local elections he is independent, 
voting always for the mau he considers the best 
qualified for the office iu question. Religiously, 
he is a member of the Roman Catholic church. 
He has two brothers, Barney and John F., 
engaged in gold raining in ^Montana. 

James Mulgrew was married, in 18G0, to 
JNIargaret L. ^lulgrew, daughter of Peter Mul- 
grew, of Duncannon, Ireland, and they have 
three children, one sou aud two daughters : 
John F., Mary E., aud Margaret S., all attend- 
ins- school at Silver Creek. 



T tEVI J. PIERCE, the well-known dealer 

^^ iu agricultural machinery, residing at 
Forestville, is a son of Levi H. aud Electa 
(lugells) Pierce, aud was born in the village of 
Cooperstowu, Otsego county, New York, Octo- 
ber 3, 1830, and is now in his sixty-first year. 
The parents of ^Ir. Pierce were both New Eng- 
land emigrants, the father having come from 
the Granite State, and the mother from Con- 
necticut. Levi H. Pierce came to Otsego 
countv and was euLraoed in the business of dis- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyXY. 



tilling. The name was originally Pers, which 
is from the Englisli. Grandfather, Stephen 
Ingells, served with bravery and valor in the 
Revolutionary war, and was Iionorabl)' 'dis- 
charged at its close. 

The condition of his i^arents being humble, 
Levi J. Pierce was early taught habits of in- 
dustry, and pa.ssed his boyhood and youth in 
his native county. He was sent to the public 
schools and acquired such education as the 
fountain afforded. When a young man he 
secured a clerkship in a store at Cooperstown, 
and remained there until 1852, Avhen he came 
to Forestville and engaged in business with J. 
G. Hopkins and N. B. Brown, and the firm re- 
mained intact for twelve years. About the date 
of the close of the war, Mr. Hopkins dropjied 
out, and Messrs. Pierce & Brown continued the 
business for seven years longer, when they dis- 
solved partnership. Mr. Pierce then opened a 
hardware store, which he conducted until 1889, 
and since that time he has been handling all 
kinds of farming machinery and implements. 

On Jan. 17, 1860, he married Frances Hop- 
kins, a daughter of Joseph G. Hopkins, the latter 
being one of the early settlers and business men 
of Yillauova, this county, over fifty years ago. 
He was a native of Hartford, Connecticut, and 
died in 1876, aged sixty-eight years. Mr. and 
Mrs. Pierce have been blessed with a family of 
four children : Charles H., resides in Oregon; 
Albert L., is in the lumber business at Irvona, 
Clearfield county, Pa.; Joseph G., lives in 
Madford, Oregon, also engaged in the lumber 
business ; and Ophelia. 

Levi J. Pierce is the owner of considerable 
valuable property in Forestville, and Mrs. 
Pierce owns two farms within a couple of miles 
of the village. They have a pleasant and hap- ■ 
py home, and by their business ability and good 
management have risen to the position of re- 
spect and comfort they now occupy. j 



C'ETH ALDRICH, one of the most prosperous 
'*^ farmers in this section, came from sterling 
Quaker ancestry on both sides of the house. He 
was born in Hamburg, Erie Couuty, X. Y., Oc- 
tober 7, 1827, and is a son of Scott and Eliza 
(■White) Aldrich. Senator Nelson W. Aldrich 
I of Rhode Island is a family connection. The 
! paternal grandfather of Seth Aldrich, Nathan, 
married Phivbe Apjilebee, each a member of 
the Society of Friends, and to them seven chil- 
dren were born, six sons and one daughter : 
James, Sayles, Simeon, Nathan, Thomas, Scott 
(father), and Esther. Scott Aldrich, was liorn 
in Smithfield, Providence county, Rhode Island, 
June 6, 1801. When eighteen years of age he 
went to learn the trade of shoemaking, and so 
apt was he that it might be said he made a pair 
of shoes the first day. After serving his full 
time as apprentice, he worked for some time as 
a journeyman. In 1820, having married, he 
and his wife drove from their Rhode Island 
home to Evans, Erie county, this State, carry- 
ing all their earthly possessions with them in a 
one-horse covered wagon. His brothers, James 
and Sayles had preceded him, and he spent the 
winter of 1823-24 with them. In the spring 
he purchased a farm of one hundred acres, 
located east of Haml)urg, Erie county, paying 
ten dollars an acre for it, and cleared and im- 
proved it with the aid of an ox-team and a 
wooden plow, adding to it until he owned three 
hundred and seventy-five acres. In 1849 he 
bought a farm on the flats of Buffalo creek, 
containing one hundred and eighty-five acres, for 
\vhich he paid one hundred dollars per acre, 
and in 1853, only four years later, he sold it 
for two hundred dollars per acre, netting him 
eighteen thousand five hundred dollars, which 
was a big business transaction in those days, 
involving an output on the part of the juir- 
chaser of thirty-seven thousand dollars, a hand- 
some fortune then. This was the best invest- 
ment he ever made, and profits of one hundred 
])er cent, were extremely rare in anv business. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



He was one of the origiual promoters aud man- 
agers of the phink-road from Hamburg to Buf- 
falo, acting as the chief executive in its con- 
struction. Some of the directors becoming dis- 
satisfied, Thompson Culbertson offered him a 
farm near Forestville, this county, in excliange 
for his plank-road stock, aud he accepted. He 
had then (1857) resided in Hamburg thirty- 
three years. After a year's residence on his 
Forestville farm, he moved to Fredonia (1858) 
and bought the i)lace where Chas. Z. Webster 
now resides. This lot of land he soon sold to 
T. Z. Higgins, and bought the place known as 
" Sunset Hill," and most of the territory en- 
closed by Central avenue, Division, Free and 
Day streets, where he built the house in which 
T. S Hubbard now resides, but after a while 
exchanged his " Sunset Hill " place for a farm 
on the main road, just west of the corporation 
line, but after a shoi't time returned to the vil- 
lage and built a house on the corner of Free 
and Day streets. At the time of his death he 
owned thirteen hundred acres of land, but had 
previously at one time possessed twenty-eight 
hundred acres. Some time before he was sum- 
moned to a higher sphere, he disposed of a por- 
tion of his land to his sons, giving to each one 
three thousand dollars to be applied on these 
purchases, aud an equivalent in cash to the 
other children, who did not take land. He was 
a member of the Free Will Baptist church in 
Hamburg, but in his later years practiced the 
simple usages of his Quaker ancestors. The 
poor had in him a most excellent friend and 
benefactor, and in all his business transactions 
he was honest aud upright. He will be re- 
membered kindly by many who, in their early 
struggles for the possession of a home, experi- 
enced his generous and forbearing treatment. 
Just in all his dealings, his word was as good as 
a bond, and when once he had made a bargain, 
even verbally, he never in any way retreated. 
When the board of commissioners was appointed 
to appraise tiie lands for the Lake Shore rail- 



road between Buffalo and Eighteen Mile Creek, 
he was a member. He died October 16, 1885, 
in his eighty-fifth year. Scott Aldrich was 
married April 13, 1823, to Eliza White, by 
whom he had seven children, four sons aud 
three daughters : Amos, a farmer, who married 
Cordelia Culbertson; Mason, a farmer, who 
married Licena Clark ; Seth ; Ira, a farmer, 
who married Loui.sa Taylor ; Mary, who mar- 
ried Benjamin Miller, a farmer and gai'dener at 
Hamburg ; Ann, who married Isaac Long ; and 
an infant. Amy, who died September 28, 1838. 
The mother of these children died in April, 
1855. July 26, 1855, he was married to Anna 
Meal, of Boston, Erie county, this State. Of 
their children, the eldest, David, died in Sheri- 
dan, May G, 1872. The others are still living, 
namely : George, a farmer, who married Mar- 
tha Dye, of Sheridan ; Xathau, a farmer, who 
married for his first wife, ilary Prescott, aud 
for his second Ellen Dye; Sayles, a farmer, 
who married Virginia Sweet ; Simon, a farmer, 
who married Carrie Spink ; Eliza, who married 
Carmie Daily of Fredonia ; INIartha, who mar- 
ried J. J. Kelly ; and IMaria, who married Jasper 
K. Aldrich. The second wife of Scott Aldrich 
died May 14, 1857, in her forty-fourth year, 
and he married, July 29, 1858, Lydia A. Snell, 
of Waterford, Pennsylvania, who bore him one 
child who died in infancy. 

I Seth Aldrich was educated in the common 
.schools of Erie couuty, this State, and also at 
the select schools of Hamburg, in the same 
county, attending at these founts of learning 
until he was twenty-two years of age. In 1851, 
iu company with his brother, INIason, he bought 
the stage line running from White's Corners, 
now in Hamburg, to Buffalo, carried it a year, 
aud in the fall of 1852 sold out. In the fall 
of 1853 he moved to Wyomiug couuty, where 

j he aud his brother, Mason, bought a farm of 
one hundred and ten acres, located near Weth- 
ersfield Springs. Here he remained until the 
spring of 1855, when he removed to Sheridan, 



^^^ 




^f^f^s^^^ 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTV. 



this coiiuty, on a farm owned by liis father, 
where he stayed two years, and then went to 
Hamburg and bought a farm of forty-four 
acres, on which he lived a year and then went 
to Wethersfield Springs, and traded his Ham- 
burg farm for the one he formerly owned, his 
brother having sold it. On this farm he resided 
four years, after which time he sold it and 
moved to Pomfret, this county, where he culti- 
vated a leased farm for five years. Then his 
father disposed of his property and he bought 
the so-called " Old Tarbox farm," four miles 
south of Fredouia, containing two hundred and 
fifty acres. Here he remained until March, 
1887, when he bought a farm of eighteen acres 
one mile east of Fredouia, situated on the main 
road, on which was a fine residence, which he 
now occupies and raises grapes and small 
fruits. 

He is a member of the Methodist church of 
Fredouia, of which he is a class leader, and 
has been trustee, steward and Sunday school 
superintendent. All his life he has retained 
the many excellent qualities taught him by 
his good Quaker father and mother. Seth 
Aldrich was married May 10, 1853, to Mar- 
tha M. Clark, a daughter of Levi and Sallie 
(Fisk) Clark, the father being a farmer and 
blacksmith of Hamburg, Erie county, this 
State, and this union has been blessed with 
two children, a daughter and a son ; the former 
died July 26, 1860, in her third year. 



/^BED EDSOX, was born in Sinclairvillc, 

^^ Chautau(|ua county, February 18, 1832. 
He is a descendant of the seventh generation, 
from Samuel Edson, who was born in England, 
in 1(312, came over to Salem, JNlass., in the 
year 1638 or 1639, and afterwards became an 
original proprietor, and first settler of Bridg- 
water, Plymouth county, !Mass. His father 
Judge John M. Edson, was bpru in the town 
of Eaton, ^ladison county. New York, July 30, 
1801. He came to Sinclairville in 1810, with 



his step-father, Samuel Sinclair, from whom 
that village derives its name. 

Obed Edson obtained his education at the com- 
mon schools and Fredonia academy. He in 1851 
commenced the study of la w in the office of Hon.E. 
H. Sears, in Sinclairville; in 1853 heattended the 
Albany Law university ; was admitted to the 
bar, April 8, 1853, and since that time has fol- 
lowed the practice of his profession at Sinclair- 
ville, Chautauqua county. He commenced 
practice as a partner of Judge E. F. AVarren ; at 
a later period for a few years, was a co-])artner 
of C. F. C^hapman. He has at intervals, fol- 
lowed the business of civil engineering. When 
eighteen years of age, he served as chainmau on 
the Xew York & Erie railroad, the year before 
its completion to Dunkirk. He has since been 
engaged in the survey of several railroads in 
New York and Pennsylvania. He ran the lo- 
cating line of the Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley & 
Pittsburgh railroad, in the State of New York, 
in 1867. 

He was for several years supervisor of his na- 
tive town, and has held at different times, various 
other official positions in the town and county. 
In 1874, Ive was elected to the Assembly from 
Chautauqua county, and is the only democrat 
that has ever been chosen to fill that position, 
in its second assembly district. 

Mr. Edson, has been a contributor to The 
Continent, The ChaKtauquan, and other leading 
magazines ; generally upon historical subjects. 
He first gathered and collated the facts respect- 
ing the expedition of Colonel Daniel Broad- 
head, which was sent against the Indians of the 
Upper Allegheny river by General Washington, 
during the war of the Revolution, to operate in 
conjunction with General Sullivan. ]Mr. Edson 
prepared a full hi.story of this expedition, which 
was published as the leading article, in the 
November number of the magazine of American 
HiHtonj, for the year 1879. He is one of the 
founders of the Chautauqua County Historical 
Society, and has made to it, many original con- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



tributious, usually of a historical, geological, or 
archeological nature. He is the author of sev- 
eral local histories, among which is a portion of 
Young's History of CLautauqua county, and 
all of that part of it which relates to its Indian, 
French, and early history. 

He was married May 11, 1859, to p]mily 
A. Allen, the daughter of Hon. Caleb I. and 
Emily E. (Haley) Alien. She was born in 
New London, Connecticut, November 27, 18.3.5. 
The children of Obed and Emily A. Edson, 
were Ijoru in Siuelairville, and are : Fanny A.^ 
born April 28, 1860 ; married John A. Love, 
who is a banker in Siuelairville ; John M., 
born September 29, 18G1, married Alma B. 
Green — he lives at New "Whatcom in the State 
of Washington, and is a printer and publisher; 
Samuel A., born September 1-5, 1803, died 
November 1(3, 1872 ; Mary U., born September 
11, 1865t died November 27, 1872; Hannah, 
born February 15, 1809, died December 10, 
1881; Walter H., born January 8, 1874; 
Ellen E., born April 21, 1875, died :\Iarch 31, 
1887 ; and Allen O., born September 3, 1880, 
died January 1 6, 1 882. 



nUFUS FITCH. ]\Iuch study, a great deal 
of wealth and many lives have been ex- 
pended upon the theory, and in a practical search 
for the north pole. The gentleman whose name 
heads this sketch devoted a great amount of 
thought and wrote many articles upon this sub- 
ject. He was a son of Edwin and Lucy (Billings) 
Filch, and was born in Norwich, Connecticut, 
in 1830. The Fitch family were indigenous to 
New England for more than a century, a re- 
nowned ancestor being Rev. John Fitch, a 
preacher, contemporaneous with Revolutionary 
times. Rufus Fitch's early life was spent on a 
farm in Connecticut, where he secured an edu- 
cation in the district schools, which was supple- 
mented by a course in the city of New Haven. 
Prior to 1850 he went to St. Louis, where a few 
vears later he was eusi-ao-ed in the wholesale sta- 



tionery, paper and book business, his partner 
being an intimate friend, Robert Patterson. 
This business was continued for fifteen years, 
when declining health demanded a change of 
climate and atmosphere. Some years were 
passed in seeking a location congenial, and in 
1874 Jamestown was selected, where four years 
later he died. The house where Mrs. Fitch 
now resides was erected by him. On October 
7th, 1863, he married Mary Churchill, daugh- 
ter of Crispeu and Hannah Churchill. jNIrs. 
Fitch's grandfather on maternal side, William 
Churchill, was from England, bringing a large 
fortune with him, and settled in Newbern, 
North Carolina. She is a lady of an unusual 
degree of intelligence and exceedingly entertain- 
ing, being an accomplished conversationalist. 
Mr. and Mrs. Fitch had five children : Dabney 
C, born September 30th, 1804, prepared for 
college and is now in New York city engaged 
as a manufacturer's representative ; Mary C, 
was born in August, 1800, and graduated from 
the Jamestown High school, and Houghton 
Seminary; Edwin R., born June 19th, 1869; 
Lucy B., born September, 1870, is attending 
the Boston Conservatory of Music, being an 
accomplished musician of marked ability ; and 
Churchill, born in September, 1873. Mr. Fitch 
was a republican, but paid little attention to 
politics. He was a writer of prominence, his 
articles attracting most attention being upon the 
subject mentioned at the opening of this sketch 
and the science of fishing and hunting. His 
death, which occurred in 1878, was deeply re- 
gretted and mourned by many friends. 



DAVID A. WII^SON, the proprietor of the 
well-known " Wilson House," of West- 
field, and a veteran Union soldier of the late 
civil war, is a son of Willard W. and Nancy 
(Knight) ^^'ilson, and was born in Oswego 
county, New Y'ork, March 13, 1838. The 
Wilson family is of Scotch descent and settled 
in the United States at an earlv day in its colo- 



OF ClIAl'TAVQVA COrXTV. 



niftl history. Willard W. Wilsou was borii in 
Vernionl, where lie learued the trade of shoe- 
maker. In 1830 he removed to Oswego county, 
from whicii lie went in 1851 to Livingston 
county, Michigan, where he died in 1853, aged 
forty-four years. He was a farmer by oc'cu[)a- 
tiou, an old-line whig in politics and a Uni- 
versalist in religious belief and church member- 
ship. His wife, Nancy (Knight) Wilsou, who 
was of English extraction and a native of Ver- 
mont, was a member of the Universalist church 
and passed away in Livingston county, Michi- 
gan, in February, 1888, at seventy -seven years 
of age. 

David A. Wilson received his education in 
the common schools of Xew York and Michi- 
gan. At seventeen years of age he left the farm 
to become a clerk in a hotel. Six years later, 
in 1861, he enlisted as a soldier iu Co. D, 4tli 
Michigan Lifantry, but at the end of five months 
service had a severe hemorrhage of the lungs 
and was honorably discharged. He returned 
home, where he soon regained his health and 
enlisted as a sergeant in Co. G, Third Michigan 
Cavalry, in which he served three years. After 
being honorably discharged in Detroit, Michi- 
gan, in 1864, he returned home and for the 
next ten years was employed as a clerk in dif- 
ferent hotels in the county and at Titusville, 
Pa. In 1875 he engaged in the hotel business 
at Westfield, where he conducted the Lake 
Shore hotel for four years. He then went to 
Erie, Pa., where he purchased the Mansion house 
but soon disposed of it on account of sickness 
and bought the Brocton house and restaurant 
at Brocton, this county, which he conducted 
thirteen months. At the end of this time he 
sold his Broctou property, re-puichased the 
Mansion house, of Erie, Pa., which he conducted 
successfully for four years, when he sold it and 
returned to Westfield, where he erected during 
the summer of 1887 his present hotel, the " Wil- 
son House." Probably no feature of a place _ 
is more conducive to a favorable impression on 



visitors than that represented by hotel accom- 
modations. In this respect the " Wilson House " 
has attained a reputation equal to any hotel in 
the State outside of the leading cities. Its com- 
fortable and neatly furnished rooms, excellent 
table and courteous attendants are higlily appre- 
ciated by tiie traveling public. The house is 
furnished throughout in good taste and style, 
while its proprietor brings to its successful man- 
agement over a cjuarter of a ceutury's experi- 
ence as a clerk and manager of some of the fore- 
most hotels of southwestern New York and 
northern Pennsylvania. Mr. Wilson is pleasant, 
courteous and accommodating. He is a repub- 
lican in politics, a Universalist in religion and a 
member of Council No. 8, Ancient Order of 
United Workmen. 

On May 12, 1867, Mr. Wilsou married Delia 
Connelly, of Westfield, and their union has 
been blest with one child, a daughter named 
Ella M. 



PJLISHA TOAVEK, Jl{., came from a line 
^^ of ancestors who, witli the excepti(jn of 
his paternal grandfather, had followed man's 
first occupation — that of tilling the soil, leaving 
it only to serve their country when she sum- 
moned her loyal sons to her aid. Elisha Tower 
was born in Ellery, Chautauqua county, New 
York, January 13, 1818, and is a son of Elisha 
and Philena (Morgan) Tower. Isaiah Tower 
(grandfather) was a native of Massachusetts, 
being born in 1760, and was a captain of a 
whaling vessel sailing from Xew Bedford, 
which occupation he left to serve as a soldier 
under General Washington, during the entire 
war of the Revolution. About 1800 he re- 
moved to Duanesburg, Schenectady county, this 
State, and located on a farm which lie occupied 
until his death. In religion he was a Baptist, 
of which church he was an influential member. 
Isaiah Tower was married iu 1786 to Sylvia 
Toby, l)y whom he had eleven children, eight 
sons and three daughters: Kiieuamv, l>orn in 



lilOQEAFlIY AND HISTORY 



1790, and married Mr. Bowles; Benjamin, 
born in 1792, was a farmer by occupation, and 
died wliile a young man ; Isaiah, born in 1795, 
was a millwright by occupation, and married 
Mary Sherbum ; Sylvanus, born in 1797, was ' 
a farmer; John, born in 1799, was. a farmer, j 
and married Mary Shauber; Jeremiah, born in 
1801, and Joseph, born in 1803, were farmers; 
Sylvia, born in 180G, and married Thomas 
Beal ; Stephen, born in 1808, became a min- 
ister of the Baptist denomination, and married i 
Martha Ruddock; and Zaccheus, born in 1811. 
Isaiah Tower died in January, 1846, aged 
eighty-six years, and Mrs. Tower died Decem- 
ber 3, 1848, aged eighty -two years. Simeon 
IMorgan (maternal grandfather) was born in 
1765, and spent most of his life in Berne, 
Albany county, this State, where he owned and 
cultivated a farm, and conducted a general 
store. He married Rhobe Allyn, by M'hom he 
had five children, one son and four daughters : 
Clarissa, who married Ezra (iallup ; Xancy, 
wife of Nathan Gallup, and died young, leav- 
ing two children ; Philena (mother), born in 
Preston, Connecticut, June 1, 1792; Rhoda, 
wife of Johu Wheeler, and Simeon, Jr., a law- 
yer in Ciallupville, Schoharie county, this 
State, who married Jane Lee. Simeon Morgan 
died in 1814, aged forty-nine years, and Mrs. 
Morgan died in 1826. Elisha Tower (father) 
was born in New Bedford, Bristol county, Mas- 
sachusetts, May 10, 1788, and went to Duanes- 
burg, Schenectady county, New York, with his 
father, where he remained until 1810, when he 
came to this county witli his knapsack, pro- 
visions, a change of clothing and an axe, 
coming by way of Cross Roads to Mayville, 
where he worked a short time to replenish his 
nearly exhausted exchequer. In the fall he 
took a job of chopping at the Inlet, now in the 
town of Hartfield, which lie completed about 
the first of April, 1811, having boarded himself 
in a shanty, which he built by a fallen tree, 
having little else than a blanket and a frying- 



pan, his board being chiefly Johnnie cake and 
fried pork. In December, 1811, he took an 
article for the east half of lot four, township 
three, range twelve, comprising one hundred 
and seventy-six acres, lying between what are 
now the towns of Ellery and Gerry, and eight 
miles northwest of Jamestown, for which he 
paid less than three dollars an acre, it being all 
forest land, which he cleared and improved, and 
occupied most of the time until his death, ex- 
cepting from 1839 until 1842, during which 
time he resided in Jamestown. In 1812 he 
built a log house in which he lived alone for 
awhile, and in 1813 was drafted into the army, 
and participated in the battle of Black Rock, 
and was also j)resent at the burning of Buffalo, 
in December, 1813. Cornelius De Long, who 
built a house in Gerry, near the Ellery line 
where James IMcAlister now lives, was severely 
wounded in tlie head by a grape-shot at the 
battle of Buffalo, and was taken to the cabin of 
a settler and cared for by his fellow-soldier and 
neighbor, Elisha Tower. De Long afterward 
went West and participated in the Black Hawk 
j war in 1832, in which he received a captain's 
! commission. After the war of 1812, Elisha 
Tower received a pension and a land grant. In 
the autumn of 1814 he returned to Duanes- 
burg, Schenectady county. In 1817, with his 
I wife and one child he returned to Ellery, but 
the child being taken ill, they were forced to 
stop at the house of William Barrows, where 
it died. He removed to his log cabin, where 
he lived until he could build a commodious 
frame house, to which he moved, and resided 
there until 1837, when he again moved to a 
I large two-story house which he had built. He 
j held several town offices iu Ellery, including 
that of justice of the peace. In religion he 
was a Baptist, being a member of the church of 
that denomination in Sinclairville, a village 
near the depot in Gerry, named in honor of 
Major Sinclair. Elisha Tower was married 
June 1, 1815, to Philena Morgan, a daughter 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



of Simeon aud Rhobe (Allyii) Morgan, of 
Berne, Albany county, this State, by whom he 
had seven children, three sous and four daugh- 
ters : Emily, bom March 11, 181G, in Berne, 
Albany county, and died in childhood in 
Ellery ; all the rest were born in this county, 
Elisha; Rhobe Allyn, born May 4, 1820, wife 
of Ebenezer Moon, a farmer in Stockton, at 
Moon station ; Simeon jNI., born September 11, 
1822, married Sarah Denison, owns and occu- 
pies the south part of his father's homestead, 
and resides on the east side of the town line of 
Gerry; Clarissa, born June 14, 182(3; Emily 
M., born June 19, 1829, aud married Franklin 
Denison, a farmer and dealer in live stock ; 
and Corydou L., born Oct. 26, 1834, married 
Harriet Felt, aud resides ou the old homestead, 
by occupation a farmer. Elisha Tower sick- 
ened while ou a visit to his daughter in Stock- 
ton, and died January 9, 186(5, iu his seventy- 
eighth year. Mrs. Tower died December 17, 
1860. " 

Elisha Tower, Jr., acquired a common school 
education by attending the winter terms of the 
school of his neighborhood, being obliged to 
work on the farm the rest of the year until he 
attained his majority. He remained on his 
father's farm until he was tweuty-seven years 
old, wheu he bought a farm of fifty acres in 
Gerry, on which he resided seven years, when 
he sold it and removed to Portlaud, where he 
bought a farm of sixty-five acres located three 
miles east of AVestfield, ou which he resided 
twenty-seven years, and then disposed of it and 
came to Fredonia in 1884, where he purchased 
twenty-five acres on the avenue, ten acres of 
which he devotes to the cultivation of grapes. 
He is enjoying the fruit of his labors in a se- 
rene old age, having the respect of the com- 
munity and the love of a host of friends, j 
Elisha Tower, Jr., was married January 3, 
1854, to Electa Moon, her father being a 
farmer and mill-owner iu Gerry. Thev have 
had one son and one daughter. The son, Har- 



lan, resides with his father, aud the daughter, 
Emma C, married Daniel Farringtou, a farmer 
who lives on the farm iu Portlaud, formerly 
owned by her father. She died November 28, 
1890. Mrs. Tower died in December, 1874, 
aged fortv-five years, aud was buried iu Port- 
land. 



IlirAKVrX H. WOLKBEX comes from Ger- 
V"*- man ancestors, is the son of Abraham 
and Minerva A. (Fuller) Wolebeu, aud was 
born in Portland town, Chautauqua county, 
New York, August l-j, 1846. His grand- 
father, John Wolebeu, was a native of Herki- 
mer county, and came from the latter place to 
Portland, this county, in 1833. He lived in 
this town and followed farming until 1852, aud 
then went to Illinois, where he died iu 1852, 
having reached the age of fifty-nine years. He 
served as a soldier through the War of 1812, mar- 
ried Catherine Isemau, aud had five children. 
Abraham Wolebeu was a native of Herkimer 
county, this State, aud came to the town of 
Portland in 1833, where he began to form con- 
tinuing until his death in the fall of 1878, when 
in his fifty-fifth year. He married Minerva A. 
Fuller who was born in Dutchess county, this 
State, in 1820. She is still living, now the 
wife of David Grauger, whom she married in 
1885. Mr. aud Mrs. Wolebeu had two chil- 
dren, of whom both are still living. 

Marvin H. Wolebeu attended the schools of 
his district aud there received his education. 
His early life was speut ou his father's farm 
and wheu he attained his mauhood assumed 
control of its management. His place is loca- 
ted four miles east of the village of Westfield, 
where he gives considerable attention to raisino- 
grapes. 

On December 29, 1869, Mr. Wolebeu united 
in marriage with Mary J. Munson, a daughter 
of Chester Munson, who resides iu Portland 
town. They have only one child, Jay, whom 
they adopted. 



BIOGRAPHY AyD HISTORY 



M. H. Wolebeu is a democrat, a generous 
citizen, and came from one of tlie most respect- 
ed families in the county. 



T . lEUT. PHILANDER W. BE3IIS, one 

■'-* of Phil. Sheridan's cavalry-men in the 
late war, was born in tiie town of French 
Creek, Chautauqua county, New York, Feb- 
ruarv 5, 1842, and is a son of David and Beth- 
iah (Vanostrand) Bemis. David Bemis left 
his native State of Vermont when a boy, and 
settled in French Creek, where he followed 
farming until his death in 1867, at sixty-five 
years of age. He was accompanied by his 
father, Stephen Bemis, who was also a native 
of Vermont. David Bemis married Bethiah 
Vanostrand, who was a native of Xew York 
and died in 1850, aged forty-six years. 

Philander W. Bemis grew to manhood on 
the farm, attended the public schools, and in 
1861, enlisted in Co. I, 8th Illinois Cavalry. 
He was promoted to sergt.-major of his regi- 
ment, by reason of his efficiency and soldierly 
conduct, and was mustei'ed out of that regiment 
during the latter part of 1862, by order of the 
war department as a supernumerary officer. 
He re-enlisted in 1863, in the fifteenth New 
York Cavalry and served until June 17, 1865, 
when he was discharged on account of a Mound 
received at the battle of Five Forks, where he 
was struck in the left arm and shoulder by a 
minie-ball, which he carried in his body fif- 
teen months. Lieutenant Bemis made an en- 
viable war record of which he may be justifi- 
ably proud, as he served under Sheridan in all 
of that great commander's famous campaigns in 
Virginia, and participated in thirty-five en- 
gagements and battles. After the close of the 
w^ar he came to ^Vestfield where he has resided 
ever since, and where he has served five years 
as a lieutenant in the New York State troops. 
He has been, since boyhood, a member of the 
^Methodist Episcopal church and is now class 
leader and chairman of the b(jard of trustees of 



the Westfield church of that denomiuation, in 
which he served in an official capacity for 
twenty-five years. He is a republican in poli- 
tics, has been active in the temperance cause for 
many years, served several terms as town clerk 
and as a member of the board of education 
and is now deputy sheriff of the county. He 
is a Past Master of Summit Lodge, No. 219, 
Free and Accepted ilasous. He has been con- 
nected with tlie Chautauqua Assembly ever 
since it was organized and has had entire charge 
of the ticket department, in which he handles 
from thirty to fifty thousand dollars every year 
and in connection with which he has served for 
five years as chief of police of the grounds. 
After coming to Westfield he engaged in the 
mercantile business, from which he retired three 
years ago. 

August 14, 1866, he married Jennie A., a 
noble Christian woman, daughter of Alexander 
and Malinda MeCoUom, of Westfield. Lieut, 
and ]Mrs. Bemis have two children : Ernest 
W., a printer, who is also a fine musician ; and 
Pearl A., aged respectively twenty-two and 
thirteen. Pearl A. could read in the Bible at 
two and one-half years of age, and when eight 
years of age, wrote the prize poem for which 
fifty competitors under seventeen years of age 
were contesting. She is a good musician and 
has already written poems which have been 
published. 

S3I. SKI03I0KE, a well-known grower 
• of small fruits, was born in Charlotte, 
two miles from Sinclairville, Chautauqua coun- 
ty, July 22, 1831, and is a son of Ira and 
Lydia S. (Mann) Skidmore. 

Luther M. Skidmore (grandfather) moved to 
Otsego county, this State, settling in Morris, 
M-here he owned a store, and a half interest in a 
cotton factory. He was married and had three 
sous : Wolcot, who was a clothier, and came to 
Forestville, this county, and kept a hotel, after- 
ward dying iu Ti>ledo, Ohio; Ira (father), and 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY. 



Enssell, who died while young. The maternal 
graudflither of S. M. Skidmore, Samuel Mann, 
moved to Otsego county, where he was a car- 
penter and joiner. About 18-38 he came to this 
county and settled at Laona, where he contin- 
ued working at his trade. He was married and 
had four children, one son and three daughters : 
Olive, married William Johnson ; Lvdia S. 
(mother), married Ira Skidmore. Samuel Mann 
died in 18G0, aged about eighty years. Ira 
Skidmore (fatiier) was boi-n in Morris, Otsego 
county, this State, iu 179C. Whik^ a young 
man he came to Chautauqua county, settling in 
Charlotte, where he bought a farm of one hun- 
dred acres. Ten years later he sold that farm 
and moved to Sheridan, where he bought an- 
other farm, remained on it a year, then sold it 
and bought still another of one hundred acres, 
which is now within the corporation of Dun- 
kirk, this county. He was a Mason until tiie 
William Morgan trouble, in 182(i, when he left 
them. Ira Skidmore married Lydia S. Maun, 
in 1823, and by this union had eight cliildren, 
six sons and two daughters, seven of whom 
reached maturity : JNIartha F., married to Sam- 
uel Tolles, a lumber dealer and oil operator, 
who lives in Dunkirk ; Thomas J., a contractor 
and coal dealer, who married jNIarion Johnson, 
and lives at Lily Dale ; S. S. ; Frances D., 
married to Stephen Yeasey, a locomotive engin- 
eer, who lives at Hornellsville, Steuben county ; 
Henry H., was assistant freight agent of the 
W. N. Y. & E. R. R., and now lives at Corry, 
Pennsylvania, married Martha Eaton, now 
dead ; George E., died in infancy ; Oscar W., 
a locomotive engineer, who married Sarah 
Keyes and lives iu Thornton, Illinois; and 
Charles W., a locomotive engineer, who died on 
the Erie railroad at Dayton, this State; mar- 
ried Mary Le Roy. The father of these children 
died when sixty-eight years old, and the mother 
died in 1850, aged forty-seven years. Both are 
buried in Laona. 

S. M. Skidmore was educated in the common 



schools at Fredonia and the academic depart- 
ment at Dunkirk. After leaving school he 
learned the trade of a tinsmith with Hart & 
Lester, serving three years, after which he 
worked at this vocation until 1857, when he 
entered into partnership witli M. J. Bellous iu 
the hardware business, in Dunkirk, the firm 
name being Bellous & Skidmore. He contin- 
ued in this firm one year and then sold out to 
R. L. Carey, accepting the position of foreman 
in their large shop, which he liekl five years. 
In 18G3 he went in partnership with J. B. 
Gardner, dealing in field, garden and flower 
seeds, at Fredonia. Here he remained twenty 
years, and then, in 1883 they closed up the 
business. In addition to the seed business he 
had also engaged in growing small fruits, 
grapes, berries, etc., and now devotes his entire 
attention to the raising of small fruits, havin"- 
eleven acres devoted to their cultivation. 

S. M. Skidmore was married in January, 
1853 to Annette Hewitt, daughter of Cyrus 
and Lucia Hewitt, of Fredonia, the fother be- 
ing a carpenter and joiner. By this union 
there were two children, a son and a daughter : 
Xellie H. and Henry H., the latter being a 
locomotive engineer, married to Emma Beaver, 
of Huntington, Indiana, where he lives. The 
mother of these children died in 18G8, and in 
1870 Mr. Skidmore married Alice Roberts, a 
daughter of Deacon Eli and Julia (Sheldon) 
Roberts, of Fredonia, by whom he has one 
daughter, Maude A., who resides with her pa- 
rents. His second wife dying in 1882, in 1884 
he married Hattie J. Safford, a daughter of 
Justus and Charlotte (Chairman) Satford, of 
Fredonia. 



"PUGEXE K. HOUGH has passed through 
-*-^ many shifting scenes on the stage of life, 
and has imprinted on the plates invented by 
Daguerre, and by those later who have improved 
on his process, the counterfeit presentments of 
the representatives of many nations. He was 



228 



BIOGRAPHY AXn HISTORY 



boiu at Potsdam, St. Lawrence county, New 
York, December 24, 1834, aud is a son of E. A. 
and Susan (Pierce) Hough. E. A. Hough was 
a native of Connecticut, a builder and contractor 
by occupation, and served as a volunteer in the 
w"ar of 1812. He was married in 1829 to 
Susan Pierce, who was a native of Vermont and 
a cousin to Franklin Pierce, the fourteenth 
president of the United States. They had 
seven children, of whom E. K. was the oldest 
but one, who died in infancy. 

Euo-eue K. Hough was reared in St. Lawrence 
county, and was educated in the academy of 
Potsdam and the High school of Lockport, this 
State. He left school at the age of seventeen to 
learn the then newly-discovered art of daguer- 
reotyping, which he practiced for some years 
successfully in the villages of Canton and 
Maloue, county-seats of St. Lawrence and 
Franklin counties. When twenty-three years 
of age, partly to oblige his cousin, S. E. Buttolph, 
and partly to see more of the world, he exchanged 
his Malone gallery for a travelling daguerreo- 
type car, in which his cousin had traveled from 
St. Lawrence county to Brocton, in Chautauqua 
county. Mr. Hough operated but a short time 
in this county before he sold the car to accept a 
situation oflered him in a house for the supply 
of daguerreotype and ambrotype materials, 
established in Xew York city. In 1859 he was 
sent by the house to Petersburg, Va., and thence 
to South Carolina, where he was during the 
exciting time of John Brown's raid and Lincoln's 
canvass. Realizing the gravity of the coming 
trouble, he returned north, reaching New York 
the day after Lincoln's election. He remained 
in New York city during the war, accepting a 
situation as photographic operator with Meade 
Bros, on Broadway, aud afterward with R. A. 
Lewis, who had galleries at Chatham square, 
aud at 19th Street aud Broadway. In 1865, 
.still desiring to see more of the world, he went 
to Barbadoes, in the West Indies, for a winter, 
and found his business so profitable in the 



tropics aud life so pleasant that he visited, with 
his photographic art, some of the largest cities 
in South America, remaining a year in Per- 
nambuco, afterward visiting Bahia aud Rio 
Janeiro, the capital of Brazil. In 1869 he 
returned to the United States, and opened a 
gallery in New York city. 

In 1870 he was married to Frances Mason, 
of Ripley, this county. Then, for more than 
ten years, he maintained a successful business of 
his own amid the intense competition of New 
York city, meanwhile continuing his art studies 
in the Academy of Design, aud being a regular 
paid correspondeut of the photographic maga- 
zines. The winter of 1879 he left his gallery 
in New York in charge of his brother and went 
to Trinidad, in the English West Indies, with 
his wife, mainly for her health, she having been 
ill several winters with severe neuralgia, com- 
plicated with heart trouble, and her physician 
advised a milder climate. They went to Trini- 
dad because they had friends there. Shortly 
after their arrival the two sous of the Prince of 
\ Wales stopped there on their voyage around the 
\ world. The governor of the islaud honored 
] ISIr. Hough with an invitation to photograph 
the princes amid the tropical foliage surround- 
ing the governor's palace. This proved an 
excellent advertisement ; hundreds of their pic- 
tures were sold among the loyal population, 
and a profitable business immediately flowed in 
upon him. The business continued so good, 
and his wife's health so improved, that in 1881 
his brother sold the gallery in New York and 
joined him, with the intention of remaining 
until they made a fortune, as they had every 
prospect of doing ; when suddenly in the height 
of their prosperity, a severe epidemic of yellow 
fever struck the island ; there had not been one 
before for nearly twenty years, and the Hough 
brothers and their families barely escaped with 
their lives, while hundreds were dying arouud 
them. At one time they were given up to die, 
but finally recovered to find their business 




cA^i/l^u^^^-t^' 



OF CIlAVTAUijUA COUNTY. 



ruined for the time, and their health so impaired 
that they were compelled to return to the States. 
In 1883, shortly after his return, Mr. Hough 
purchased forty acres of grape land in Ripley, 
and placed it in care of his wife's brother, 
George Mason, to plant a vineyard, the Chau- 
tauqua grape interest having then just begun. 

When he l)ought the grape farm it was Mr. 
Hough's intention to continue his business south 
in winter and only visit the farm in summer. 
On that plan he spent a winter in New Orleans 
in charge of an exhibit at the world's fair, and 
two winters in North Carolina, where his 
business was profitable and his wife's health 
seemed to improve. But she decided that she 
would rather live a few years less among friends 
and kindred than to be always among strangers; 
and his main endeavor being to place her in a 
condition most conducive to her health and 
happiness, he bought a house in Fredoiiia next 
to her sister's, and was just fitting it up as a 
quiet home, when his wife was taken worse and 
died of heart failure in May, 1887. Shortly 
after lier bi'other, George Mason, died with 
bilious inflammation, thus leaving two l>roken 
homes, with the incomplete vineyard, in Mr. 
Hough's care. 

In November, 1889, to continue their strong 
ties of family affection and unite their broken 
homes, Mrs. Fannie Mason, the widow, and 
Mr. Hougj) were married, and now reside in 
the Fredonia houie. 

The vineyard now has twenty acres of bear- 
ing vines under good management, and promises 
to be a profitable investment. He also has a 
photograph gallery in Fredonia, which keeps 
him pleasantly occupied in line with his life 
work. Mr. Hough is a quiet, unassuming gen- 
tleman, with no tendency to ostentation or 
display, and while he sometimes entertains his 
friends with descriptions of the countries he has 
visited, his residence so many years in the active 
centres of life and business, has satisfied his 
desire for bustle and excitement, and he now 
12 



has settled down, like Goldsmith's traveler 
returning liome, his remaining years " in ease 
and rest to spend." He has cliosen this Chau- 
tauqua grape region as having more that is 
pleasant and less that is disagreeable for a 
permanent residence than any part of tlie world 
he has visited. 



I^ORMAN BABCOCK.— Thouglits for his 
\ ^ fellow-man, feelings for the needy, aspira- 
tions to be useful, and a determination to win 
deserving and enduring success ; these were the 
materials out of which Norman Babcock built 
his active and honorable life. He was the 
youngest son of Samuel and Polly (Cleveland) 
Babccx*k, and was born at Forestville, in the 
town of Hanover, Chautauqua county, New 
York, April 19, 18.38. Sanniel Babcock was a 
descendant of one of five Babcock brothers, 
who, according to tradition, came over in the 
" Mayflower." He was born at Mansfield, 
Connecticut, October 31, 1793. In 1795 his 
parents removed to Bridgewater, near Wood- 
stock, Vermont, where he was reared and re- 
ceived a good edu(^ation. In early life he came 
to central New York and afl:crwards was en- 
gaged in teaching in Montgomery, Monroe, Al- 
legany and in this county, of wiiich he was one 
of the pioneer teachers. After a resilience of 
some years at Ellington and Forestville he re- 
moved, in 184], to Silver Creek, where he re- 
sided until his sudden death in 1882. In his 
thirty-fourth year he learned cabinet-making in 
wiiieh he soon became a skilled workman. He 
followed making cabinet furniture for several 
years at Silver Creek, after which he resided 
with his children. In 1825 he married Polly 
Cleveland, who was a native of Windsor county, 
Vermont, and died in 1867. Tiieir children 
were: Pamelia, Alpheus (see his sketch), Martha, 
Laura and Norman. Mr. Bal)coek and his 
wife were both members of the Presbyterian 
church. On Sunday afternoon June 11, 1882, 
while takinu; his accustomed walk around the 



232 



BIOGRAPHY AND IIISTOKY 



dejiot, he stepped from the right-hand railroad 
track to let a train j)ass and iu attempting to cross 
the other track was struck and instantly killed 
by a west-bound train. He was a constant 
reader and was well informed in political and 
religious affairs and in jihilosophy and literature. 
He was popular with the employees of the 
Eureka works who attended his funeral iu a 
body and the Silver Creek Local, in an extended 
account of his life said, " He has taught us by 
his sunny temper ' How far the gulf stream of 
our youth may flow into the Arctic regions of 
our lives.' " 

Norman Babcock was reared from four years 
of age at Silver Creek, where he attended the 
public schools and received a good business edu- 
cation. Leaving school he went into his father's 
shop where he first learned to handle tools. He 
afterwards entered the iron foundry of Hawkins 
&GreenIeaf, learned the trade of pattern-maker 
and followed tJiat business for several years, 
during which time he was foreman of a large shop 
in Erie, Pa. In January, 1864, he formed a 
partnership with his brother, Alpheus Babcock, 
who had been engaged for some time in the 
manufacture of a smut and separating machine, 
and whose successive improvements developed 
into the present justly celebrated and widely 
known Eureka smut and separating machine, 
whose history is given in the sketch of the late 
Alpheus Babcock. In July, 1883, Norman 
Babcock withdrew from the firm of Howes, 
Babcock &, Ewell, then owning and operating 
the Eureka Smut Machine works. From that 
time on until his death he was not engaged in 
any line of business. 

On March *J, 1805, he married Ursula Record, 
a native of Cattaraugus county, and a daughter 
of Israel and Mary (Gardner) Record, natives 
of Dutchess county, N. Y. To Norman and 
Ursula Babcock were born two children — Cleve- 
land, born in 1873 and now attending Exeter 
college in New Hampsiiire; and Grace, who was 
born in 1876. Mrs. Babcock still resides in 



her beautiful and well-appointed home at Silver 
Creek, to which is attached sixty-five acres of 
productive land. 

Norman Babcock had served once as president 
of his village but resigned as his time was 
chiefly needed for his work, although he was 
never too busy to assist a friend or relieve the 
distress of the needy. As a meml)er of his firm 
he had special charge of the mechanical depart- 
ment, and like his other partners always favored 
in dull times enougli macliines to keep all the 
hands fully employed. About 1881 he had an 
attack of hemorrhage of the stomach and con- 
tinued in ill-health until Christinas, 1883, when 
a series of hemorrhages commenced which proved 
fatal on the next day at ten o'clock. On the 
succeeding Sabbath his funeral occurred which 
was attended by the employees of the Eureka 
works in a body and after simple but very im- 
pressive funeral rites his remains were entombed 
in Glenwood cemetery. Fitting tributes to his 
memory appeared in the newspapers of western 
New York, one of which said, " Few men have 
ever died whose departure has called forth such 
universal expressions of deep regret, or caused 
so much sorrow iu .so many breasts." One who 
knew him intimately for f"orty years bore testi- 
mony of him in the wish that '" we had more 
like him with as many virtues even if they had 
to have more faults.'' 

The swift-flying years as they grow full- 
orbed and wane and die iu the future, may 
sweep from human sight the sculptured marble 
that stands in memory of Norman Babcock, but 
the mighty and slow-rolling ages of time will 
preserve his name and perpetuate his virtues as 
long as knowledge or memory of Silver Creek 
shall exist in history, or be repeated in tradition. 



T L. THAYER, stands well up in the front 
^ • rank of the prominent business men of 
Chautauqua county, and, although compara- 
tively a young man, has rushed ahead until he 
has reached an eminence of which many an older 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



2;{3 



mau might feel proiul. J. L. Tlia}'fr was born 
in tiie town of Miiia, Cliautaucjna county, New 
York, February Otli, 1851, and is a son of 
Ichabod and Fidelia (La Due) Thayer. The 
former was a native of Milford, Massachusetts, 
while his wife came from this State. Ichabod 
Tiiayer came to the Empire State before the 
first score had been counted in the years of this 
century, and in 1824 he settled in Mina, Chau- 
tauqua county and followed farming until 18()4, 
when he retired and moved to Westfield, where 
he lived until he died in 1888, when he had 
passed his eightieth year. Although not a poli- 
tician, as the word is usually understood, Mr. 
Thayer held many of the town offices and dis- 
charged their duties well. Grandfather La Due '' 
carried French blood in his veins and came to I 
the town of Mina early in its history. He was 
a popular man and was one of its first supervi- 
sors. 

J. L. Thayer spent his early life on a fiirm in 
the town of Mina and completed his education ! 
at the Westfield academy. His fir.st business ' 
experience was clerking during tiie year 18C6 at ' 
Brooklyn, but he staid there le.ss tlian a year and { 
then went to scliooi for about the same length of 
time, afterwards coming to Dunkirk and clerk- 
ing in a store in 18G9. The two succeeding 
years were passed in the emj)loy of B. Feuner, 
at Sherman, and then Mr. Thayer bought an 
interest in his employer's business. Two years 
later he purchased the entire establishment and 
embarked in business for himself. Mr. Thayer 
has added to and enlarged his place until now he 
conducts a double store and carries a line of 
drugs, jewelry, wall-papers and other stock equal 
to the best in the county. One store is sixty- 
five feet deep, the other forty-three. Mr. 
Thayer was active with Mr. Sperry, Mr. C'or- 
bitt and others in establishing the new State 
Bank and he was one of the first village trus- 
tees. 

In 1873 he married Julia E. Horton, who 
came from Erie county, and their union has 



been blessed with two children — one son and 
one daughter : Amos H. and Susie C. 

Politically, J. L. Thayer is a democrat an<l 
has been secretary of the Union .school and 
academy since 1881, which rank well with any 
.school in the county. He is an astute business 
man, a good financier and an agreeable compan- 
ion. No store bears a better reputation than 
his and it but reflects his own private character. 



TOHN GKASIIO is a man who presents in 
^^ himself an example of what can be accom- 
plished by hard work, enei-getic and well di- 
rected efforts and a steady accumulation of sav- 
ings. He was born in that part of the German 
empire known as Prussia, May 28, 18.!7, being 
I a son of Frederick and Loui.sa (Lempky) 
Grasho. Frederick Grasho (father) was a 
native of Germany, born in 1809, and emio-rated 
to America in 1858, locating iu Chautauqua 
county, this State, where he obtained employ- 
ment as a day laborer. He died in April, 1889, 
iu the eightieth year of his age. Frederick 
Gra.sho married Louisa Lempky and by her 
had children. She was born in Germany, in 
1817, and now resides in Hanover, this county. 
John Grasho spent the first two decades of 
his life in his native land, and received an edu- 
cation in the common schools of Baden. In 
1857, during the .second great financial panic 
which agitated America, he came to these 
shores and located temporarily in Erie county, 
this State, where he remained six months. He 
admits an intimate acquaintance with impecu- 
niosity, for lie walked from Buffalo to Hanover, 
this county, because he lacked the nece.ssary 
funds wherewith to pay his fare. Immediately 
on his arrival here in Hanover, he began work 
by the day, then .secured em[)loyment bv the 
month on a farm where he remained about five 
years, and then leased a farm and cultivated it 
on share,s. In 1867 he had accumulated enough 
money to purcha.se a part of the farm he now 
occupies, anil two more payments for additional 



234 



SIOORAPHV AXD IIISTOliY 



portions, made him the owner of one hundred 
and forty-eight acres. Beside this farm he 
owns another comprising ninety-two acres, 
hicated in Hanover Centre. Tiie farm on 
which he resides, is well improved, and a por- 
tion of it is witiiin the corporation boundary of 
Silver creek, which materially enhances its 
value. In addition to his farming operations 
he Iniys immense amounts of hay, which, with 
several tons he cuts on his own land, he sells to 
the stock-yards in Buffalo. He is now in the 
enjoyment of a comfortable bank account, and 
is a successful man. In political matters he is 
a democrat, and in religion is a member of the 
Gerujan Lutheran church. 

John Grasho was married in 18(32 to Minnie 
Loss, of this county, by whom lie lias three 
children, one son and two daughteis : < 'liarles ; 
Kllen, who married C. J. Neuendorf, of Silver 
Creek ; and Lizzie. 



TTIjPHKUS IJABCOt'K, the pioneer of the 

•**- smut machine in modern milling machin- 
ery and the inventor of the celebrated Eureka 
Combined Smutter and Separator, of which 
Simeon Howes is now proprietor, was born in 
Pike, Allegany county, New York, October 
27, 1827, and the oldest sou of Samuel and 
Polly (Cleveland) Bubcock. According to fam- 
ily tradition five Babcock brothers came from 
England in the " Mayflower" and Samuel Bab- 
cock was descended from one of these brothers. 
Samuel Babcock was born at Mansfield, Con- 
necticut, October 31, 1793, was reared and edu- 
(^ated at Bridgewater, Vermont, and became one 
of the pioneer teachers of this county. He re- 
sided at Ellington and Forestville and in li>41 
came to Silver Creek where he followed cabinet 
making for .some years and where he was acci- 
dentally struck and killed by a railway train on 
Sunday, June 11, 1882. Tie was a great reader 
anil an exemplary nienil)er of the Presbyterian 
church and married Polly Cleveland, a native 
of Vermont, who died in 1867. They reared 



a family of five children: Pamelia, Alpheus, 
Martha, Laura and Norman, in whose sketch a 
more extended history of the family is given. 

Alpheus Babcock received a common school 
education and learned the trade of mili-wright 
which he followed for some years. Being of an 
ingenious turn of mind and possessing good in- 
ventive ability, he gave some thought to the 
subject of improving mill machinery while he 
was busily engaged in erecting flouring mills in 
different parts of western New York. In 185-i 
he bought of G. E. Throop the right of the 
Rutter & Rouzer smut cleaning and separating 
machine for nine counties in Pennsylvania. It 
was very imperfect and after souie time spent 
in studying its defects he was enabled to gel up 
a far superior machine for which he obtained a 
patent in 1861 and after several years of suc- 
cessful manufacturing he sold his interest, and 
the machine was afterwards made by Huntley, 
Holcomb & Howes. In January, 1864, he as- 
.sociated his brother Norman with him in the 
manufacture of his machine, and in the follow- 
ing vear Simeon Howes became a partner with 
them and the firui name was changed to Howes, 
Babcock & Co. During 1865 they manufac- 
tured and .sold two hundred machines. On 
January 1, 1866, they took possession of the 
Montgomery machine works which they had 
purchased the preceding fall for twenty thous- 
and dollars. They refitted this wooden estab- 
lishment and used it until 1873, when, to fill 
their increase of orders, larger buildings were 
demanded and a three-story brick building, 
80x110 feet in dimensions, was erected at a 
cost of twenty thousand dollars, besides a large 
and carefully planned foundry. The entire 
plaut w.as now christened " The Eureka 
Works " by which name it has become known 
wherever improved milling machinery is used in 
the civilized world. In the fall of I860 .llbert 
Horton became a partner, but in 1868 sold his 
interest to Carlos Ewell who died in 1887, 
when Mr. Howes purchased the interest of his 




cA4^^ - dJL./i 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



heirs and already having the interests of Alpheus 
and Nonuan Babcock, became, in 1888, tlie sole 
proprietor of the Eureka works. lu 1870 a 
suit for infringement of patent was brought 
against Howes, Babeock & Co., which they suc- 
cessfully contested and won at a cost of eight 
thousand dollars. The result of this suit was 
in the interest of millers and purchasers as 
the Babcocks could have saved all this cost by 
paying a royalty to the prosecuting sharpers and 
then adding it to the price of their machines. 
Another fact deserving of notice in the business 
career of Alpheus Babcock is that the founda- 
tion of Silver Creek's present prosperity was 
laid by the establishment of the Eureka works, 
which is the pioneer of the numerous plants 
that send out thousands of smut and separating 
machines to all parts of the world. During Mr. 
Babcock's connection with these works, the 
force of hands was increased from fourteen to 
sixty-six, the pay-roll went up from eighteen to 
nearly fifty thousand dollars per year, and the 
annual output of machines ran up from hun- 
dreds to thousands. 

In 1867 Alpheus Babcock married Sarah 
Pierce who died some years afterwards and left 
no children. 

The labors of his active and useful life came 
to a close on December 1 1, 1878. His death 
was caused by softening of the brain from over- 
work. His remains were entombed in Gleuwood 
cemetery amid a vast and silent throng wiio 
gathered to witness the last sad rites of one who 
had been deservedly popular in the community 
in which he had resided. Alpheus Babeock has 
aided largely in developing Silver Creek from a 
quiet village into a great manufacturing center, 
where many years of his active life were spent 
in perfecting the machine which will preserve 
his name from oblivion throughout the world as 
long as improved milling machinery is used by 
the human race. 



r r j ILSON S. ANDKUS is of English an- 
^^^^ cestry and he and his father have been 
well-known and highly respected citizens of 
this immediate section for three-cpiarters of a 
century. He is the son of Sylvester and Rachel 
(Harris) Audrus, and was born in the town of 
Portland, Chauhiuqua county, New York, Sep- 
tember 20, 1819. His father was a native of 
Connecticut and married Rachel Harris of Rens- 
selaer county, New York, by whom he had 
eight ciiildren. While a young man be came 
to this county and located near Brocton, 1814, 
where he engaged in farming imtil 1828, with 
the exception of one year (1815) which lie spent 
in Connecticut on account of a severe attack of 
nostalgia. In 1828, he came to the town of 
Hanover, where he followed farming the re- 
mainder of his life and was a very prosperous 
farmer, lie was an old-line whig until the 
agitation of the slavery question, when he 
became a stanch democrat. He was poor- 
master for several years. In religion he was a 
Baptist, being a member and deacon of the first 
church of that denomination organized in Port- 
land. He died in 1805, aged seventy-four 
years. His wife (mother of W. S.) was also a 
consistent member of the Baptist church and 
died in 1883, aged eighty-eight years. 

Wilson S. Audrus was brougiit up on the 
farm and received a common school education. 
He has been engaged in agricultural pursuits 
all his life and, in connection therewith, has 
also handled thousands of feet of lumber, hav- 
ing for five years been in that business in 
Buffalo. He now owns a farm of one hundred 
and twelve acres near the village of Silver 
Creek, and has for sixty-three years lived in 
what is now the village corporation. He 
has been very successful and has accumulated 
a snug fortune. He owns the fir.st mill-stone 
made in this town. It was made from a boul- 
der taken from the hillside about one hundred 
rods from where the first grist-mill was erected 
in 1804, by Abel Cleveland and David Dickin 



238 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



son. It was afterwards used in a mill Iniilt by | 
Thomas Kidder and Nehemiah Heaton in 1806, 
on Walnnt creek, near where the famous great 
black walnut tree stoml, and also on the spot 
where his saw-mill now stands in the south part 
of the village. The stone is still in an excellent 
state of preservation. Mr. Andrus also owns a 
cane, which was made from this black walnut 
tree, from whicii the creek takes its name, and 
which stoo<l on his farm. The tree was blown 
down April 22, 1824. It was twenty-seven 
feet in circumference, nine feet in diameter and 
the lowest limb was seventy feet from the 
ground. Being hollow at the butt, about twelve i 
feet was cut oft' from the lower end and the 
inside worked down and smoothed out, leaving 
a shell four inches thick. A man on horse- 
back rode through it. It was raised on end 
and used for a grocery and on one occasion, for 
a ladies' tea-party. It was sold for two hundreil 
dollars to two men named Roberts and Stearns, 
who lost money by exhibiting it along the Erie 
canal. It was bought by New York city 
parties in 1S26, fitted and splendidly fouruished 
as a drawing-room and proved fairly successful 
as an exhibit. Some idea can be formed of its 
insi<le measurement when it is stated that thirty- 
nine persons standing and fourteen sitting have 
been in its interior at one time. It was sold to 
London parties for three thousand dollars in 
1828, and placed in a museum, where it was 
afterward destroyed by fire. The London 
Liteniry Gazette said that three thousand vol- 
umes could be placed in its interior on shelves 
projecting not more than six inches. Mr. 
Andrus is a straight democrat and has been 
urged several times to accept office, but has de- 
clined. He is the oldest member of the 
Masonic Lodge in Silver Creek. Firm in his 
convictions, withal he is a kindly man and gen- 
erally esteemed. 

Wilson S. Andrus has been married three 
times. In 1844 he espoused Aziibah Trask, of 
Silver Creek, She died, leaving one child, a 



son, the Hon. Leroy Andrus of Buffalo, this 
State. For his second wife, he chose Percy E. 
Tucker, of Silver Creek. His third wife, was 
Mrs. Almena (O'Donaghey) Smith, a daughter 
of William S. O'Donaghey, who came from 
Batavia, Genesee county, this State, to this 
county and was a farmer in the town of Stock- 
ton. He died in Silver Creek in 1878, in his 
eighty-seventh year. He was in his latter years 
a democrat. The present Mrs. Andrus has 
also been married three times. Her first hus- 
band was Tracy Walker of Hartfield, this 
county. And her second Porter B. Smith, of 
Hanover. 



■i^.VVID RUSSELL is a sturdy, self-reliant 
^^ son of the land of Robert Bruce and 
Robert Burns, and has, by his own merits, 
reached the position he now occupies — that of 
superintendent of the largest manufacturing 
establishment in Dunkirk, and one of the largest 
in the State of New York, an estal)lishment 
which emj)loys a thousand men, whose earnings 
are more than twelve thousand dollars a week, 
who.se annual output of various kinds of loco- 
motives and cars is valued at two and a half 
millions of dollars, and the excellency of whose 
work is not surpassed byanyotlier manufactory 
of its kind in the world. 

David Russell was born in St. Andrews, Scot- 
land, May ."{Q, 1S26, and is a son of Thomas 
and Jane (Russell) Rus.scll. His father was a 
native of historic old Edinboro' Town, Scotland, 
and was a tinsmith by trade, which business he 
followed in his native land until his death. He 
was a member of the Scotch Presbyterian church. 
His wife (mother) was a native of St. Andrews, 
and she was born in 1802. She now lives in 
St. Andrews, Scotland, and is a member of the 
Presbyterian church. 

David Russell was reared in his native town 
and received a common school education. After 
leaving school he learned the trade of a machin- 
ist, and has always worked in that useful Indus- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COXjyTY. 



239 



trial pursuit. In 1845 he came across the 
Atlantic to America, aud located iu Paterson, 
New Jersey, where he at ouce secured work. 
Here he remained until 1852, when he came to 
Dunkirk, this county, and went to work as a 
machinist in the Erie railroad shops, and con- 
tinued in their employ until October, 18f)9, when 
H. G. Brooks, the general manager, suddenly 
received an order from the president of the road 
to permanently close the works. Instead of 
doing so, however, he immediately reorganized 
them under the name of the Brooks Locomotive 
Works, with himself as president, and by that 
name they are now known all over the civilized 
world. Mr. Russell entered their employ, and 
was steadily and deservedly promotetl from one 
position to another, going a striile or two each 
time, until he was appointed superintendent, a 
position in which he commands the universal 
respect of the employees and the commendation 
of his employers. Politically he is a republi- 
can, and iu his religious principles is a Scotch 
Presbyterian, of which church he is a member 
and trustee. He is a member of Irondequoit 
lodge, F. & A. M. He is a member of the 
board of water commissioners of Dunkirk and 
also a member of the school board. A man of 
firm convictions and of a kind and generous 
disposition, he is ever ready to devote his best 
efforts in aid of any movement conducive to the 
welfare of his fellow-citizens. He owns a fine 
residence and understands how to get the most 
out of life in a practical and sensible manner. 

David Russell was married, March 15, 1847, 
to Eliza Russell, daughter of James Russell, of 
Montrose, Scotland, and by her has seven chil- 
dren, five sons and two daughters : Thomas, 
James, Mary J., David, George, John and Nellie. 



■T^HOS. A. JONES, a Union veteran of the 
-*- late civil war and a gallant soldier in 
the Army of the Potomac, who was wounded 
at the terrible battle of the Wilderness, where 
in the three days fight. May fifth, sixth and 



seventh, thirty-seven thousand, seven hundred 
and thirty-seven others of the army to which 
he was attached, were either killed, wounded, 
or made prisoner, is a son of Robert and Mary 
(INIanning) Jones and was born May 10, 1845, 
in the village of Westfield, Chautauqua county, 
New York. The Jones family is of English 
extraction, the immediate ancestors upon both 
sides being children of" the mother of the new 
world." Robert Jones was born in England 
about 1800, and came to America about 1825. 
He first located at Lyons, Wayne county, then 
came to We.stfield and then went to Ohio, 
where he died. Upon familiarizing himself 
with our political institutions, he allied himself 
with the republicans and was a factor in local 
politics. In 1820 he married Mary IManning, 
by whom he had eleven children, six of whom 
are still living. Jacob H., entered Co. G, 49th 
regiment New York Infantry, August 17, 1861, 
and was killed Aj)ril 2, 1865, at the storming of 
Petersburg. He served with his regiment all 
through the war and lost his life just one week 
before (ieneral Lee made his final capitulation of 
the Confederate armies under his immediate 
command. The battle in which he fell, while 
not as disastrous to either side as many others, 
was hard fought and fiercely contested, no 
less than three thousand of his comrades at 
arms falling in the struggle, either killed or 
wounded. 

Thomas A. Jones was educated at the com- 
mon schools. When the 49th regiment New 
York Infantry was organized he joined Co. G, 
August 17, 1861, and served until 1864, a total 
of three years and eleven months. Being at- 
tached to the Army of the Potomac he was en- 
gaged in nearly all of the important Ijattles of 
this renowned organization. He was wounded 
the first day of the battle of the Wilderness. 
May 5, 1864, aud was confined to the hospital 
until the following February. Mr. Jones was 
a valiant soldier and made an honorable record. 
Upon returning home at the clo.se of his enlist- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



meat he settled back to farruiiig and lias been 
so engaged ever since. 

On December 17, 1864, T. A. Junes mariied 
]\Iaria I'erdue, a danghter of William Purdue, 
and reared a family of five cliildien : Frances, 
wife of Michael Decker, a Ripley farmer ; Fred 
L.; Addic A., married John Burgen, who tills 
the soil at Northeast, Erie county, Pa, ; Belle 
and Roy A. 

T. A. Jones has been identified with the Re- 
publican party and is now a postmaster at 
South Ripley, receiving his appointment April 
1, 1891. Having served so long and so loyally 
in the Federal army, it is not surprising that 
he is an enthusia.stic member of John Braiden 
Post, No. 488, Grand Army of the Republic, 
which meets at Northeast, Erie county, Pa. 
He is a good citizen and has the confidence and 
esteem of his neighbors and townsmen. 



CHAHT>ES W. 3IORGAN is one of those 
practical, sagacious, enterprising business 
men who constitute a very welcome and import- 
ant factor in the material welfare and progres.s 
of a community, and Jamestown is fortunate in 
possessing such a man. He is a son of Harvey 
and Amy (Crawford) Morgan, and was born in 
Randolph, Cattaraugus county, New York, 
August 12, 1855. Caleb Morgan, (great-grand- 
father) was born July 19, 1740, and died at 
Randolph, Vt., September 9, 1810, in the sev- 
enty-first year of his age. He married Ann 
Brooks, who was born March 18, 1745, and 
died December 11, 1816, by whom he had sev- 
eral children. Rufus Morgan (grandfather) 
was born in Brattleboro, Vt., May 4, 1781, and 
died in Randolph, Vt., October 17, 1827. He 
married Ruth Kibbe, who was born April 9, 
1783, by wliora he had eleven children : Laura, 
born September 5, 1806 ; Maria, born March 
22, 1808 ; Norman, born June 30, 1809 ; Cath- 
erine, born February 23, 1811; Caleb, born 
July 19, 1812; Frederick, born October 12, 
1814; Nancy, born March 12, 1816; Elijah, 



born September 29, 1817; Heman, born Sep- 
tember 2, 1819 ; Harvey (father), born August 
13, 1821 ; and Israel, born February 12, 1825. 
The maternal grandfather, William Crawford, 
was born in Hebron, Washington county, this 
State, April 5, 1798, was a farmer by occupa- 
tion and tiled in Napoli, Cattaraugus county, 
same State, October 27, 1875. He married 
Betsy Shaw, of White Creek, N. Y., by whom 
he had thirteen chihlreu, all of whom were i)orn 
in this State: Susan, born in Hebron, Wash- 
ington county, April 19, 1820, and died in 
Middleburg, Schoharie county, September 12, 
1859; Matilda M., born in Hebron, February 
20, 1822, and died in Napoli, Cattaraugus 
c(junty, October 15, 1880; John, born in Hebron, 
December 10, 1823; Amy (mother), born in 
Hebron, August 30, 1825; William, Jr., born 
in Bethany, Genesee county, August 23, 1827, 
and died in Java, Wyoming county, April 5, 
1849; Harriet, born in Bethany, January 1, 
1829; Phoebe R., born in Bethany, September 
1, 1831 ; James, born in China, Wyoming 
county, July 21, 1833 ; Dolly B., born in China, 
July 2, 1835; Cornelius, born in Java, May 5, 
1 1837 ; Ira, born December 23, 1842, and died 
in Napoli, September 10, 1857 ; Franklin C, 
born in Java, November 3, 1845 ; and Daniel 
S., born in Java, December 26, 1847. Mrs. 
Crawford was born in White Creek, Washing- 
ton county, August 15, 1802,and died in Napoli, 
\ November 4, 1878, both husband and wife being 
in their seventy-seventh year when summoned 
to join the silent majority. Harvey Morgan 
(father) was born in Randolph, Vt., August 13, 
I 1821, and when a young man emigrated to 
Cattaraugus county, this State, and thence to 
Allegany county, where he still resides, having 
1 retired from business, his profession being that 
of a dentist. In politics he is a republican, and 
on June 6, 1844, he married Amy Crawford, 
a daughter of AVilliam Crawford, by whom he 
1 had four children : Henry, born January 3, 
1846, died February 22, 1867, who entered the 




1^jLy^ P??. 



^^^^^iU^ 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



army during the late civil war, was taken pris- 
oner and imprisoned at Cahawba, Alabama, 
during the last eigliteen months of the war, from 
the effects of which incarceration he died shortly 
after his release; Alice, born May 18, 1850, 
married to George T. Berry, had two children, 
Fred. N., born, Dec. 8, 1867 ; and Lewis A., 
born April 14, 1870, who died, and she mar- 
ried for her second husband C. H. Kilburn, who 
is one of the members of the North American 
Photo- Copying Co., of Jamestown ; Charles \V. ; 
and Julia, born Nov. 8, 1857, died Feb. 6, 
18(32. 

Cliarles \y. Morgan was educated in tlie 
common schools of Randolph, this State, sup- 
plemented by a commercial course in Chamber- 
lain Institute, from which he graduated when 
sixteen years of age, and afterward.s accepted a 
position as book-keeper and clerk in a grocery 
store in Randolph, where he remained until 
February, 1874, when he went to Blue Rapids, 
Kansas, and engaged in the grocery business, 
but becoming dissatisfied returned to Randolph 
in the autumn of the same year, taking a posi- 
tion as clerk and book-keej)er in a hardware 
store, where he remained several years. In 
January, 1881, he came to Jamestown and en- 
gaged in the plumbing and steam-heating busi- ; 
ness in which he was very successful. In May, [ 

1885, his health being seriously impaired, he 
sold out and remained inactive until Jamiary, 

1886, when he organized the Maddux Reclining 
Chair Co., which was afterwards reorganized 
under the firm name of Morgan, Maddox & Co., 
and engaged in the manufacture of polished 
centre tables, with wood, marble and plush tops, 
which he also made an emphatic success ; but 
being interested in three laud companies in 
Buffalo, owning twelve lots of valuable real 
estate in Jamestown and a farm of one hundred 
and twenty-five acres in Cattaraugus county, he 
was unable to devote an adequate amount of 
time to the table business and therefore sold out 
his inteix'st in that firm in July, 1890. In 



October of the same year he commenced the 
erection of a large factory to be devoted to the 
manufacture of furniture, the building being 
located midway between the Erie and the Chau- 
tauqua lake railways, and on the bank of the 
Chautauqua lake outlet, a few ro<ls from the 
wharves of the large steamboats, rendering the 
facilities lor receiving material and .shipping 
products unsurpassed. He then organized the 
Morgan Manufacturing ( 'o., as.sociating with 
him L. C. Jagger, thus forming one of the 
strongest practical business firms in western 
New York. Their specialty is the finest grades 
t)f library and parlor tables and their factory, 
which is 50x120 feet and five stories in height, 
with an addition of thirty-one feet tor the boiler, 
engine and dry kiln, is equipped with the mo-st 
modern and best makes of machinery, mostly 
located on the second floor, which is four iuches 
thick and so rigid tliat there is scarcely a tremor 
when all the machinery is in motion. The 
bench work is done on the third floor, the 
tops finished and the tables set up on the fourth 
floor and the frame finishing on the fifth floor. 
Everything has been done to facilitate the busi- 
ness which large practical experience and in- 
genuity could suggest. The firm employs from 
one hundred to one hundred and fifty men, ac- 
cording to the season, and ai'e bound from the 
nature of things, their enterprise and experience 
and their reputation, to achieve a phenomenal 
success. In the winter of 1889-90 Mr. Morgan 
aided in organizing the Tousley Harvester Co., 
of which he is president. 

On May 26, 1875, Mr. Morgan united in 
marriage with Stella, daughter of Tliaddeus 
Cornell, of Randolph, Cattaraugus county, by 
whom he has two children : Ray Hart, born 
March 17, 1876, and Alice Marie, born De- 
cember 11, 1885. 

In politics Mr. Morgan is an independent 
republican and in religion is a member of the 
Indeijendent Congregational church. He is a 
member of Randolph Lodge, No. 448, I. O. O. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



¥., of Randolph ; Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, 
F. and A. M.; Western Sun Cha])ter, No. 67, 
R. A M. ; and Jamestown ('ommandery, No. 61, 
K. T., of Jamestown. Having cared for him- 
self since he was fifteen years of age and accu- 
mulated a handsome property by his own un- 
aided efforts, he may be safely ranked as a most 
successful self-made man, who enjoys the con- 
fidence, respect and esteem of all who know him. 



y^H. ,U>SKI*H C. (IIFFOKD, a successful 
•*^ and one of the oldest dentists of West- 
field, ('hautauqua county, has been successful 
in three widely different kinds of business, ex- 
hibiting a versatility and powers of application 
quite unusual in a single individual. He is a 
son of William and Phiebe (Cornell) Giftbrd, 
and was born in the town of El lery, Chautau- 
qua county, New York, September 18th, 1820. 
His paternal grandfather, Jeremiah Gifford, was 
one of the early settlers of this county, remov- 
ing hither from Washington county, this State, 
and settling on lot No. 23, in the town of Busti, 
where he pursued farming until his death. Wil- 
liam Gifford (father) was a prominent man of 
Chautauqua county ; he was born in Washing- 
ton county in 1797, and came here in 1824, 
settling in the town of Ellery the following 
year, where he engaged in farming and lumber- 
ing. In 1832 he was appointed keeper of the 
poor-house, and held that position until 1841, 
and then movetl to Mayville, where he lived 
until death called him, in 188.'j, when he had 
reached the age of eighty-eight years. He held 
the offices of county superintendent of the poor, 
1840-1843; county treasurer, 1847-56, a pe- 
riod of nine years, and was then elected justice 
of the peace, and held that office for a number 
of years. Originally he was a whig, but after 
the war he voted with the democrats. AVhen a 
young man he became a member of the Method- 
ist church, and throughout his life held many 
offices in that body, being always an active and 
influential member, and making his house the 



temporary home of every traveling preacher. 
He married Phcebe Cornell, of White Creek, 
Washington county, by whom he had five sons: 
Edson, Horace H., (Jeorge W., Joseph C. and 
James. His wife, Phiebe Cornell Gifford, sur- 
vived her husband three years, and died in 
1888, aged eighty-five years. 

Joseph C. Gifford, after receiving his educa- 
tion in the common schools and the Jamestown 
academy, left the farm to engage with his bro- 
ther, Horace H. (Jifford, in the carding and 
cloth dressing business at Panama, this county, 
and they afterward moved to Wrightsville, 
Warren county, Pennsylvania, (if which latter 
place he was a resident for eight years. In 
1852 he came to Westfield and engaged in the 
hardware business; he followed it for four 
years, in the meantime studying dentistry, and 
l)egan to j)racti<'e this profession in 1856, and 
l)y close application to business in a few years 
he succeeded in establishing an extensive prac- 
tice, which he has maintained ever since. In 
religion Dr. Gifford is a member of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church at ^^'estfield, in which body 
he has been recording steward for thirty-nine 
years. Politically he is a democrat, and is a 
member and Past Master of Summit Lodge, 
No. 219, F. and A. M., of Westfield ; he is 
also chaplain and Past High Priest of Westfield 
Chapter Royal Arch Masons. 

Joseph C. Gifford is one of Westfield's best 
citizens in every sense of the word, broad and 

! liberal-minded, kind, genial and generous, fore- 
most in good works and with a large array of 
friends. 

On January 19, 1848, he married Rachel R. 
Messenger, a daughter of Chauncey Messenger, 
of Wrightsville, Warren county. Pa. Their 
oidy child, Clarence, who was a young man of 

I bright promise, died upon the eve of his gradu- 
ation from Amherst College, in 1877, when in 
the twentieth year of his age. His untimely 

I death was a source of great and lasting sorrow 

I to his parents. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



245 



■j^AVID O. SHERMAN, the only sou of 
^^ Merritt and Laura (Barnes) Sherman, 
was born in Westfield, Chautauqua county, New 
York, May 7tli, 1833. His grandfather was 
Abram S. Slierman, a native of Albany county, 
this State. From tliere he went to Cayuga 
county, and then came to Chautauqua at an 
early date, where he followed farming and be- 
came prosperous. He affiliated with the Whig 
party, which at that time was dominant. He 
married and reared a family of six sons and 
two daughters. Merritt Sherman was born 
during his parent.s sojourn in Cayuga county. 
He learned farming and followed it tiirough life. 
He came to Chautauqua county and settled, and 
lived for a number of years, but died in James- 
town in 1891. His sympathies and votes were 
cast with the followers of Hamilton, but he 
refrained from active political life. He mar- 
ried Laura Barnes, a daughter of John Barnes, 
who lived at Ashville, Harmony P. O., this 
county. They were the parents of three chil- 
dren, two daughters and one son. One daugh- 
ter married W. W. Eddy, and lives at James- 
town, N. Y. ; the second sister married Samuel 
Cowing, and resides at Lakewood, N. Y. 

David O. Sherman, the subject of our sketch, 
was reared on the farm and passed his early 
days in the usual manner which country boys 
do. The public schools, that bulwark of the 
nation's safety, furnished him an education 
which has stood him in good stead throughout 
his long and honorable life. In April, 1857, 
he married for his first wife Miss Amanda 
Currier, who was a native of Arcade, Wyoming 
county, this State, and after her death lie mar- 
ried Mrs. Carrie (Bailey) Sabin, a daughter of 
Gambriel Bailey, of Hadden, Conn., who died 
in Holyoke, Mass., in 182(5. He was a shoe- 
maker by trade, at which he worked in connec- 
tion with his farming. Politically Mr. Bailey 
was a Connecticut democrat and married Lucy 
Phelps. They reared a family of nine children, 
two sons and seven daughters. Mrs. Sherman 



has been three times married : first to Hector 
L. Bodwell ; second to David Sal)iii, by whom 
she had one daughter, Nettie, now the wife of 
Martin Harrington, a farmer in the town of 
Ripley ; and last to David O. Sherman, ou 
September 25th, 188!». Mr. and Mrs. Sherman 
have a very happy and pleasant home. He is 
courteous, hospitable and generous, and a man 
of well-known integrity both in public and 
private life. 

For twenty years he was in mercantile life at 
No. 207 Main Street, Buffalo, in the wholesale 
grocery trade, and for the same length of time 
at other places. He established himself in 
Buffalo in 1857, and remained until the year 
following the nation's Centennial of Indepen- 
dence. 



/^•HAKLES N. WILCOX, was born in 
^^ Charlotte, Chautauqua county, New Y'ork, 
October 2, 1851, and is a son of Elisha and 
Caroline (Barnum) Wilcox. His paternal 
grandfather, Samuel Wilcox, was born in 
Chenango county, New York, and at an early 
age he learned the trade of mill-wright and 
worked at it until 1830, when he moved to 
this county, and .settled in the town of Char- 
lotte, where he bought a farm, which he culti- 
vated in connection witli his trade until 1840, 
in which year he went to Kentucky to build a 
mill, where, in a short time, he died. He was 
married to Amanda Savage and had eight 
children, five sons and three daughters : Alonzo ; 
Eliab; Joseph; Elisha (father) ; Louis; Abi- 
gail, who married first. Freeman L. Link, then 
Charles Rijjley ; Louisa, married Morgan Link ; 
and Amanda, who married Albert Warner. 
Mrs. Wilcox died in 1849, aged fifty-five years. 
The maternal grandfather of C. N. Wilcox was 
Eliakim Barnum, who was born in Chenango 
county. New York, in 1800 and in 181(5 came 
to this county and .settled in the so-called 
" Pickett District " in Charlotte, being one of 
the first settlers in that town. The original 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Barnuras of America came from England. Two 
brothers were stolen, placed on board a man-of- 
war and sent to Yiro;inia, and from these sprang 
the family. Phiueas T. Barnum, the famous 
showman, was a relative of Eliakim Barnum, 
who bought one hundred and fifty acres of land 
in the Pickett district, cultivated it for thirty 
years and sold it to his son. His grandson, 
Charles H. Barnum, now owns the place. 
Eliakim Barnum was considerable of a specula- 
tor in real estate and made large sums of 
money. He died April 25,1875, and Mrs. Bar- 
num died in February, 1878, aged seventy-seven 
years. He was married in 1824 to Sophia 
Underwood and by her had five children, three 
.sons and two daughters : Eliab ; Noah ; Charles ; 
Caroline (mother) ; and Mary, who married 
Brainard Kappell. Elisiia Wilcox (father) was 
born in Chenango county, this State, September 
15, 1827, and came with iiis parents to this 
county, in 1830, settling in Charlotte. He 
worked on his father's farm until he was four- 
teen years old, when his father died and the 
farm was sold April 1, 1851 ; when he was 
twenty-four years of age he bought a farm of 
oue hundred and twenty-one acres in the Pickett 
district in Charlotte, and lived there until 1871, 
when he moved to Pomfret, where he bought a 
farm of fifty-nine acres, lived on it eighteen 
years and then moved to Cassadaga and iiought 
a house and lot, where he now resides. In re- 
ligion he is a member of the Christian church 
at Arkwright, of which he was trustee sevei'al 
years. Elisha AVilcox was married December 
22, 1850, to Caroline Barnum ; by her he had 
two sons, Elisha and George O., the latter being 
a merchant in Cherry Creek, this county, who 
married first, Lizzie Todd and second, Mira 
Hartley, and has two children. Both parents i 
are still living. 

Charles N. Wilcox was educated in the dis- 
trict schools of Charlotte, until he was eighteen 
years of age, when he entered the State Normal 
school at Fredouia for a term, after which, he 



taught school for one terra. After his marriage 
he settled on his father's farm in Charlotte, 
where he lived four years and then moved to 
Cassadaga, and bought a half interest in the 
hardware store of C. S. Shepard, with whom he 
remained a year, when he bought him out and 
has since coutimied the business, carrying four 
thousand dollars worth of stock on an average, 
and having a patronage of twelve thousand dol- 
lars a year. He has a general line of hard and 
tin-ware, stoves and everything one would ex- 
pect to find in a fir.st-cla.ss hardware store. As 
a secret society man, he is a member and W. M. 
of Sylvan Lodge, No. 303, F. and A. M. of 
Sinclairville, and a charter member of Cassa- 
daga Lake Lodge, No. 28, A. O. U. AV. of 
Cassadaga. 

Charles N. AA'ilcox was married to Alice 
Sears, a daughter of Lyman and Anna (Pier- 
pout) Sears, the father being a farmer in Gerry, 
this county, whither he came from Franklin 
county, Massachusetts, in 1868. By this union 
there has been one .son, Ernest H., who is now 
in .school. 



HON. IA)RENZO MORKIS, a prominent 
lawyer of Fredonia and an (;x-State 
senator of New York, was born in Madison 
county, New York, August 14, 1817, and is a 
son of David and Abigail (Blodgett) Morris. 
David Morris and his wife were both natives of 
New England, and settled in the town of Chau- 
tauqua, this county, in 1829. After some years 
they removed to Sherman, where Mr. Morris 
die<l in 1868, aged seventy-seven 3'ears. His 
wife passed away in 1873, at eighty years of 
age. 

Lorenzo Morris attended the common .schools, 
then entered the old Mayville academy, from 
which he was graduated in 1836, and was after- 
wards engaged in teaching for a few years. In 
1837 he turned his attention to the study of law, 
and read for two j'ears with Hon. Thomas A. 
Osborne, oue of the five judges of which the 



OF CHAUTAVQUA COUNTY. 



court of common pleas of Chautauqua county 
then consisted. In 1840 he went to Jamestown 
where he read for one year witli Judge Cooke, 
and after being admitted to practice in tlie court 
of common pleas became a partner of his pre- 
ceptor. The law then required seven years of 
practice as a requisite for admission as an attor- 
ney before the supreme court of the State, but 
made a reduction of time in favor of those who 
liad pursued classical studies, and Mr. Morris 
having a certificate of a classical course of read- 
ing, was admitted as an attorney of the supreme 
court in 1844, at the end of only three years 
practice in the lower courts. In the same year 
he removed to Mayville and practiced until 
1852, when he came to Fredonia where he has 
been in active and successful practice ever since. 
In 1838 he was commissioned by Cov. William 
H. Seward as lieutenant-colonel of the 207th 
regiment, N. Y. militia, in wliieh he had served 
as adjutant. He was elected coloucl during the 
next year and commanded the regiment until 
1842, when he resigned. 

On October 5, 1843, he married Fannie E. 
Strong, daughter of Walter Strong, an early 
.settler and prominent citizen of the town of 
Westfield. She died June 2, 1873, and left 
three children : Mrs. Ellen M. Rus.sel, Mrs. S. 
H. Albro, and Walter D. Morris, cashier of the 
Citizens Bank of Watertown, South Dakota. 
On May 28, 1885, he united in marriage with 
Mrs. Marian H. (Hovey) Stillmau, of Fretlonia. 

In politics Senator Morris is an old-time 
democrat who is opposed to measures antago- 
nistic to the principles of Jefferson and Jackson. 
He was appointed in 1871 as one of the trustees 
of the asylum for the in.sane at Buffalo, which 
position he resigned in 1875. His political 
career commenced in 1867, when he was nomi- 
nated by his party as their candidate for State 
senator in the twenty-sixth district, composed of 
the counties of Cattaraugus and Chautauqua. 
Although the district was largely republican, 
yet he was elected by two hundred and three 



majority over his two republican competitors, 
and served creditably in the State Senate during 
its session of 1868-69. In 1872 he was a 
member of the convention which met that year 
in Albany to revise the State constitution. 
Senator Morris has always taken great interest 
in the common schools and all general matters 
of public improvement. While serving in the 
State Senate he procured the abolition of the 
local board of managers of the Fredonia Normal 
school, the school having closed for want of 
harmony, and placed the school under the con- 
trol of the State superintendent until 1873, 
when he was made president of a new board of 
trustees which has been harmonious and the 
school prosperous, and is now justly recognized 
as one of the best of the normal schools in the 
State. 



TA>^ILI.IAl\r UIM)AI)HKA1> was born in 
^^ Thornton, Yorkshire, England, Febru- 
ary 17, 181!l. While still a lad he was appren- 
ticed for a year to learn the trade of a weaver. 
At the entl of that year he began working in 
the smithy with his father, and cuntinued with 
him until he Itecame of age. 

Ill January, 1843, being dissatisfied witii his 
prospects in England, he emigrated to America, 
going first to Busti, where his uncle, the Rev. 
John Broadhead, was living. Seeing that 
Jamestown offered a much more favorable open- 
ing to a young man, he souglit em})loyment 
there and found it in the shop of Saftbrd Eddy. 
But he was too ambitious to remain a dav 
laborer long. Ever on t!ie lookout for some- 
thing more profitable, he soon found the oppor- 
tunity of forming a partnership with Adam 
C'obb, whose daughter Lucy lie had married in 
1845. The firm of Cobb & Broadhead, scythe 
snath manufacturers, continued in existence for 
nine years, and was then dissolved, Mr. Cobb 
continuing in the manufacture of snaths and 
grain cradles and Mr. Broadhead in that of 
axes and forks. 



250 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



When his eldest son, Shelden, was about 
twenty years old, Mr. Broadhead opened a 
clothing store, taking this son into partnership 
with him, and a few years later he gave his 
younger son, Almet, an interest in the business. 
Under the firm-name of William Broadhead & 
Sons their business increased rapidly, until they 
soon had the largest merchant tailoring estab- 
lishment in Jamestown or the surrounding 
country. 

In 1872, Mr. Broadhead, accompanied by 
his wife and eldest daughter, visited his native 
home. Great changes had taken- place dur- 
ing his thirty years absence, especially in the 
neighboring city of Bradford, which had be- 
come the centre of the worsted manufactur- 
ing interests in England. His early interest, 
awakened when as a boy he learned to weave 
at a hand-loom, was now re-kiudled by the 
signs of prosjierity and success due to these 
mills. He returned to Jamestown thoroughly 
imbued with the idea that the establishment 
of a mill for the manufacture of dress goods 
in Jamestown, was feasible and would be most 
beneficial to the town as well as profitable to 
the owners. While he had by industry, eco- 
nomical habits, close attention to business and 
successful investments in real estate acquired 
a considerable sum, he felt that so large an 
undertiiking demanded more money than he 
could personally command, and so he set about 
to interest some of his moneyed townsmen in 
his project. The result of his efforts was the 
formation of the firm of Hall, Broadhead & 
Turner ; Mr. William Hall to assist him in 
furnishing the money, and Mr. Joseph Turner, 
of England, who had had some experience in 
the business. 

The alpaca mill erected by the firm in 
1873, continued for one year and a half to be 
owned by them, and then Mr. Broadhead 
withdrew. A short time afterward he erected 
another mill, for the manufacture of simi- 
lar cloths, this time having for partners his 



two sons. When the business was well es- 
tablished, William Broadhead & Sons disposed 
of their cl(»thing store and turned their entire 
attention to the manufacture of ladies' dress 
goods. The mills have been enlarged from 
time to time as the business demanded. 

Early in the spring of 1880 Mr. Broad- 
head again visited England for the purpose 
of buying some of the late.st improved ma- 
chinery for his mills. 

The mills in llieir present condition con- 
sist of six large buildings, covering about 
four acres and giving employment to seven 
hundred operatives. Their salesmen traverse 
nearly every State and territory in the Union, 
and such is the reputation of their goods that 
it is at times difficult to supply the de- 
mand. 

As Mr. Broadhead foresaw, these mills have 
contributed immeasurably to the growth and 
prosperity of the city. Much of the steady in- 
crease in population is due to their continued 
demand for skilled workmen. The good wages 
and constant emj)loyment have attracted hither 
family after fixmily of intelligent and industri- 
ous English peojile, who have proved them- 
.selves mo.st acceptxible citizens. 

Mr. Broadhead is politically an ardent re- 
publican and a strong protectionist, believing 
that policy to be even more necessary for the 
welfare of his employees than for himself 

In his native town Mr. Broadhead was a 
member of the Wesleyan Methodist church and 
a superintendent in its Sabl)ath .school. On 
settling in Jamestown, he joined the Methodi.st 
Epi.scopal church as the denomination nearest 
like the Wesleyan. Before the war, when the 
Methodist church was divideil on the subject of 
slavery, quite a lumiber of abolitionists, among 
them Mr. Broadhead, left the Methodist church 
and formed a Wesleyan organization which 
continued in existence until 1862, when the 
church building was destroyed by fire. Since 
then Mr. Broadhead has been an active member 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



of the First Congregational church, contribut- 
ing liberally to its support. 

To William and Lucy Broadhead six chil- 
dren have been liorn : Sheldon Brady, associ- 
ated with Mr. Broadhead in business, who was 
married in 1870 to Mary Woodworth ; Her- 
wood, who died at the age of seven years ; 
Almet Norval, also a partner with his father, 
who was married in 1886 to Margaret Allen 
Bradshaw ; Mary T., who married Adna H. 
Reynolds and now resides in Tacoma, Wash- 
ington : Stella Florine; and Mertie M., wiio re- 
side with their parents. 



^ARL<;),S EVVELL. One of the foremost 
^^ business men in the village of Silver 
Creek at the time of his death was Carlos Ewell, 
who was born in Middlebury, Wyomiug county, 
New York, in 1833, and died at his home in 
Silver Creek about noon on the 27tli day of 
October, 1887. 

On the 10th day of January, 1856, he mar- 
ried Auuette Wilson, of Wyoming county, and 
the union resulted in a family of tiiree ciiiidren; 
Mrs. George Moore resides in Fredonia; Ernest 
graduated at the Buifalo Medical University 
and is practicing in that city ; and Jo.sephine, a 
miss now six years of age. 

Carlos Ewell came to Silver Creek in 1866 
and bought a one-fourth interest in the manu- 
facturing establishment of Howes, Babeock & 
Co., and the style of the firm was changed to 
Howes, Babeock & Ewell ; later Mr. Babeock 
retired and the house was known as Howes & 
Ewell. During the first ten years of his con- 
nection with this company Mr. Ewell became 
quite prominent in local politics, but in 1877 he 
was severely attacked with nervous prostration, 
which entirely unfitted him for business of any 
kind for a period of six years, when he seemed 
to secure a new lease of health and from tJiat 
date until his death he was apparently on the high- 
way of longevity ; and he again assumed the ar- 
duous duties of purchaser and general overseer of 



the works that had grown to lai-ge proportions 
and in which he had acquired a Jialf interest. 
He applied himself diligently to business, in 
fact too cldsely, and it was not long before his 
kidney trouble again displayed its presence and 
soon develoiH'd into acute Brigiit's di-sease, which 
compelled liiui to abandon, one after tiie other, 
the duties he had been accustomed to perform 
until exhausted vitality gave way and his life 
expired. Carlos Ewell was a man of positive 
character, as exacting in his requirements upon 
those whom he euiployed as he was rigid in the 
discharge of those duties that he himself was 
expected to perform, yet he possessed the faculty 
of commanding the respectful attachment of his 
employees, and withal was popular with his 
men, neighbors and fellow-townsmen. By his 
untiring attention to busine.ss, although so many 
years compelled to relinquish its active superin- 
tendence, he .secured a substantial fortune. So- 
cial pleasures had but small attraction for him, 
his chief happiness appearing to centre in his 
business and his family. Alter his decease his 
interest in the machinery factory, then known as 
the Eureka works, was disposed of to his for- 
mer associate, Simeon Howes, who .still contin- 
ues the business. 

For fifteen years Mr. Ewell was a uiember of 
the Presbyterian cluirch and was a liberal con- 
tributor to its support. In 1882 he erected at 
Silver Creek one of the finest residences in 
Chautauqua county, a model of convenience and 
architectural beauty, in which his widow, who 
has since married Cilbert B. Brewster, now re- 
sides. Mr. Brewster was formerly of Addison, 
New York. He was born in Elmira, Chemung 
county, New York, in 1828, removing to Ad- 
dison in 1845. Mr. Brew'ster has been engaged 
in various business enterprises in Addison but 
has now retired from active business and resides 
in Silver Creek. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



FREDERICK A. FULLER, an old and j 
well-known citizeu of Jamestown, who 
has l)een identified with the progress and pros- 
perity of that thriving city for over fifty 
years, is a son of Fretlerick A. and llaciiel 
(Gordon) Fuller, and was born in Rutland, 
Vermont, May 24, 1813. Frederick A. Fuller, 
is a lineal descendant of Dr. Samuel Fuller, 
who was one of the "Pilgrim Fathers," who 
came over in the Mayflower and who was one 
of the signers on board of that historic bark of 
the immortal civil compact of the Puritans, the 
oldest as well as one of the noblest written con- 
stitutions of the new world. Dr. Fuller was 
the grandfather of Ebenezer Fuller of Ply- 
mouth, whose son, Ebenezer Fuller, Jr., was 
born in 1695, and died in 1759. He settled in 
1731, at Hebron, Connecticut, where his farm 
is still in the hands of his descendants. He 
married Joanna Gray and had one child, Eben- 
ezer Fuller (great-grandfather), who was born 
September 25, 1715, in Massachusetts and died 
at Hebron. He married, on September 30, 
1 738, Mary Rowley, by whom he had four sons 
and two daughters. One of tiiese sons, Roger 
Fuller (grand fatiicr), was born September 25, 
1773, and died September 24, 1819. He was 
a farmer, lived on the home farm at Hebron and 
was married four times. His wives were 
Martha Phelps, by whom he had five sons and 
four daughtei's ; Violetta Taylor, who bore him 
one son and two daughters ; Louisa Taylor and 
Louisa Kenney. The third son by the first 
marriage was Frederick A. Fuller (father), who 
was born in Tolland county. Conn., March 1, 
1775, and removed to Rutland, Vermont, 
where he was a successful merchant and where 
he died July 20, 1832. He was a federalist 
and whig, married January 20, 1811. Rachel 
Gordon and reared a family of five children : 
Samuel G., born in 1811, and lost on "The 
Home" on his return to Charleston, S. C, 
where he was a merchant ; Frederick A., Frank, 
born May 20, 1815; Dudley B. ; and Mary 



Ann. Mrs. Fuller, who died in Jamestown, 

October 28, 1856, was a daughter of Capt. 
Samuel Gordon, a Revolutionary officer, who 
was at Yorktown and afterwards commanded a 
company in the war of 1812. He died at Troy, 
this State, aged ninety-four and was a son of 
John Gordon, who came from Scotland to 
America as a British soldier in the Frendi and 
Indian war, and afterwards settled at Belch- 
town, Conn, where he died. He had four 
children, one son and three (laughters. 

Fretlerick A. Fuller received a common 
school education at Rutland, Vermont, where 
he learned the jewelry business witii Benjamin 
Lord. After an apprenticeship of five years he 
went to New York city, where he was employed 
for three yea i-s in the jewelry establishment of 
H. & D. Tarbox. In 1836 he returned to 
Rutland where he remained three years. He 
then returned to this State, and in July, 1841, 
came to Jamestown, where for forty j'eai"s he 
conducted one of the leading jewelry houses of 
western New York. In 1881 he transferred 
his jewelry business to his eldest son, Frederick 
A. Fuller, Jr., in order to retire from active 
life. He has been a member of the First Pres- 
byterian church of Jamestown since 1857, and 
is a republican in politics. 

At Rutland, Vt., on June 19, 1838, he married 
Emily Rathbone, who was a daughter of ^yaite 
and Betsy Rathbone, of Tinmouth, Vt., where 
Mr. Rathbone was a prominent iron manufac- 
turer. Mrs. Fuller died February 5, 1886, and 
on October 3, 1890, Mr. Fuller married Mrs. 
Martha B. Marsh, daughter of Dr. Boyer, of 
Clarendon, Vt. By his first marriage Mr. 
Fuller had four children : Frederick A., Jr. ; 
Dr. Dudley B., born Marcii 10, 1848, served 
throughout the last war as an assistant surgeon 
and died in 1889, at San Quentin, California, 
where he had practiced medicine from 1866 ; 
William Rathbone, born February 1, 1843; 
and Dr. Charles Gordon, who was born August 
7, 1856, graduated from a medical college in 




§Ti<i)^oJ&lixfV- 



OF (■n.\fT.\r(,ir.\ county. 



Chicago, then took a full foiirso at a loading 
medical college in New York and is now a 
practicing physician of the former city. 

Hon. Frederick A. Fuller, Jr., the eldest son, 
antl a prominent democrat of western New 
York, was horn in Rutland, Vermont, April 
10, 1839, but was reare<l at Jamestown wliere 
he received his education iu the academy of that 
place and (hen learned the trade of jeweler 
with his fatiicr, witii wlmiu he remained in 
business from 1857 to 1<S6(). He then went to 
New York city, where he was engaged for nine 
years in importing and in doing a jolibing busi- 
ness in diamonds and fine watches. In 1881 he 
returned to Jamestown and l>ecame proprietor 
of his father's large and important jewelry 
establishment which he has coudncted success- 
fully ever since. On May 24, 1800, he married 
Cornelia I^ndlow Benedict, of Brooklyn, a 
daughter of Roswell S. Benedict, formerly 
senior member of the old and well-known shoe 
mannflietin-ing firm of Benedict, Hall A: Co., of 
New York city, and a member of the Fnglish 
Benedict family of (Janaan, Conn., which came 
to Brooklyn in an early day and is one of the 
old families of that city. Mr. Benedi<'t is one of 
the original mend)ers of Plymoutii chiirch, 
whose iiiHuence has been National in txifut and 
character. To Mr. and Mrs. l''nllcr have Ixi-n 
born three sons: Koswell Se\inonr and ('lif 
ford Rathbone, born in Brooklvn, August I, 
1871, and February 17, 1.S7;!; and (iordon 
Carter, l)c>rn irr .lamestown, August 3, 18S4. 
He and his wife are members of the Fii-st 
Presbytei-ian church. He is a member of Mt. 
Moriah Lodge, No. 14i3, F. & A. M., and a 
director of the City National Bank of James- 
town, and the Rochester Mutual Relief society. 
Frederick A. Fuller, Jr., has always been a 
democrat in politics, is serving his third con- 
secutive term as a member of the board of edu- 
cation and has frequently been a delegate to 
Democratic State conventions. In 1884 he was 
elected as the Cleveland and Hendricks presi- 



dential elector rejjresenting the 'rhirlv-fnurth 
Congressional District, composed of the eouii- 
ties of Chautauqua, Allegany ami Cattaraugus. 
At the meeting of the Electoral College held at 
the Capitol in the City of Albany, on tlii' third 
day of December, 1,S,S4, Mr. Fuller, with 
Hon. Erastus Corning, of .Albanv, xvcre ap- 
pointed the special messengers to eouvev the 
sealed Electoral vote of the State of Xew York, 
for President and Vice President of the iriiiie<| 
States to the seat of government. 



JQSHBILL K. <'ATIJN'. Among the gen- 
•*■" tlernen of the old school who have adopted 
and put in active practice the modern method 
of transacting an honorable and legitimate busi- 
ness Jamestown is proud to number the gentle- 
man whose honored name stands at the head of 
this tribute to his successful cai-eer. He sprang 
from an honest, rugged, hard-working, honored 
and honorable ancestry, who were em-olled in the 
ranks of that first of man's vocations — tillei's of 
the soil. He was liorn in North HikIsoii 
Kssex county, New 'idrk, .lid\' 7, lsi*7, when 
Taurus was in the midst of his reign among 
the planetary orbits, and is a son of Linus and 
Sabrina (Jones) ( 'atlin. J lis grandl'alhcr, Theiaii 
(!atlin, was a native of \'ermont, but duiine 
his early manhood he removed to and purchased 
a farm in Wyoming <'omity, Pa., and there s|)enl 
the remainder of his life. He marrie(i and 
was blessed with eight (children four sons and 
four daughters. I'eltiah Jones (maternal grand- 
father) was born in Schroon, Essex eountv, this 
State, where after reaching man's estate, he 
bought a farm, married, reared a family of 
children, tilled the earth, led an honest, healthv, 
hap[)y life, and obeyed, without a murnun-, the 
sununons to join the silent, majoritv. Linus 
Catlin (father) was a native of Vermont and 
was born in 1 7!)!), almost at the very i)lnsh of the 
dawn of the nineteenth century — that era w hi<h 
was to witnes.s the most gigantic strides in the 
development of science, art, education and labor, 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



the world had ever seen. When he attained 
Ills majority, he removed to North Hudson, this 
State, where he spent the prime of" his life in 
the vocation of his immediate ancestors, and 
when the pulse slovvefl and the heart beat 
serenely even, he transferred his lares and 
peuates to Jamestown aud there, when he passed 
the nintii decadal point of a centur3''s life, was 
gathered to his fathers. He was a Jacksonian [ 
democrat and was steadfast in the faith. He 
married Sabrina Jones, who bore him one son 
and three daughters, and only the son, Ashbill 
R., survives. 

Ashbill R. Catlin received his education 
mainly in the Jamestown academy, and resolved 
to supply a portion of mankind with more of 
the necessaries of life than did even his ances- 
tors and in pursuance of this determination, he 
opened a grocery store in Jamestown in 1850 
aud has steadily pursued that business to the 
present time, having built up a large and lucra- 
tive trade. He also sells large quantities of 
salt, provisions and grain. He inherited the 
democratic proclivities of his father, tempered 
withal by the softening and broadening influence 
of the generation now asserting itself. 

On November 20th, 1851, Ashbill R. Catlin 
exercised his usually sound judgment, when 
from among the scores of womanly women, he 
chose as his life companion Ruth A. South- 
wick, a daughter of Alwin Southwick, of ' 
Busti, this county. She bore him six chil- ; 
dren, two of whom were early enrolled among 1 
the angels. Of the survivors, Frank L. 
married and resides in Denver, Col., where he is 
a wholesale confection manufacturer ; Ada 
E., wife of John C. Palmer, who is in the oil 
well supply busiuessin Pittsburgh, Pa. ; JohnB., 
mari'ie<l to Maude Steirly, of Jamestown, aud is 
in business with his father ; and Agnes, wife of 
Charles W. Warrington, of Denver, Col., who 
is engaged in the meat aud provision business. 

A. R. Catlin is a relative of George Catlin, 
the famous delineator aud historian of the j 



Indian races of North America, whose books 
are read wherever the English language is 
spoken. 



JOHN ,J. STERNEBERG is a worthy ex- 
^ ample of a stranger in a strange land who 
has by perseverance, sound business methods 
and close application won an enviable position 
for himself. He is a son of John T. and Mary 
C. (Smith) Sterneberg, and was born in Prussia, 
Germany, March 3, 1841. William Sterneberg 
(grandfather) was also a native of the same 
locality, being born and living all his life in a 
house which had been owned and occupied by 
the Sterneberg family for three hundred and 
fifty years. By trade and occupation he was a 
cooper and farmer. He married Johanna Hol- 
liuk, by whom he had six children, two sons 
and four daughters, two of whom came to 
America; also John T's. father, and John W., 
died with cholera in 1850 in Chicago; and sis- 
ter Hannah, also died in Chicago in 1840 with 
cholera. The maternal grandparents and flieir 
ancestors were Hollanders, none of whom, witli 
the single exception of an uncle and aunt, (now 
living in Holland, Michigan,) of John .J., came 
to the United States. This uncle was James 
Smith, who located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin ; 
the aunt Elizabeth (Smith) Bos, eighty-three 
years old ; mother Mary C. (Smith) Sterneberg, 
born October 13, 1811, died December 28, 
1883; John T. Sterneberg (father) was born at 
the old homestead house in Prussia, Germany, 
October 19, 1811, came to America in 1847, 
and after remaining six months in Chicago, 
located in Grandville, seven miles below Grand 
Rapids, Kent county, Michigan, where he 
bought a farm of twenty acres, with a good 
house aud barn and out-buildings on it, and to 
this he added lots in the suburbs of Grandville, 
until he owned si.xty acres, now crossed by two 
railroads. On this farm he lived seventeen 
years and in August, 1862, he came ea.st to 
Buffalo, where he lived oue year, moving thence 



OF CHA UTA U(/ UA ( '0 UMT. 



to Mina, tliis county, wIktc lie died February 
15, 1889. He had been a republican in pol- 
itics from the time he stepped on American 
soil, and in religion was a member of the 
Dutch Reformed church during his early years, 
but later in life became a Baptist. In 18;37, he 
married Mary C. Smitli, by whom he had two 
children : John W., who was born March 24, 
1839, married Christina Terhauer, by whom 
he has had nine children, two of whom are 
dead, and is an extensive farmer of Mina, this 
county ; and John J. 

John J. Sterneberg acquired a common 
school education, but considering the limited 
facilities he then had, sought to expand his 
learning more thoroughly and succeeded so well 
that few of our ado])ted citizens, are better or 
more widely read, and more conversant with 
current and past events. He writes and speaks 
Holland (the Dutch language), and speaks and 
reads German very readily. He learned the 
trade of a carriage-maker at Grand Rapids, 
Michigan. Came to Panama and continued 
to work at it until 1883, when he united with 
it the hardware business and conducted both 
until 1888, in which year he discontinued 
carriage-making and has since devoted his time 
and attention to hardware, cutlery, paints, pict- 
ure-framing and undertaking, having a fine 
trade built up by his own exertions. He is an 
exceptionally good iiusiness man, buying and 
selling for cash, and is affable and .agreeable in 
all his business and social relations. In poli- 
tics he is a republican, has served as excise 
commissioner two terms in Panama, and in re- 
ligion is a memljer of the Baptist church. He 
is also a charter member of Ivodge, No. Tri, 
Ancient Order of United \yorkm('n. 

•John J. Sterneberg was married on Febru- 
ary 21, 1864, to Joanna G. Terhauer, a daugh- 
ter of Henry and Mary (Heller) Terhauer, of 
Mina. This union has been blest with four 
children, two sous and two daughters : Mary, 
wife of Merle D. Powers, a salesman and de- 



livery clerk for a tea house in Jamestown ; and 
H. Romain, P^mma C, and Raymond T., who 
died of diphtheria. Mrs. Sterneberg is a mem- 
ber of the Baptist cluirdi and belongs to the 
Equitable Aid Union. 



/^-HARLES E. Cimii is a s f Charles 

^^ and Eliza (Curfiss) Cobb, and was born 
in Harbour Creek, Erie county, Pennsylvania, 
October 18, 1856. His paternal grandfather, 
Bassett Cobb, was a native of Connecticut, was 
for several years a resident of this county, 
whence he removed to Erie county, Pa , spend- 
ing the balance of his days there, being a farmer 
by occupation, and in politics a whig and later 
a republican. He married and had five sons 
and three daughters. Charles Cobb (father) 
was born on March 3, 1826, mid when a young 
man came to this county and settled in Sinclair- 
ville, town of Charlotte, where he followed the 
o(!cu|)atii)n of a farmer. He served in the array 
one and one-half years during the <^ivil war, 
enlisting in 1S()2. In ]H.',2 he married Eliza 
Curtiss, by whom lie had (wo ciiildren : Ida, 
wife of William McKinley, a farmer in Ash- 
tabula, Ohio ; and CHiarles E. 

Charles E. Cobb was reared on the farm until 
he was nineteen years of age, and received his 
education in the common schools. After leaving 
school he went to the oil regions and worked as 
a contractor in developing the oil territory, for 
a few years owning and operating his own terri- 
tory. He came to Sherman in the spring of 
1 884, and engaged in the lumber manufacturing 
business, purchasing the interest of a Mr. Burns, 
and operated tiie ])lant himself until 18X7, when 
he associated with him as partner William Free- 
man, and during the bu.sy season em])loved 
twenty men, making a specialty of heading, 
staves and fruit barrels, besides all kinds of 
lumber. He also owns some oil-producing prop- 
erty in Butler county. Pa. In politics he is a 
republican, and is a member of the board of 
trustees of Sherman. He is a member oi" Olive 



JllOd I! A I'll Y A yi> IIISTOU Y 



Lodge, No. 575, F. & A. M., and iSluMinaii 
Lodge, No. 45, A. (). U. W. 

Charles E. Cobb united in marriage with 
Kate ^L Russell, a dangliterof Wilber Russell, 
of Cameron county, J'a. This tuiion has \)vm\ 
blest with one daughter : Nina J*>., who was 
born March 2, 18S2. 



OAMUKL N. SWKZKY, a leading member 
^^ of the Farmers' Alliance and a prosperous 
agriculturist of Ripley town, is a son of Daniel 
and Clarissa (Sperry) Swezey, who was born in 
the town of Kussia, Herkimer count}', New 
York, December 26, 1830. Daniel Swezey was a 
native of Long Island, this State, with his 
grandfather; the latter going to Herkimer 
county from his birthplace among tlie very first 
|iioneers. It took tiiem three weeks to make 
the trij) with oxen and carts, and upon their ar- 
rival tiiey were obliged to chop a home out of 
the woods. All of the hardshij)s incident to 
pioneer life were known to them. Before leav- 
ing Long Island, he had married Sarah Beal 
and they reared a t'amily of eight children, five 
sons and three daughters. The maternal grand- 
lather, John Sperry, came from New England. 
Daniel Swezey, Jr., was born on Long Island, 
Christmas day, 1778, and went witli his father 
to Herkimer county, l)ut afterwards came to 
Harmony, this county, in 1836, and died there 
in 1847. He was a singularly successful farmer, 
methodical with his work and careful of all 
things appertaining to his business. He be- 
longed to the Whig [)arty and served in the war 
(.fl812. On December 25, 1805 he inanied 
Clarissa Sperry and reared a large family of 
children, seven sons and .seven daughters, all of 
whom lived to maturity and became good and 
prosperous citizens. 

Samuel N. Swezey was given a superior 
education at the district schools and the 
academy, and upon leaving them he spent a 
number of years in teaching, being very suc- 
cessful in this work. He finallv decided to 



adopt farming and began in Harmony, l)ut 
changed his residcMice to Rii)ley, where he now 
lives and owns three hundred and twenty-eight 
acres of good farming land all in doc boily. 
When tr<j(ips were needed to suppress the lie- 
licllion he was drawn, but on account of physi- 
cal disability was unable to .serve. It is on 
this account tliat we cannot record any military 
history under his name. He is a sharp, shrewd 
and sagacious business man who.se ability is 
recognized by his farmer a.ssociates. 

On October 6, 1857, he married Sai'ali Shel- 
don, a daughter of David Sheldon, of Kipley 
town, this county, and they have four childi'cn : 
Sheldon, living at home ; Flora, Ida and Alice. 

Politically Mr. Swezey now favors the pro- 
hibitionists, although formerly a republican and 
has .served a number of years in local offices. 
As one of a committee of three, he has suc- 
ceeded in .securing a post office, to be known as 
Sheldon's Corners, of which he is postmaster, 
the office being in his house. Mr. Swezey is a 
member of the Farmi'rs" Alliauce and is its 
agent for their mer(;han<lize business iu the 
town of Ripley. 

" "PVERGREEN CEMETEIJY, although 

-'■^ situated near a little country village, is 
one of the most beautiful in western New 
York. It lies within the corporate limits of 
the village of Sinclairville, yet its situation is 
such as (o retiie it from the localities around it. 
It oeeu]jies a moderate eminence, which termi- 
nates a tongue of laud that extends nearly across 
the valley of Mill Creek, crowding the waters 
of the stream into a narrow passage. A high 
and precipitous bank forms the southern boun- 
dary of the valley and also the northern limits 
of the cemetery. Mill Creek gathered into a 
pond extends along the base of the bank ; there 
its waters darkly gleam from out the shade ot 
overhanging elms and willows. A steep bank 
bounds the cemetery on the west, along which 
a race, issuing from the pond, extends to an 



OF CHAVr.WQVA COUXTY. 



ancient grist-mill. A .siiarp tlcclivity substan- 
tially marks its southern limit. The cemetery 
is accessible, without himlrauce, from tiie east, 
where a village street lies between it and the 
jjleasant fields beyond. 

"It would be difficult to choose a burial place 
so convenient of access, with such interesting 
surrounding.s, and at tiie same time a place of 
retireinenf .so well suited to its sober uses. The 
wild gorge, |)artly hidden by twisted birches 
and ragged hemlocks; the pond, dimly .seen 
down deep iu its shadows ; the .stream, the 
bridge that spans it, and the old mill are pleas- 
ing objects, in harmony with the peace and re- 
pose that pervades this abode of the dead. On 
every side are green fields and gently rising- 
hills. As you look northward tluough foliage 
that fringes this border of the cemetery you 
have glimpses of the narrow, winding vallev of 
Mill Creek, skirted ^^■ith leafy venlure, leading 
to the dimly visible and fin- away hills that 
tiverlook Lake Erie. Southward, and near at 
hand, lies the pleasant village ; its handsome 
academy flanked by church .spires; its clean 
yards and painted hou.scs among shadows of 
maples and elms. Beyond the village are mea- 
dows and pastures. There the valley broadens 
away to the southwest, until the distant Ellery 
hills bound the view. | 

" In themid.st of verdant fields and inviting 
scenes like this, it is proper to consecrate the 
spot where the living may meet the dead and 
soothe our grief at the loss of friends, by laving 
them to rest in plea.sant places." 

jM KLSON BTTLKR was a pioneer tailor and 
\ ^ clothing dealer of Jamestown, and was 
identified with her earliest .secret .societies. He 
was a sou of James and Nancy (Ward) Butler 
and was born at Laona, this county, August 2, 
1818, and died in the city of Jamestown, Feb- 
ruary 12, 1857. His fiither, James Butler, was 
a native of Massachusetts and came from there 
to Laona, New York, and from there to James- 



town, where he died. He followed farming as 
a means of gaining a livelihood for himself and 
family, and in politics was a whig. While in 
the prime of life he married Nancy Ward, who 
joined the Baptist church and was a lifelong 
member. The result of this union was eight 
children — five sons and three daughters. 

Nelson Butler was educated in the common 
schools and at the age of sixteen years he was 
apprenticed to learn tailoring, which he followed 
for a number of years, and also conducted a 
clothing-hou.se in this city. Politically he was 
a republican and was a.ssociated with the Meth- 
odist church until he joined the Ma.sons, when, 
the popular feeling being opposed to secret so- 
cieties, he relinquished his membership in the 
church. He was attached to the New York 
State Militia and belonged to Mount Moriah 
Lodge, No. 145, F. and A. M., in which he at- 
tained the degree of Master Mason. He was 
one of the incorporators of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows at Jamestown and at- 
tained some prominence iu that oider. 

July 3, 1 839, he married Mary A. Story, a 
daughter of Elisha Story, and by this union 
became the father of seven daughters — Nancy 
A., dead ; Adelaide N., married to Allan Smith, 
a miller, living at Boone, Iowa ; Agues M. is a 
fiori.st and resides at home; Evelyn is the wife 
of Irving Ells, a profe.ssional book-keeper in 
the employ of Benjamin Moore & Co., whole- 
.sale dealers in paints and calciminingat Brook- 
lyn, New York; Arabella, dead; Mary E., a 
(■ompositor in the office of the Jamestown Journal; 
and Sophie D., also a florist, living at home. 

Nelson Butler was a man of the strictest in- 
tegrity and un([uestionable morals. His repu- 
tati(jn and private character were untarnished 
and he i)as.scd into that better world as unblem- 
ished as may be approached by man. He was 
a kind father and his memory is cherished with 
unal)ated love by his family still surviving. 

One of his distinguishing characteristics was 
his kindness to the poor. No one asking him 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



for lielp ever was turned away without a kind 
word and generous gifts. 



"PLLIS FINK, manager of the well-known 
■■■^ Star clotiiing house and gents' furnisiiing 
store at No. 315 Lyon street, is a son of Alex- 
ander and Eva Fiuk, and was born in Pittsburg, 
Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, December 22, 
l<S5f5. TIk^ father, Alexander Fink, is a native 
of AViina, Russia, and earae to America when a 
young man, locating at Apollo, Armstrong 
county. Pa. He was one of tlie first men to 
run a boat on the old Pennsylvania canal from 
Apollo to Pittsburg. Mr. Fink was the owner 
of the boat. He lived at Apollo until 1849, 
when he removed to Pittsburg, and engaged in 
the retail clothing business until 18(J1. From 
Pitt.sbnrg he went to New York city and estab- 
lished a wholesale clothing house, continuing it 
until 18(59, when he retired from business, and 
moved back to Pittsburg in 1870, where he has 
since resided. Although retired from business 
for over twenty years he is a stockholder in 
several of the Pittsburg banks, and in the 
bridges connecting the city with Allegheny City 
and other suburban points. The Benevolent 
H(»brew society of that city has made him its 
j)resi(lent for several years. He is a republiian, 
and is seventy-five years old. His wife is a 
native of the same Russian province from which 
her husband came, and is seventy-eight vears 
old. 

Ellis Fink was educated in Pittsburg and the 
New York city public schools. Wiien fourteen 
years old he worked in his brother's clothing 
store at the 8moky City, where he remained until 
twenty-two years of age. He then went to 
Colorado, at the time when things were liveliest 
there, and engaged in the mining business near 
Leadville. He stayed two years and made 
several locations, one of which has recently been 
sold by him to ex-Ijieut.-(TOV. H. W. Tabor, of 
Colorado, and Major A. Y. Bohn, of Leadville. 
After his return IVom tlie west he worked for 



his brother uutil 1884, and then went to Buifalo 
and got employment with the large clothing 
house of Altman & Co., where he remained four 
years, and in 1888 came to Dunkirk and opened 
the business which he is still conducting on 
Lyon street. He has a fine trade, does a good 
business, and (arries the largest stock of clothing 
to be found in Dunkirk. The firm name is 
Brown, Friend & Co., the |)artners being Brown 
and Friend, of Butliilo, who are interested in 
one of the largest clothing establishments in the 
country. Mr. Fink is genial ami frank and, 
handling good clothing, holds the trade he 
once secures. 

On October 9, 1888, he married Harriet 
Brown, a daughter of Henry Brown, of Buftalo. 
They have one child, Beatrice, an interesting 
little girl of nearly two years. 

He is a republican, and takes an active interest 
in politics, and it may be said of him that he 
is one of Dunkirk's truly enterprising business 
men. 



mlLLIAM ,7. ( RONYN, M.D., a prom- 
inent and leading physician and sur- 
geon of Dunkirk, and Surgeon-General of the 
(irand Army of the Republic of the State of 
New York in 1885, was born in the province 
of Ontario, Canada, November 15, 1848, and 
is a son of Robert and Margaret Cronyn. In 
the history of Ireland, as far back as the 
Cronyn family can be traced, it was always op- 
posed to England and English rule in the 
Emerald Isle. David Cronyn, the paternal 
grandfather of Dr. Cronyn, was a large land 
owner in County Cork, Ireland, where he died 
in 1834, aged sixty years. One of his sons was 
Robert Cronyn (father), who was educated at 
the Dublin University, which differed in one 
important respect from its great sister universi- 
ties of (Oxford and Cambridge, for while they 
consisted of several colleges, it has but one col- 
lege, "The College of the Holy and Undivided 
Trinity." It was founded in 1591, and has 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



263 



given to the United Kingdom some of her most 
illustrious and distinguished sons. Robert 
Cronyu, after he left the University, resided in 
County Cork until 18,"57 when, on account of 
political troubles he started for the United 
States, but was prevailed on by friends whom 
he found in Ontario, Canada, to settle in that 
province, where he died in 1852, aged fifty- two 
years. He was a tine classical scholar, a pleas- 
ant and courteous gentleman, and a Scottish 
Rite Mason. His widow, Margaret Ci'unyn, 
was a native of the city of Bandon, Ireland, 
and died in Ontario in 1882, when in the sixty- 
ninth year of her age. 

William J. Cronyn was educated in the 
Monks' schools of his native province, and in 
1864, at fifteen years of age enlisted in Co. A, 
30th Michigan Infantry, in which he served 
until he was honorably discharged at the close 
of the late war. In 1867 he commenced to 
read medicine with his uncle, Professor John 
Cronyn, now president of the Medical Faculty 
of Niagara University, and entered the Sisters 
of Charity Hospital and the medical depart- 
ment of the University of Buffalo, from which 
he was graduated in 1870. In the same year 
he came to Dunkirk, where he soon established 
himself in a good practice, which has been con- 
tinually increasing ever since. He was absent 
from Dunkirk from 1873 to 1876, during 
which period he was an assistant surgeon in the 
United States Navy, and served at the Boston 
navy yard ; the Norfolk naval hospital ; on the 
U. S. Sloop of war Constellation, cruise of '74 ; 
and had the full medical charge for some 
months of the iron-clad fleet off Pensacola, 
Fla., in '75-'6. Upon his return in 1876 to 
Dunkirk, he established the Dunkirk Tribiuie, 
which he edited for one year. He resides in a 
beautiful residence on the corner of Deer street 
and Fifth Avenue, which he erected in 1882. 

Dr. Cronyn is a republican in politics, has 
been a member of the common council, board 
of education, supervisor, etc., and has frequently 



served his party as a delegate to County and 
State conventions, besides having been favor- 
ably mentioned in the county Kepnlilican press 
of late years as a suitable and desirable candi- 
date for Congress. He is a member of Dun- 
I kirk Lodge, No. 767, F. & A. M., and 
Rochester Consistory Scottish Rite Masonry, in 
which he has taken the thirty-second degree. 
He is also a member of the Mystic Shrine, 
Ismalia Temple, Buffalo, N. Y. Dr. Cronyn, 
when Stevens Post, No. 393, G. A. R., of Dun- 
kirk, was organized, was elected as its first 
commander, and afterward served a second term 
in that office. During 1885 he was Surgeon- 
General of the G. A. R., for I he State of New 
York, and in 1886, received the appointment 
of Aide-de-Camp on the national staff under 
Commander-in-Chief Burdette. The following 
year he was commissioned as aid to General 
Fairchild, Commander-in-Chief He has served 
as secretary and treasurer of the Chautauqua 
County Medical Society, and was also chairman 
of the board of censors of that body. In an 
account of Dr. Cronyn, which appeared in the 
press in 1890, we find the following tribute to 
him as a man and a physician : " His manly 
qualities and his splendid intellectual gifts, 
deeply rooted in his character shine forth, with- 
out any effort on his part to display them, and 
his fellow practitioners of Dunkirk say that he 
is the leading physician and surgeon of that 
city." Dr. Cronyn is a man of fine personal 
appearance, who favorably impresses all who 
come in contact with him by his honesty and 
straightforwardness. 



/^RLANDO J. HILER, an opulent citizen 
^^ of the village of Silver Creek, is a retired 
merchant and a large holder of some of its val- 
uable real estate. He is a sou of Silas and 
Eunice (Seager) Hiler, and was born at Penfield, 
near Rochester, Monroe county, New York, July 
3, 1842. His father, Silas Hiler, too, was a 
native of Penfield, where he followed farming 



BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY 



until ]<S4(i, wlicii lie iudvciI to Aslitubiila comity, 
Oliio, aiul still resides there. He Las grown 
grey in farm life and has done a very extensive 
l)iisine.ss, and, altlioiigli now in liis eiglitietli year, 
I'onducts liis work witii lii.s old-time vigor. Be- 
sides l)eing a nieniher of tlie Methodist E|)iseo- 
pal churcli, he is prominently identified with 
religious and edueatioual matters. He is a 
Jacksonian demoerat, and throughout iiis active 
lite has been an energetic and successful business 
man. Both branches of our sul)ject's family are 
from tiie New Knglanil Htates, aud came to 
central New York early in this century. He 
married Eunice Seager in LS.Jti, and she is now 
in her .seventy-fifth year. 

( )rlan(!o J. Hiler was reared in Ashtabula 
c((unty, Ohio, and received his education in the 
common schools. After leaving school he learned 
the harness-making and saddlery business and 
conducted a shoj) of his own for two years at 
C'ouneaui, Ohio, and on April "), l.StJij, he went 
to Cincinnati, Ohio, aud enlisted in Co. G, lltSth 
regiment, Ohio J nfantry Vols., and .served until 
the close of the war. Upon the receipt of iiis 
discharge he icturned home and engaged in 
business for one year; then, in 1867, he went 
(o ( Jowanda, Cattaraugus county, N. Y., and 
worked at his trade; but on July 14, ].S6!J, he 
came to iSilver Creek aud worked for six months 
as a journeyman and then bought out the busi- 
ness, which he continued for fifteen years. The 
four suc(!ecding years were spent out of business, 
aud then he o|)ened a general hardware store, 
whicii lie conducted two years and a half and 
then ictircil. Since then he has spent his time 
<piietly l)ut not idly. Iiis large ])roperty inter- 
ests both here and in ()hio re(juire a great deal 
of attention and keep him employed. 

On June 23, 1881, he married Martha I!. 
Ward, a daughter of Doctor Spencer Ward (de- 
ceased), late of Silver Creek. Spencer Ward, 
M.D., was born at Poultuey, Rutland county, 
Vt., in 1807, and wiis graduated from the Cas- 
tleton Medical college, afterwards coming to 



Chautan(|iia county, in October, 1836, when he 
located in Silver Creek and .soon .secured a large 
|)ractice. Being singularly successful with dif- 
ficult cases, his fame sj)reail far and near, and 
he was .so completely overworked, and suffering 
from cancer, that he was obliged to reliuipiish 
his practice a couple of years befijre his death. 
He died April \'?>, 1874, leaving much property, 
the accumulations of investments made from 
the receijits of his large practice. He married 
Mrs. Ann (Wilmot) IJice, a native of Fair 
Haven, N'ei'mont, and she bore iiini two chil- 
dren: Wilmot and Martha It. Siie died May 
29, 1854. 

Wilmot \\'ard, u|)on att.iining his majority, 
nio\cd to ('incinnati, ()hin, and engaged in 
the lumber business, but died in the prime 
of life, Jainiary 8, 18(J1, when but fwentv- 
six years of age. Dr. Ward married a .second 
lime, in I.S.'ii;, to Helen ( iales, of Silver Creek. 
This union resulted in one daughter, Hattie, 
who married F. W. Thomas and lives in this 
village. Mrs. Ward icsides in her old home- 
stead at this ])lacc. 

Orlando ,1. Hiler is a democrat, and lias 
served as a tru.stee of this town. During his 
term of office he labored incessantly to improve 
the conditiou and advance the business and 
social interests of the ])lace. He is a gentleman 
of strong character aud enjoys the confidence of 
all Silver ('reek's people who are acipiaintcd 
with him. 



/^lOOKGK IS. .lO.S.SKLVN, the proprietor of 
^^ the well-known grape-vine aud small fruit 
luirseries at Fredonia, was born in Plymouth 
county, Ma.ssadiusetts, June 17, 1842, and is a 
.sou of Stephen and Eliza (Studley) Jos.selyn. 
His paternal grandfather, Eleazer Josselyu, was 
a resident of Plymouth county and .served in 
the War of 1812. Stepheu Jo.s,seIyn was boru 
and reared in Plymouth couuty, where he re- 
ceived his education. He was a shoe manufec- 
turer and conducted a general mercantile busi- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



iiess. He married f]liza Studley, who was a 
native oCtlie same ccjiiiity as himself. 

George 8. Josselyn received an academic e(hi- 
catiuii and at seventeen years uf age left iiis na- 
tive iiiiMity and worked in Boston and vicinity 
as a civil engineer. In ]8(j;} lie came to Chaii- 
tan((i!a county wliere he hecaine a civil engineer 
on the Erie railroad with head-quarters at Dun- 
kirk. He remained in the employ of the Erie 
railroad company for fifteen years, and during 
seven years of this time he was roail master of 
the westei-n division of liie road. In 1870 he 
came to Fredouia, where eigiit years later he 
established his present graiie-\ine and small 
fruit nursery. 

On August 31, ],S(i9, he united in marriage 
with Mary White, tiaughter of Devillo Wiiite, 
of Fredouia. 

In polities Mr. .losselyn is a democrat and 
has served as supeivisor of his town for one 
term. He owns and has under lease over two 
hundred acres of land in Fredouia and in the 
town of Sheridan, near Fredouia, which is en- 
tirely occupied by his gra])eries and small fruit 
mirseries. He has been a careful experimenter 
with new fruits, has originated and introduced 
some valuable varieties and has contributed his 
sliai-e toward placing horticulture on a success- 
ful and paying basis. He has the lai'gest grape- i 
root cellar in the United States and ships large 
((uantities of grape-vines and small fruit plants 
to all parts of the country. He individually 
conducts and personally .supervises his extensive 
business, while his necessary correspondence in 
connection with it re(|uires the constant services 
()f two tyj)e- writers. His persistent skill and ! 
industry has brought him success in iiorticidliire 
where others have failed. 



1857. His fatlier, Thomas Mawiiir, was a 
native of County Down, Ireland, and came to 
the United States about 1850. He first made 
his lionie in Westfield, but in 18.1;5 he came to 
this town and pursued farming until the grim 
reaper called him away, on ,\i)ril l(j, 188!), at 
the age of seventy-eight years. Mr. Mawhir 
was a stirring and enthusiastic republican, ac- 
tive in all his party's struggles. He was mar- 
ried to Mary McEevy, a native of County Down, 
Ireland, in 18.35, who is still living witii her 
son in Portland town, and an active mcnibci of 
the Methodist church. 

George D. Mawliir, when arrived at a school 
age, alternated summer and winter between tiie 
farm and the school-house, and thereby secured 
a good common .school educatiou. He then 
began farming for himself and now owns the 
one on which he resides. He is engaged exten- 
sively in grape culture and raises a fine crop of 
this fruit. 

In 1882 Mr. Mawliir was married to ilattic 
Barnes, a daughter of Alpha IJarnes (a sketcli 
of his life will be found elsewhere in this Ijook). 
Their marriage has been blest with one child, a 
son, Albert. 

G. D. Mawhir is a republican, and is known 
as a re|)resentative citizen of his town. 



/^KOUGIO 1>. M.VWJIIK, a j>rominent 
^^ young farmer and grape grower of Port- 
land, is a son of Thomas and Mary Mawhir, 
and was boru on the farm in Portland town, 
Chautauqua county. New York, February 11, 



Tvl't'IUS LomiJAHO. Among those who 

'"^ have experienced the excitement of specu- 
lating in oil, enjoyed the .steady income of a 
judiciously managed general mercantile busi- 
ness, and then, preferring the quiet and peace- 
fid life of an independent farmer, returned to 
the scenes of his early manhood, is the gen- 
tleman whose name heads this sketch. Lucius 
Lombard was born in the town of Riplev, 
Chautauqua county. New York, July 21, 18.'>1. 
His parents, Daniel and Nancy (Ransom) Lom- 
bard, were what is known as New England 
Yankees. Thomas Ijombard was his paternal 
grandfather and lived at Brimfield, Hampden 
county, Massachusetts. Leaving the place of 



BIOGRAPHY AND HTSTORY 



his nativity about the beginning of the present 
century he moved to Madison county, this 
State, wiiere he died in 1815. The subsistence 
of himself and family was gained by farming. 
Thomas Lombard .served his country in the 
.struggle for Independence, and rejoiced with his 
countrymen in their success. He married first 
Eunice Bacon, who died, leaving five children, 
and after her death he married Anna Shaw, of 
Brimfield, Massachusetts, by whom he had four 
children, Daniel Lombard (father) being the 
eldest. The maternal grandfather, Thomas 
Ransom, was a native of Otsego county, where 
he spent his life farming. He married Sarah 
Temple and reared eight children. Daniel 
Lombard was horn in Massachusetts in 1794. 
When his father removed to Madison county he 
accompanied him. In 1828 he and his brother 
Luciuscontinued the westward journey until they 
reached the town of Ripley, where they settled 
on lots Nos. 34 and 35. Some years later the 
latter moved into Westfield, where he died, in 
1874. Daniel Lombard continued his residence 
on his original location until his death, in 1884. 
He owned at the time about three hundred 
and seventy-five acres of land. He married 
Nancy Ransom, and had four children : Lucius, 
Mary, who married Rev. G. W. INIoore, a min- 
ister of the Methodist Episcopal church, at 
Minneapolis, Minn. ; Dwight married Catherine 
Osterman, and is fanning in this town, and 
Sarah, v;idow of Henry W. Dickson, now lives 
in Tioga county, Pa. 

Lucius Lombard was reared at Ripley, and 
received such an education at the common 
schools as fitted him for a good business man. 
He stuck to the farm until thirty years of age, 
and then went down into the oil couutrj" and 
passed through the vi<;issitudes of an oil man's 
life for one year. The succeeding four years 
were spent in the general store business at Rip- 
ley, which furnished less e.xcitement but was 
more stable. Then two years more were pa.ssed 
in the oil country, followal by a return to Rip- 



ley and a repetition of mercantile life, but the 
year succee(h'ng the Nation's Centennial cele- 
bration he came to the farm on which he still 
reside.s, and owns one hundred and twenty-two 
acres, twenty of it being a well-kept vineyard. 

On December 27, 1865, he united in mar- 
riage with Helen Hall, a daughter of David 
Hall. They have three children : Catherine, 
wife of Winfield A. Holcomb, the school com- 
missioner of Chautauqua county; Grace ; and 
Alice. Mrs. Lombard was called away in 1890. 
Her kindly disposition and domestic virtues 
made her lo,ss felt and deeply mourned by 
many friends. 

Lucius Lombard stands high in his commu- 
nity, and, while not an ambitious politician, is, 
nevertheless, a good detnocrat upon whom many 
of his party rely. 



FRED. M'. EDMUNDS. A prominent bu.si- 
ne.ss man and one of the leading butter 
producers of Chautauqua county is a resident of 
the village of Sherman. He is a son of Salem 
and Caroline (Wright) Edmunds, and was born 
in the town of Villanova, this county. January 
10, 1854. The ancestors of Mr. Edmunds came 
from the north of England and, coming to 
America in 1630, they settled first in the State 
of Connecticut and lived there for several gen- 
erations. The first person of the name to 
come to this county was Salem Edmunds, Sr., 
who arrived here about 1830, two hundred 
years after the name was first planted in the 
new world. The last named gentleman located 
at Dunkirk and pursued farming in connection 
with his trade — stone masoning. He married 
Rachel Sabin and became the father of nine 
children, six sons and three daughters. The 
maternal grandfather was Orin AVright, who 
entered the world at Edwinston, Otsego county, 
and came from there to Villanova town, Chau- 
tauqua county, where he died. He was a farmer 
by occupation ; married Belinda Underwood, a 
native of Otsego coimty. She was a lady of 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



superior attainments and attracted some atten- 
tion near her home. Mr. and Mrs. Wright 
were the parents of six ciiildreii, tliree sons and 
three daughters, of wiioin Edwin served in the 
Ninth regiment, N. Y. Cavalry, went to the 
front as a private September 20tl), 1861, and 
was mustered out July 17tli, 1865, witii a second 
lieutenant's commission. On the paternal side 
Austin Fxlmunds, an uncle to our subject, en- 
listed in the 112th regiment, N. Y. Infantry, 
and was taken prisoner, dying in the horrible, 
loath.some, notorious Andersonville prison. He 
entered the army early in the war and died just 
before it clo.sed. Hosea Edmunds joined the 
9th New York Cavalry and served one year. 
Salem Edmunds was born in Herkimer county, 
New York, while his father was en route from 
Connecticut. He finally located in the town of 
Villanova and now resides in Sheridan, aged 
sixty-six years. He was a farmer by occupa- 
tion and in politics for many years a republican, 
but is now in the ranks of the prohibitionists. 
He is a member of the Methodist church, and 
is the father of three sons and two daughters : 
Frank died in infancy ; Fred. AY. ; Walter, mar- 
ried Minnie Daniels and is living on the old 
homestead in Sheridan ; Persis died June 17, 
1885; and Jennie, now the wife of Fred. C. 
Kruger, a farmer of Siieridan. 

On the 2d of October, 1878, Fred. W. Ed- 
munds married Emma R. Swezey, a daughter 
of Leonard Swezey, a native of Herkimer, but 
later a resident of Chautauqua county. 

He was educated in the common schools and 
academy at Forestville, Chautauqua county, and 
went to work in a che&se factory at Arkwright 
in 1 873 and stayed one year, and then accepted 
the management of a cheese factory in f Chautau- 
qua town. Tlie next four years were spent in 
the same capacity at various places until 1878, 
when he o|)ened a cheese factory near the village 
of Sherman, and then began the erection of 
similar establishments all over the county until 
1885, when he owned thirteen in tlic vicinity 



of Sherman. One year later he consolidated 
five of these into the Sherman creamery, which 
is devoted to the maiuifacture of butter and 
cheese, principally the former. Mr. Edmunds 
has pursued this business longer than any other 
who has ever undertaken it in that community. 
In 1882 he erected a fine grist-mill in Sherman 
and runs it in connection with his other busi- 
ness. During the summer of 1891 he will 
operate sixteen creameries adjacent to Sherman. 
Tlie output of butter for the year 1890 aggre- 
gated three hundred and sixty thousand pounds 
of butter at the Sherman creamery alone, and 
during the summer season no less than forty- 
five men are employed to operate the different 
factories. Politically he is a prohibitionist, and 
belongs to the Presbyterian church. Mr. and 
Mrs. Edmunds have a pleasant family of three 
children, Edith, Bessie, and Raymond, all of 
whom are living with their parents. 



FB. WIIjSON is probably the most exten- 
• sive dealer in meats and poultry who 
transacts business in this section. There is 
nothing in the line of meats and poultry which 
cannot be found at his comj)letely equipped 
market at all seasons. He does an average 
business of twenty thousand dollars per annum. 
F. B. Wilson is a son of E. P. and Julia A. 
(Barber) AVilson, and was born in Pomfret, 
Chautauqua county, New York, August 11th, 
1860. His great-grandfather, Ejjhraim Wilson, 
was born in Northbridge, Worcester county, 
Massachusetts, in 1760. When sixteen years 
old he enlisted in the American army and 
assisted in the capture of General John Bur- 
goyne. He was taken prisoner and carried to 
England and confined in that most infamous of 
all England's cruelties, the Dartmoor prison, 
until the close of the war, when, with the hun- 
dreds of other emaciated and almost dead men, 
he was exchanged and returned to Boston. He 
studied medicine and, after his marriage, moved 
to Princeton, at the base of Wachiisett moun- 



BJOGRAFHY AND HISTORY 



tain, ill Worcester county, Massaciuisetts, wiiere 
lie practiced medicine, surgery and dentistry. 
After his second marriage he removed to Barrc, 
ill the same county, where he engaged in farm- 
ing and raising beef cattle, whicii lie drove to 
the Boston market, located where tiie fimious 
Brighton market now is. After the death of 
his second wife he retired from active life, living 
to a ripe old age. He was of a cheerful dis- 
position and very successful as a physician. 
For his first wife he married Persis Gassett, a 
daughter of Henry Gassett, a wealthy wholesale 
merchant of Boston. By her he had five child- 
ren, four sons and a daughter : Jonas, Henry, 
Lewis, Sally and Benjamin (grandfather). His 
second wife was Clarissa Gale, by whom he 
had eight children, six sons and two daughters: 
Leonard, Ephraim, Jr., Salome, Sophia, Ijuther, 
Charles, William and Calvin. The grandfather 
of F. B. Wilson, Benjamin Wilson, was born in 
Princeton, \\'orcestcr county, Massachnsett.s, 
August 25th, 1794, where he afterward owned 
a farm which he occupied and cultivated, and 
also dealt iri live stock until IS'iS, when he sold 
out and removed to this State, settling in Pom- 
fret, four miles from Fredonia, Chautauqua 
county, on what is known as the Stockton road. 
Here he purchased a farm of one hundred and 
seventy-six acres, partially improved. Being 
.seriously injured once at a raising and again 
while driving .stock to Philadelphia, IVnn.syl- 
vania, he traded this farm for one adjoining, 
containing but one hundred acres, in order to 
lessen his labors, and on this latter farm he 
spent the remainder of his life, dying October 
30th, 1857, having nearl)' completed his sixty- 
third year. He was married May 20th, 1818, 
to Sally Perry, of Princeton, Massachusetts, and 
had nine children, three .sons and six daughters: 
Sarah A., born February 17th, 1821, and mar- 
ried Blanchard Derby, April 20th, 1842, who 
was a farmer in Pomfret, this county; Sally, 
born Ajjril 22d, 182;1, and married William 
Derbv, a farmer and teamster in Fredonia ; 



Harriet P., boru September 25th, 1825, and 
married August 31st, 1847, Jerome B. Lang, a 
l>lacksmith in Sugar Grove, Penn.sylvania ; 
Klizabeth B., born July 18th, 1828, and mar- 
ried April 15th, 1840, Charles Tarbox, a farmer 
in Pomfret; Henry G., born April 25th, 1831, 
a farmer in Pomfret, wiio married March 18th, 
1856, Nancy Cornwell ; Ephraim P. (father); 
Mariette, born January 2d, 1837, and died in 
the early bloom of youth; Nancy J., born 
March 9th, 1840, and married Lewis L. Crocker, 
November 17th, 1857, who was a farmer in 
Pomfret ; Benjamin, Jr., born June 12th, 1842, 
and died in infancy. Mrs. Wilson was born 
November 3d, 1796, and died September 28th, 
1882. Ephraim P. AVilson, (father) received a 
common-school education in Pomfret until he 
was twelve years old, when, on account of his 
I'ather'.s disability, he was obliged to remain at 
home. But he is a man of wonderful intellect 
and exceedingly well read. He is of"ten called 
upon to settle disputes on literary and historical 
matters. He lived on the farm with his father 
until the death of the latter in 1857, and with 
his brother, to whom, with himself, the farm 
had been given in consideration of their care of 
their jwrents during their life. Li 1866 he sold 
his share iu the farm to his brother and pur- 
cha.sed one of one hundred acres in Portland, 
four miles from Brocton and half way to West- 
ticld. Here lie lived until .Vpril, 1873, when 
he sold the farm and inovt^d to Fredonia. In 
connection with farming he had been an exten- 
sive dealer in livc^ stock, in j)artnership with 
Lewis L. Crocker, under tiie firm name of 
Crocker & Wilson, which inisiness they con- 
ducted .seven years, « lien he bought Mr. Crock- 
er's interest and ailmitled his son, F. B., as 
partner, and shortly afterward sold his own 
interest to Luman S. Barber. Since then he 
has devoted his time to dealing in live stock. 
He also owns a large grapery and a lot of pas- 
ture land. He was highway commissioner of 
Portland, this county, and also of Pomfret, hold- 



OF CHAUTAVQVA COUNTr. 



ing that office and also that of assessor four 
years. He was elected on the republican ticket. 

He was married, September 16, 1858, to Julia 
A. Barber, daughter of Chanipliu and Malancey 
((ireen) Barber, her father being a former in 
I'omfret for the past forty years. He had by 
this union four children — three daughters and a 
sou, Fred. B. The daughters were Martha C, 
who married Gilbert P. Marsh, a real estate 
agent in I'ittsburg, Kansas; Mary .). and .Tulia 
L., who are both at home. 

Fred. B. "Wilson was educated in tlic public 
schools of Pomfret and Portland and in the 
State Normal school at Fredonia, where lie re- 
mained three years, and at sixteen years of age 
began to learn the butchering business with 
Crocker & Wilson, remaining with them five 
years. Immediately upon attaining his majority 
he bought a half-interest in the business (Mr. 
Crocker's), and, on the retirement of his father, 
admitted into partnership L. S. Barber, under 
the firm-name of Barber & Wilson. In April, 
1890, Mr. Barber sold his interest to Mr. Wilson, 
and the latter now owns the entire business. 
Coming from English and Irish ancestry, he 
unites the best business qualities of both nation- 
alities. 

Fred. B. Wilson was married October 'J.'>, 
1889, to Augusta C. Schmeiser, a daughter of 
Jacob Schmeiser, of Fredonia, and has one son, 
Edward. 



TUIIN II. ANDKHSON, afirndy-establisiicd 
^^ hay and fruit shipper and merchant, is a 
native of western Sweden, where he was born 
to Andrew and Charlotte (Jacoljson) Anderson, 
February 15th, 1855. The fiimiiy have been 
natives and residents of Sweden from time irn 
memorial. Andrew Anders(jn was born at 
Ulreckshatu, Sweden, about 1828, and served 
in the array for nearly thirty-eight years, and 
then took up the business of farming, at which 
he is still engaged. About 1849 he married 
Charlotte Jacobsou, and to tiiem have been 



born three sons: Claus, John H., and Oscar. 
The latter still lives in his native country, and 
the two former came to America in 18()3. 

John H. Anderson came to Jamestown, New 
York, on June 20, 1871, and for twenty years 
lias been a resident of Chautau(pia cnunty at 
Poland Centre and Kennedy, residing now at 
the latter place. He first engaged at farm 
work, and then, seeing an excellent op[)ortunity 
for handling iiay and fruit, he end)arked in an 
independent busi'.iess, and aixnit 188() added 
general merchandizing. In February, 1886, 
he was elected commissioner of highways i'ov 
tlie town of I'oiand, and was re-elected in 1887, 
serving as such two years. He was educated in 
the Swedish common schools, and since coming 
to the United States has acquired a good 
knowledge of English. Politically he is a 
republican, and is now holding the office of 
postmaster of Kennedy, N. Y. 

In 18,S4 he married Olivia Davenport, and 
now lias liiicc cliildren: Maude, Merrill, and 
Hobart. 

Joiin II. Anderson is a carcfid, active and 
honorable business man, wlio by his own efforts 
has achieved what the world calls success. 



■MATHAN J. HOKTOX. A prominent se- 
\ ^ ci'et society man is Grand Recorder Hor- 
ton of the A. O. U. W., whose office is located 
in Dunkirk. Nathan J. Horton is the son of 
Truman and Betsy E. (Carr) Horton and was 
born at Boston, Erie county, New York, July 
25, 18-tl. The family is of English extraction 
but long established in America, the pioneer 
landing here during the seventeenth century. 
His grandfather, Jacob Horton, was born No- 
vember 5, 1770, in the town of New Lebanon, 
Columbia county, this State, and died in 1848. 
Truman Horton (father) was born May 29, 1796, 
at the last named town, and in 1818 went with 
his family to Boston, Erie county. New York, 
where he lived until his death which occurred 
in 1869. He was a licensed Baptist preacher. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



and altliougli a man offeree and elotiuence, was 
never ordained, yet he worked zealously for his 
ciiurch, and was most ably supported by his 
wife. In polities he was a whig, abolitionist 
and republican. He married Betsy E. Carr, of 
New Lebanon, on December 28, 1816, by whom 
he had ten children. Mrs. Hortou died at her 
home in Boston, Erie county, New York, in 
1886, aged eigiity-six years. 

Nathan J. Horton was reared near the scene 
of his birth and received a common school edu- 
cation. On August 5, 1862, he enlisted in 
Company F, 116th regiment, New York infan- 
try (Col. E. P. Chapin, commanding), and served 
until the close of the war; two years of the 
time being spent in the gulf department, partic- 
ipating at the siege of Port Hudson and in the 
Red River campaign. In the spring of 1864 
his regiment was returned to Washington, at- 
tached to Sheridan's command and was with it 
in the Shenandoah Valley campaign. He was 
wounded at tlie battle of Fisher's Hill, Septem- 
ber 22, 1864, which prevented him from fur- 
ther active service. The latter part of 1865 
and early part of 1866 were passed in the Penn- 
sylvania oil region. In August, 1866, he re- 
turned to this State and was engaged in teaching 
school and in taking a course at Bryant A Strat- 
ton's business college, Buffalo, New York, the 
better to fit himself for a mercantile life. In 
March, 1868, Mr. Horton located at Ripley, 
forming a partnership with Fletcher Dawson, 
under the firm name of Dawson & Horton, and 
conducted a general store for two years, wiien 
Mr. Dawson died and his interest was bought 
by our subject, who continued the business until 
1874. After this date the ensuing six years 
were profitably spent in buying and shipping 
(x)untry produce. He has served his town in 
the capacity of supervisor, justice of the peace 
and town clerk. Mr. Horton went to Buffalo 
in 1881 and became a member of the firm of 
Oatraan Bros., the name being changed to Oat- 
man Bros. & Co., doing a jobbing and commis- 



sion business. They continued this partnership 
until September, 1883. In February, 1884, 
Mr. Horton, for a .second time, attended tlie 
Grand Lodge, Ancient Order United Workmen, 
held at Syracuse, New York, and after a spirit- 
ed contest was elected to the responsible office of 
Grand Recorder for the State of New York 
and has been re-elected without opposition at 
every session held since. 

Nathan J. Horton married Susie E., a daugh- 
ter of Hon. C. O. Daughaday, of Ripley, 
Chautauqua county, New York, on November 
11, 1869; since which the village of Ripley has 
been their home. In all matters of a public 
and social character connected with the village 
and town, both Mr. and Mrs. Horton take a 
lively intere.st. Mr. Horton's interest in fra- 
ternal societies is attested by his position in the 
Grand Lodge A. O.U.W., as well as the fact 
that he is a member of Bidwell-Wilkinson Post, 
No. 9, G. A. R. ; Summit Lodge, No. 219, F. 
& A. M., Dunkirk Commaudery, No. 40, 
Knights Templar and intermediate orders and 
a thirty-second degree mason, being a member 
of Rochester Grand Consistory. 



HOR-\C'E H. SH-\W. One of the represen- 
tative citizens of the town of Westfield, 
who has sprung from a family who settled here 
early in Chautauqua county's history, is Horace 
H. Shaw, a son of David and Sophia (Barney) 
Shaw, and was born in Cayuga county. New 
York, April 16, 1820, and was two years old 
when brought to Westfield by his parents. The 
family is of Scotch-English e.xtraction. David 
Shaw was born in 1793, in Massachusetts and 
moved to Cayuga county when twelve years 
old. He was reared a farmer and when twenty- 
two years of age, in 1815, married Sophia Bar- 
ney, a daughter of Daniel Barney, who lived iu 
Cayuga county. They had seven children, six 
ofwhom are now living ; one died in infancy. 
The year 1882 saw him in this town which was 
then in Portland, and he charred a small tract 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



271 



of land (charring, is deading the trees prepara- 
tory to clearing), when he returned to Cayuga 
for his family whom he soon after brought back. 
The log house was built and a home established, 
clearing coutinued until enough land was con- 
verted into fields to raise food for the family. 
Mr. Siiaw continued to farm until within a few 
years of his death, which occurred in 1880, 
when eighty-seven years of age. He was a com- 
municant of the Universalist church and a 
member of the Republican party, by whom he 
was elected to the office of assessor, but being of 
an unassuming and modest disposition he never 
essayed to higher political honors. Mr. Shaw 
served in the army during the war of 1812, 
and drew a pension until his death. Mrs. 
Shaw, too, belonged to the Universalist church 
and survived her octogenarian husband less than 
one year. She died in the spring of 1881, 
aged eighty-six years. 

Horace H. Shaw was reared a farmer in 
Westfield by his parents, remaining there 
with the exception of the decade between 1864 
and 1874, which time he lived in Huron 
county, Ohio. In 1874 he returned to the farm 
in Westfield, on which he now lives. He was 
educated in the district schools and prepared 
for the busy life which has followed. 

In 1849, he married Sophrona Chatsev, a 
daughter of Benjamin Chatsey, a respectable 
farmer of the same town, and they had one 
child, a daughter : Adlade, who married, and 
now the widow of William Palmer, who died in 
Fitch ville, Ohio, in 1887. They had two chil- 
dren : AMlliam A. and Horace D., who with 
tlieir motiier now lives witli their grandfather ; 
in 1850 he lost his wife and in 1851 he married 
Phoebe Chatsey, also a daughter of Benjamin 
Chatsey, by whom he had two daughters: \ 
Harriet and Mary ; Harriet S., is the wife of 
Eugene Waterhouse, M.D., a successful physi- 
cian of St. Louis, Mo. ; and Mary I., is at 
home. 

H. H. Shaw is a republican and has served 



the town in several officfs. He is uiiriglil in 
character and his name is synonymous with in- 
tegrity. 



JOHN MAWHIK is one of the wide-awake 

^ horticulturists of Portland town. He 
is a son of Thomas and Mary Mawhir, and 
was born on the farm adjoining, where he 
now resides, in Portland town, Chautauqua 
county. New York, August 31, 1858. Thomas 
Mawhir was born in Ireland in 1810, and came 
to America, locating at Westfield. In 1853 he 
moved to Portland and bouglit the farm where 
his son now lives, and followed agriculture 
until his death, April 16, 1889. He was a 
stirring, energetic man, and favored the Repub- 
lican party. His wife survives him and lives 
in Portland with her son. She is seventy -seven 
years of age and is a member of the Presbyte- 
rian church. 

John Mawhir was reared on the farm and 
received his education in the common schools. 
He has always resided on a farm, thirty acres 
of which he owns, and has a fine giape orchard 
in the culture of wiiich he takes great interest. 
On December 15, 1880, Mr. Mawhir was 
wedded to Mary Guest, a daughter of William 
A. Guest, who is a farmer in Portland. They 
have four children, one son and three daugliters: 
Ella, Mynferd, Jennie and Anna. 

He is an adherent to Republican principles 
and votes \\ith that party, and is recognized as 
a most progressive farmer. 



IPOHKRT NEWLAND BLAXCHAKl), 
'^ M.l)., a prominent and skillful pliysician 
and surgeon of the city i^f Jamestown, is a son 
of Flint and Jane (Allen) Blanchai-d, and was 
born in the town of Ellicott, Chautau(:|ua 
county, New York, November 16, 1856. 

Robert N. Blanchard was educated in the 
common schools, and at the age of eighteen 
graduated from Jamestown Higli School, after 
which he entered the ranks of .the pedagogue. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



and taught school for two terms. He com- 
mencod the study of medioine witli Dr. H. C 
lilaiichard, his uncle, witli wlioiu he remained 
for four years, and entered tiie Medical Dopart- 
mont of the University of Buffalo, from which 
lie graduated iu 1880, and, returning to the <'ily 
of Jamestown, he began the practice of nicdi- 
cinc with his uncle, who died August G, 1884, 
wiicn our suhject succeciicd (o his practice, and 
has since l)nilt u]) the patronage of a large and 
l)aying class of people. 11. N. Blanchard is a 
democrat in ]K)lities, and at the time ol' the or- 
ganization of the city of Jamestown, he was ap- 
jwinted health oflicer of the city. Dr. Blanch- 
ard l)eiongs to the Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, of Jamestown, and is a mend)er of the 
Independent Congregational church, although 
both his flither and graudffithcr were Presbyte- 
rians. The latter died Jan. IT), 1,S91, at the ad- 
van(!ed ageof 92 years. Dr. Blanchard is also at- 
tached to the Knights of Maccabees, American 
Legion of Honor and the Royal Arcanum. 

The other mend)ers of his father's family are 
Dr. Amos Blanchard, a practicing physician at 
Frewsl)urg, this county, who is also a graduate 
of the Buffalo University ; Charles, a farmer 
who lives upon and tills the old homestead ; 
Mary E., who married P'red. A. Hentley, the 
vice-president of the Chautauqua Countv 
National Banh, and a prominent financier of this 
city ; Henry C, who married a Miss Foster, a 
(laugiiter of Judge Foster, who resides in tlw 
State of Washington. Henry C. Blanchard 
graduated from the San Francisco, Califltrnia, 
Law School, and is now living and practicing 
his ]>rofession in the city of Seattle, Washing- 
ton, where lie is also engaged in tlir iron busi- 
ness. 

Bobert Newland Hlanciiard on tiie 14th day 
of June, 18X2, married Belle B. Burtis, a 
daughter of William E. Burtis, who was an old 
settler of Chautauqua county. Dr. and Mrs. 
Blanchard have one .son, Robert B., who was 
born on the 27th day of Marcii, 1883. 



Dr. Blanchard is an intelligent, educated 
physician and surgeon, who takes much i)ains 
to keep himself fully informed upon the ad- 
vancement which is being made in his profes- 
sion, and being skillful and uniformly success- 
ful in difficult and stubborn cases, he has the 
<'onfidence of the people whom he serv<s. So- 
cially he is a pleasant gentleman, and lie is pop- 
ular in the comiuunity in wliii-ii le' resides. 



^K<H{(JK K. WIC.VVKR is a son of .lohii 
^^ and Anna (Benton) Weaver, and was 
born in Allegany county, New York, .\piil !l, 
k^."!4. Joiin Weaver was born in the eastern 
part of the Empire State, in 1804, but came to 
("liaiitauqua county in 184(), when lie locate<l 
iu Westfield town. He has made his residence 
at tliis place coiitiuuously for fifty-one years, 
antl still lives, aged eighty-seven years. Fol- 
lowing fariuing wheu it was necessary to work 
hard to produce the same which improved ma- 
chinery will do by the expenditure of much less 
toil, he had but little time to wa.ste with poli- 
tics, although his sympathies and votes were for 
the party of Jefferson, Jack.son and Tilden. 
His wife was Anna Benton, whom he married 
in 1827. She bore him eight children and died 
in 1850, when only forty-four years of age. 

George R. Weaver was si.x years old when 
he came to Cliautau(|ua county with his father. 
He was rearecl on a farm and receiveil the edu- 
cation comiiion schools could confer. Upon at- 
taining his luauliood he decided upon agricul- 
ture and grape growing for his life's work, and 
now owns fifty -six acres lying three miles east 
of Westfield village admirably ada|)ted for his 
uses in grape growing. 

On November 2, 1859, Mr. Weaver married 
Augusta Twiug, a tlaughter of Luther Twing, 
an old resident of this town, by whoiu he had 
one son, Ernest E., now married to Lydia A. 
Boorn, and engaged in farming near the village 
of Westfield, growing grapes and other fruits. 

I'oliticallv Mr. Weaver affiliates \\itli the t.le- 



OF CHA Vr. VVQT \\ CO UNTY. 



273 



mocrats, but is a strong advocate of the tem- 
perance cause, and belongs to tlie Equitable Aid 
Union, and has been a member of Wcstfield 
Grange since 1S74. He is a constant attendant 
of tlie Bai)tist clmrcli upon whose roll of mem- 
bership his name is inscrilied. He is a man of 
integrity and honor. 



^EORGK r. KOSSITKK is a prominent 
^^ young druggist, a social companion and 
an enterprising business man of Brocton. He 
is a son of Charles and Ellen (Risley) Rossiter, 
and was born in Pomfret, Chautauqua county, 
New York, September .30, 18(j5. The jjaternal 
great-grandfather, Elisha Rossiter, was a native 
of Rochester, and was a pioneer of Chautauqua 
county. He came from Rochester with an ox 
team, and settling at Pomfret, followed farming 
until his death, which occurred in ]«8;3. Charles 
Rossiter was born in P(jmfret town in 184.5, 
and until 1887 pursued farming as a means of 
gaining a livelihood. He still owns his farm in 
Pomfret, but moved to Brocton four years ao-o, 
where he now lives, being interested in a vine- 
yard in the town of Portland. He married 
Ellen Risley, of Pomfret town in 18G4, by 
whom he had one child. She is a member of 
the Methodist (rhurcli, and is now 4() years old. 
George I. Rossiter was reared on a farm and 
educated in the common schools, afterwards at- 
tending the State Normal School at Fredonia. 
In 1X80 he engaged in the general mercantile 
business at Portland, following it for one year, 
and then came to Brocton and opened a drug 
store in which he has been very successful. He 
carries a large and assorted stock in the fine 
brick building erected in 1887 by his father, 
and has a large trade which he is careful to 
satisf)' with superior articles and drugs. 

Politically he affiliates with the Republican 
party, and is a member of Brocton Lodge, No. 
284,* Knights of Pythias. He is a good young 
busine.ss man, and has many friends around the 
locality in which he lives. 
14 



. J'AME.S H. WARD is a veteran sehool- 
^^ teacher, who, in his later years, has turned 
his energies in an entirely different channel and 
looks after the personal belongings of thousand 
of travelers each year. He was born in Rupert, 
Bennington sounty, Wrmonf, August 4th, 1821, 
and is a son of Reuben and Azubah (Taylor) 
Ward. His grandfather, Humphrey Ward, 
was a native of Connecticut and a farmer by 
occupation. He married a Miss Grise and had 
four children, two sons and two daughters. He 
died in Washington county, this State. The 
maternal grandfatiier of .1. H. Ward was Jona- 
tlian Taylor, wlio died in Rutland county, Ver- 
mont. Reuben Ward, (father) was born in 
Washington county, this State, in 17112. 

He served as a substitute in the war of 1812 
and participated in the battle of Plattsburg, 
September 11, 1814. In 1826 he came to 
Cattaraugus county this State, and took up a 
farm in the wilderness in the town of Perrys- 
burgh, being one of the earliest .settlers there, 
cleared it and lived on it the -remainder of his 
life. One of his .sons now lives upon that farm. 
In politics he was a democrat and held the 
office of justice of the peace for twelve con.secu- 
tive years in Perrysbui-gh. He married Azubaii 
Taylor in 1818 and had ten children — .seven 
sons and three daughters, one .son and two 
daughters dying young, the others reaching 
maturity. 

.Tames H. Ward was eilucated in the academy 
at Springville, Erie comity. New York, and at 
Fredonia, this county, and then taught .school 
about twenty years in Cattaraugus and Chau- 
tauqua counties, being a very sucee.ssful and 
enthusiastic teacher. Locating in Versailles, 
('attaraugus county, after his experience as an 
educator, he devoted about six years to the 
manufacture of shoes and then came to this 
county and engaged in the railroad and express 
business, first at Brocton, where he had charge 
of freight and baggage at the B. P. & W. depot, 
and then at Mayville, where he was appoitited 



274 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



express agent. When the Chautauqua Associa- 
tion was organized in 1875 lie was appointed 
general l)aggage- master, which position he held 
seven years. In politics he was a democrat up 
to the administration of Martin Van Buren in 
1837, when he became a free-soiler and in 185() 
a republican. He has held the office of justice 
of the peace continuously since 1877. In relig- 
ion he, as well as his wife, is a member of the 
Methodist church. He is Worthy Master of 
Peacock Lodge, (j9(3 F. <S: A. M., named in honor 
of Judge William Peacock, and secrelary of 
Westfield Chapter, No. 239, R. A. M., in which 
he has occupied many of the chairs. 

James H. Ward was married Sej)tember 29, 
1847, to Harriet Blaisdell, a daughter of Rev. 
William Blaisdell, a minister in the Christian 
chui'ch, who went to Iowa, enlisted in what 
was known as the " Gray Beard Regiment " 
and entered the civil war, where he died. By 
this union there have been born three sons : 
William T., who married Ellen Fuller and is a 
farmer in Kansas, has two son.s — Samuel and 
Jonathan; Reulten F., who married Mary 
Wing, had four children — Lillian M., James 
H., Hattie M., and Nellie who died young and 
was killed by lightning in Kansas at the age of 
twenty-six years ; George F., married to Ilattie 
Healey, a traveling salesman for a factory supply 
company and lives in Jamestown. 



HON. FKANK E. Si:sSIONS, ex-special 
county judge of Chautauqua county, and 
the present secretary of the New York State 
League of Loan and Building associations, is 
one of the ablest and best known lawyers of 
western New York. He is a son of Columbus 
and Cordelia (French) Sessions, and was born 
at Chautauqua, on the celebrated lake of the 
same name, in Chautauqua county. New York, 
May 22, 1847. The Sessions family is of hon- 
orable New England lineage and for several 
generations has been noted for the enterprise, 
intelligence and energy of its members. John 



Sessions, the great-grandfather of Frank E. 
Sessions, was a native, in all probability, of 
Massachusetts. He was of English extraction 
and for a time resided at the foot of the Green 
mountains in Vermont. He afterwards re- 
moved from that State to New York, where he 
continued to follow his occupation of droving 
until his death. His son, Schuyler Sessions 
(grandfather), was born in the " Green Moun- 
tain " State and came with his father to New 
York, where he cleared out a farm in Chau- 
tauqua county. He then joined in the west- 
ward tide of emigration to the prairie lands 
west of the " Fatlier of Waters '' and settled in 
Iowa where he remained until his death, which 
occurred in 1857. He was a farmer and a 
democrat, and married Sallie Green by whom 
he had five sons and two daughters. All of 
these sons are living, and one of them, Colum- 
bus Sessions (father), was born in Vermont, 
March 31, 1818. He came to Chautauqua 
county in 1832, removed to \\'isconsin in 1852, 
returned to this State in 18(38, and in 1880 
went to Iowa where he now resides, at Algona, 
with one of his sons. He is a farmer and tan- 
ner by occupation and a republican in politics. 
He has been twice married ; his first wife was 
Cordelia French, who died in December, 1863, 
aged thirty-six years ; and after her death he 
married Mrs. Cordelia Herrick, widow of Cap- 
tain Herrick, who served and was killed in the 
late war. By his first marriage he had three 
.sons : H. Alanson, a marble dealer and insur- 
ance agent of Algona, Iowa ; Frank E. and 
Schuyler S., a prominent lawyer and one of the 
nine directors of the State Agricultural Associa- 
tion, of Iowa, being the youngest man by twen- 
ty years, who has ever been elected to that 
position. Mrs. Cordelia (French) Sessions was 
a daughter of Samuel French (maternal grand- 
father), who was born in Massachusetts and 
settled, about 1820, at French Creek, this 
county, where he afterwards died. He was a 
farmer by occupation, a Baptist in religious be- 




- "f *? J«>,«5 R/f,:cr i ScriKfl"''^ 





OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



lief and an old-line whig in political opinion. 
He was ujiirried in Massachusetts, and was the 
father of four sons and two daughters. 

Frank E. Sessions left the common schools 
of Fon du Lac county, Wisconsin, at the early 
age of fifteen years to engage in teaching, 
which he followed continuously for seven years. 
During that time he taught thirteen terms and 
spent all his leisure hours in reading and self- 
study. He then sought for a wider field for 
the exercise of his powers tlian that bounded 
by the walls of the school-room, and entered up- 
on the study of law, with his uncle, Walter L. 
Sessions, of Panama. After reading steadily 
for one year he gave his attention, partly, dur- 
ing 1869, to the tanning business, but with the 
beginning of the next year he applied himself 
with renewed assiduity to his legal studies and 
wa-s admitted to the New York bar in April, 
1873. From the time that he began the study 
of law until his admission at tlie bar, he kept 
up his studies and made his own way without 
pecuniary assistance from any one. In 187(1 
he opened an office in Jauiestown where he 
has practiced his profession successfully ever 
since. 

He was apj)ointed by Gov. Cornell, as special 
county judge for Chautauqua county and his 
services as such were so well and ably rendered 
that at the end of his term he was elected to 
the same office, for a term of three years. At 
the end of his second term Judge Sessions re- 
sumed the practice of his profession at James- 
town and in the courts of the adjoining coun- 
ties. Although busily engaged in an extensive 
law practice, yet he always gives encourage- 
ment and aid to any enterprise that is calculated 
to be of real benefit in any way to his fellow- 
citizens. He has been a leading spirit in the 
organization and management of the Jamestown 
Permanent Loan an<l Building Association, and 
at the present time is one of its board of direct- 
ors and its attorney. This association was or- 
ganized November 22, 1881, has built hun- 



dreds of houses alread)', and is a potent factor 
of the city's present prosperity. 

On June 1, 1876, he united in marriage with 
Julia R. Bush, of Jamestown. To their union 
have been born two children : Clara H., born 
December 28, 1880, died April 11, 1890; and 
Edgar W., born February 11, 1887. 

In politics Judge Sessions, while always a 
pronounced republican yet has never bteii a 
strenuous or bitter partisan. He is a niemljcr 
of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, Free and 
Accepted Masons, and the Methodist Episcopal 
church of Jamestown, of which he has long 
.served as treasurer. He has also .served as 
superintendent of its Sunday-.school and is now 
superintendent of the senior department of the 
school. Able as a jurist and eminent as a law- 
yer, he ranks high in his profession in western 
New York, where to be successful and attain 
standing at the bar, a lawyer must have decided 
ability and possess succe.ss-winuing qualities of 
the highest order. 



/>'H.\HLES I). 311 KHAV, a Cleveland 
^^ democrat and one of tlic prominent law- 
yers of Dunkirk, was born at (Juilford, Che- 
nango county, New York, May 4, 18;U, ami is 
a son oi' Dauphin and Sallie (Seyniour) Murray. 
His paternal grandfather, Captain Elihu Mur- 
ray, c(jmmaniled a com|iaiiy of Continental 
troops during the revolutionary war and after- 
wards removed from his native State of Con- 
necticut to Guilford, where he died in 1837, at 
the advanced age of eigiity-eight years. His 
son, Dauphin Murray (father), was born in Con- 
nectiiHit and spent the early part of his life as a 
farmer of (Juilford. He then engaged in con- 
tracting i>ii piiliiii- works which he followed until 
1855, when he was killed in a railroail accident 
at Hinsdale, Cattaraugus county. He was fifty- 
seven years of age at the time of his death, and 
his wife had preceded him to the tomb in 1852, 
when she passed away at Hin.sdale, aged fifty- 
four years. 



B 100 R A PHY AM) HISTORY 



Charles D. Murray was brought by liis parents, 
in 1839, from Guilford to Hinsdale, where he 
remained until 1845 and attended the "Old 
Red School-house." At fourteen years of age 
lie became a clerk in a dry goods house of Nor- 
wich, New York, in which he remained until 
1850, when he joined in the westward tide of 
emigration to the Golden State of the Pacific 
slope. Arriving in San Francisco and finding 
no business opening he hired as a drayman, but 
soon saved enough money to buy himself a dray. 
He followed draying for one year, during which 
time he was ou the alert for a business opening 
and found it in the jobbing jiroduce and com- 
mission ti'adc. He became a member of the 
firm of jNIurray & Foster, and handled large 
amounts of produce until 1855, when Mr. Mur- 
ray was called home by the death of his father. 
During liis business career in California he matle 
three trips to Oregon and two trips with cargoes 
of lumber to Sidney, jVustralia. ( )n his return 
home he engaged in the mercantile and Inmbcr- 
ing business at Hin.sdale, which he followed 
until 1858, when he went down with thousands 
of other business men in the panic of that year. 
In the last-named year he was appointed route 
agent in the mail .service from Hornellsville to 
Dunkirk, on the Erie railroad, and had six 
hours of spare time every day at Hornellsville 
which he spent in reading law in the office of 
Reynolds & Brundage. In 1860 by a change 
in the administration he was removed from his 
position in the mail .service and was admitted as 
an attorney and coun.selor of the Supreme Court 
of New York at its general session in Buffalo 
and opened an office at Hin.sdale where he ])rac- 
ticed until 18(i4. He was then drafted and in 
order to procure a substitute came to Dunkirk, 
with which he was so favorably im[)res.sed that 
he secured his present law-office in the Gerrans 
block. He enjoys an extensive and remunera- 
tive practice and has attained a prominent stand- 
ing in his profession. ^Ir. Murray has been 
identified for several years with the financial, 



educational and religious interests of the city. 
He is vice-president of the Merchants National 
Bank which was organized March 6, 1882; was 
president of the board of education for .six years 
and is a senior warden of St. John's Protestant 
E])iscopal church. 

On the 20th of May, 18(iO, Mr. Murray 
united in marriage with Orpha A. lianfield, 
daughter of George D. Banfield, of Hinsdale, 
New York, They have thi'ee children — Henry 
T., who is in the law-office with his father; 
Lewis N., a clerk in the Merchants National 
Bank, and ]\Iaud M., wife of Henry M. Ger- 
rans, one of the proprietors nf the Iroipiois hotel 
of Buffiilo, N. Y. 

Charles D. Murray is a democrat of the Jack- 
sonian and Cleveland type and attended the 
Baltimore convention of 1858, and has been a 
delegate to .several State conventions, and the 
Democratic National convention of 1884, which 
nominated Grover Cleveland for president. 
He served as president of the b(jard of water 
commissioners, and was mayor of Dunkirk for 
one term. In 1870 Mr. Murray was the demo- 
cratic nominee for Congress in his district (the 
3;3d) which was then rej)ublican by six thousand 
majority, and lacked but three hundred votes of 
being; elected. 



nOBEKT E. CROSGltOVE, one of Ripley 
town's leading farmers and best citizens 
was born at Ripley, Chautauqua county. New 
York, November 15, 1851, and is a son of John 
and Mary (Cochrane) Crosgrove. His grand- 
father, William Crosgrove, was a native of 
Ireland, but deciding that America was the land 
of promise, he said good-by to the green fields 
of his childhood, and took passage for New 
York, where he landed November 17, 1801. 
A few years were spent in various places, and 
in 1804 he married Rachel Cochrane, who bore 
him eight children. William Crosgrove lived 
for two 3'ears in western Penn-sylvania, but in 
1808 he came to Ripley and settled on the farm 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyXY. 



uow owned by W. A. and R. E. Crosgrove. j year. He is a member of the Presbyterian 
The maternal grandfather was Robert Coclirane, church, and votes with the Republican party. 

who was born in County Down, Ireland, Oct. ! « 

22, 178G, and came to America in 1812. One Q KCHIBAT.D CALHOUN is a canny 
year later he settled in the northwest part of ^^ Scotcliman, who has had an experince in 
Westfield, on lot No. 4, where he lived until life which would form the foundation for a verv 
his death, May 6, 1870. Politically he was a interesting book. He was born in Ellensboro 
republican, and a member of the Presbyterian , on the Clyde, October 25, 1828, and is a son of 
church. His wife was Jane Law, whom he Peter and Ellen (McCauslan) Calhoun, a branch 
married in Ireland, and they had eleven chil- of the family of which John C. Callioun, the 
dren, the eldest, Mary, being the mother of our i famous southern statesman, was a member, 
subject. John Crosgrove (father) was born at I James Calhoun (grandfather) was a native and 
Cold Spring station, Pa., June 20, 180(5. When | life-long resident of Scotland atid by occupation 
two years of age his father brought him to the was a farmer. Humphrey McCauslan (maternal 
town of Ripley where he spent his life, and died grandfather) was also a native of the same 
at the age of seventy-eight years. William country, where Ik- was a stock-raiser. Peter 
Crosgrove, Either of John Crosgrove, bought of Calhoun (flither) was born in Scotland in 1793, 
the Holland Land company one hundred and and early emigrated to the land of freedom, set- 
thirty-five acres of land, cleared it, aud lived on tling in Delaware county. New York, where he 
the place until his death. John Crosgrove ; died in 1875, at (he age of eighty-six yeans. By 
bought his father's place, and lived there until occupation he was a farmer, in religion he was 
his death. Early in life he experienced the need a member of the Presbyterian church, and in 
of spiritual consolation, and joined himself to iwlitics was an active worker in the whig party, 
the Presbyterian church, in which he was a Peter Calhoun was mariied to Ellen McCauslan,' 
deacon. In 1842 he married Mary Cochrane, | by whom he hail ten children, six .sons and four 
and their union was blessed with five children : daughters, all but two sons and one daughter 
Harriet, born June 1, 1844, and is now the wife being born in Scotland. Mrs. Calhoun "died 
of E. T. Kingsley, a reserve operator for the \ in 1883, aged eighty-three years. 
L. S. & M. S. R. R. at Ripley ; William, born \ Archibald Calhoun was educated in the com- 
August 10, 1846, is a farmer and lives with his | mon schools of Delaware county, this State, and 
flither; Alfred, born March 10, 1847, married , in the spring of 1851, when he was twenty-one 
to Mrs. Hayden, and lives at Pilot Point, Texas, j years of age, went to California, tiie El Dorado 
where he is engaged in merchandizing; Nettie, of the Occident, and engaged in gold mining, 
born August 30, 1840, and died in 181)0; and forming and stock-raising for twelve years, and' 
Robert E. I then went to Nevada, where he devoted two 

Robert E. Crosgrove received his etlucation years to prospecting for silver and ten years of 
at the public schools, after which he began stock-raising. He then drove a flock of thirty- 
farming, and has continued it ever since on the I six-hundred sheep from Nevada to Montana, 
old homestead, to which they have added one himself riding horseback, and sold them at a 
hundred acres more, making a total of two | good profit. On several occasions din-ing his 
hundred and thirty-five broad acres of as fine , residence in California and Nevada he wa^sur- 
land as one could wish to see. A vineyard of | rounded by hostile Indians with arrows drawn 
ten acres in extent furnishes fruit for the table ! to the head, but always succeeded in arguing 
and the market— tons having been sold in one them out of a desire to kill or harm him, and 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



not infrequently lie came in too close quarters 
with grizzly hears, but managed by desperate 
fighting to get oW practically uniiarmed. He 
crossed the Isthmus of Panama four times and 
has been over the Rocky mountains thirteen 
times, twice in a stage-coach. In 1877 he came 
east and located in Sherman, where in 1878 he 
])archased afarm,whic]i he still occupies. After- 
ward he bought the so-called " Old Israel Shel- 
don ])Iace" of two hundred and fifty-five acres 
and the " Henry Sheldon place " of two hun- 
dreil and thirty-seven a(U'es and has made a 
specialty of dairy farming. In October, 1883, 
in connection with W. P. Siuallwood, Hiram 
Parker and James Vincent, he organized the 
Bank of Sherman, and was elected president, 
which office he has since held. It is the first 
organized of the two banks now in Sherman, 
but one bank, the Sheldon, preceded this, and, 
with the exception of ]\Ir. Smallwood, who has 
retired from the board of directors, the same 
men who organized it still manage its business. 
Outside of his banking operations connected 
with the bank, Mr. Calhoun derives a good 
revenue by making independent loans on un- 
questionable .securities. In religion he is a 
member as well as a trustee of the I^resbyterian 
church ; and in politics he is a stanch republi- 
can, taking an active interest in the succe.ss of 
his party, but always declining the many re- 
(jiiests to use his name as a candidate for any 
office. His varied experience while on the 
Pacific Slope and his vast fund of reminiscences 
make him a very interesting companion, being, 
naturally, a genial gentleman. 

Archibald Calhoun was married May 7, 
1871, to Aleda Rose, a daughter of Itluimer 
Rose, a native of Schoharie county, this State, 
by whom he has four children, three sons and 
" one daughter: Rose, Le Roy, John and Max- 
well. Mrs. Calhoun is a member of the Pres- 
byterian church. 



TTM>KKW .T. MERKXE, at one time a 
•**■ captain on a lake vessel running between 
Buffalo and Chicago; then the owner of a line 
of ve,s.sels in the same trade ; later, and now, the 
proprietor of a large general store in Brocton, 
at present preparing one of the largest vine- 
yards in the town, is a .son of Philip and Se- 
liiida (Briggs) Mericle, and was born in the 
town of Sardinia, Erie county, New York, 
May 1, 1829. Philip Mericle was a native of 
Schoharie county, where he was bora in the 
town of Sharon, in 1799. From thence he re- 
moved to Erie county, when a young man, and 
came to Chautauqua county in 1834. He lo- 
cated iu the town of Portland, began to farm, 
and followed that vocation until his death. 
Being of Dutch extraction he inherited the 
industry and economy of that race. He mar- 
ried Selinda Briggs iu 1828, and had four 
children, two .sons and two daughters : Mr. 
Mericle was a democrat of tiie Jeffer-soniau 
type, of unquestioned integrity and patriotism. 
He died in 1858, aged sixty years. His wife 
was a native of Rhode Island, and living to 
the advanced age of eighty-four yeans, died 
February 22, 1889. 

Andrew Jackson Mericle was reared in the 
town of Portland, and received the education 
afforded by its common schools. When but 
fifteen years of age, he entered a sailing ve.ssel 
plying the great lakes, and learned to be a 
sailor. It is unnecessary to recount the hard- 
shi])s the young man had to undergo, but, in- 
stead we will record the triumph he achieved. 
When manhood cast her mantle about his 
shoulders, he found himself possessed with 
enough to buy a small vessel. This he as- 
sumed command of, carrying freights, and the 
profits were sufficient to buy other vessels, until 
he has become the owner of a little fleet, all of 
which he, excepting one, successively command- 
ed. Mr. Mericle engaged in this traffic until 
1879, when he di.spo.seil of his shipping, and 
I gave his whole attention to a general mercantile 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



281 



business, which he had established in Brocton, 
in 18()9. The store is a large one, and carries 
a stock of groceries, boots and shoes, dry goods, 
clothing and drugs. His trade is immense, 
and is drawn for miles from the surrounding 
country. He owns a farm of ninety acres in 
Portland town, which lie is now converting into 
an immense vineyard. 

In December, 1840, Mr. Mericle married 
Sarah M. JMartin, a daughter of Jason Martin, 
of Portland, who has been his companion for 
nearly forty years. They are the parents of two 
children ; Jay P. and Frank J. 

A. J. Mericle is a democrat, a man of wealtli, 
a shrewd business man and a leading citizen. 



TAMES H. FLAGLER is a sou of John H. 
^ and Adeline B. (Rhodes) Flagler, and 
was born in Royalton, Niagara county, New 
York, March 8, 1 835. His grandfather, James 
Flagler, was a descendant of one of two broth- 
ers, who came to America from Germany, and 
was born in Dutchess county, this State, from 
whence he removed to Washington county, 
where lie followed the occu|)ation of a farmer 
until his death in 1 825, at the age of forty-five 
years. He married Vincey Hall, and by her 
had five children, four sous and one daughter, 
who reached maturity. The maternal grand- 
father of J. H. Flagler was named William 
Rhodes, born in Connecticut and removed to 
Washington county, this State, where he fol- 
lowed farming and also served as a soldier in 
the war of 1812. He died in Washington 
county in 1869, at the age of eighty-two years. 
John H. Flagler (father) was born in AV^ash- 
ington county, this State, September 15, 1806. 
He came to this county and located at Summer 
Dale, a place west of Mayville, where he en- 
gaged in farming. In politics he was an old- 
line whig and took an active interest in them- 
In religion he was a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church and also a local preacher 
therein. He married Adeline B. Rhodes, Jan- 



;' uary 25, 1831, and had five children, three 
I sons and two daughters. One of the children 
I died quite young ; another one, Fletcher J., 
I lives in Kansas. John H. Flagler died in 

September, 1887. 
I James H. Flagler was educated in the com- 
mon schools of Chautauqua town, and West- 
field academy, and began to earn a livelihood 
as a .school teacher. He taught foiu-teen years 
altogether, including two terms of four months 
each in the corporation of Mayville. When he 
had completed his experience in teaching the 
young idea how to shoot, he moved to Chau- 
tauqua and from there to the farm of his flither 
at Summer Dale, which originally contained 
i three hundred acres, and of which he now owns 
two hundred and forty acres. In 1872 he 
operated a dairy flirm at this location. He 
then moved to Mayville, where he has since re- 
sided, mainly engaged in the coal business. In 
politics he has been a republican since the birth 
of the party, voting for Fremont and Dayton in 
1856, and has been a member of the board of 
as.sessors of Mayville for six years. August 8, 
1890, President Harrison appointed him post- 
master of Mayville, In religion he is a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. He is a 
member of Mayville Eodge, No. 284, I. O.O. F. 
of Mayville, of which he is N. G., and has been 
financial secretary of Mayville Lodge, No. 25, 
A. O. U. W. for eight years. 

James H. Flagler was married November 1, 
1859, to Nancy A Keyes, of Mayville, by 
whom he has two sons : Elmer E., who is mar- 
ried to Frances Van Volkenburg, and is in the 
dry goods business in Westfield ; and Grant S., 
married to Alta M. Owen, is receiving and jiay- 
ing teller in the Westfield National Bank, in 
which town he also resides. 



•^r\ B. AI>AMS, one of the substantial agri- 

'^ • culturists of Fredonia, is a son of 
Bishop and Betsey (Palmer) Adams, and was 
born in Van Buren, Chautauqua county. New 



BtOGRAPUY A\D HISTORY 



York, November 5, 1829. Justus Adams 
(grandfather) was lioru in Dutchess county, tiiis 
State, in 17()4, and nios'cd to Delaware county, 
wliere lie bought a farm, on which he remained 
a few years and then removctl to this county in 
the spring of 181 1, where he |>urchase<l, in Mav 
of that year, one-half of lot No. 21, in township 
six, now Porafret, comprising one hundred and 
eighty acres, which he cultivated until his death, 
in 1848, at the age of eighty-four yeai-s. The 
tlirm'was then occupied by two of his sons, later 
by another son, Bishop (father) and now by his 
grandson, D. B. He married Jemima Bishop 
in 1785, by whom he had nine children, five 
.sons and four daughters : Bishoj), Morris, Jes- 
sie, John and Thomas ; Rebecca, who married 
a Mr. Ganung ; Eliza, marrieil to another Mr. 
Ganung ; Jemima, married to Wm. Birch ; and 
Polly, married to Thomas Lacelles. Mrs. 
Adams (grandmother) died in 1837. Jo.se))h 
Palmer (maternal grandfiither) was born in 
Connecticut, and came to this county in 1810, 
settling in Pomfret, near Fredonia, where he 
took up a large farm, which he cidtivatcd until 
1834, when he sold it and removed to Indiana 
and took up a tract of land on the St. Joseph 
river. He niarrietl and reared .seven children, 
four sons and three daughters: Daniel, James, 
Asher, and one who.se name is forgotten ; Bet- 
.sey (mother); Cynthia, who married Mr. (tier; 
and another who married Mr. Stilson. Bishop 
Adams (father) was born in Dutchess county in 
1789, came to this county in 1809 and bought 
a tract of land consisting of three hundred 
acres, for which he paid less than three dollars 
an acre. This he .sold in 18S6 aud moved to 
the farm now owned by his son, D. B , one 
mile northwest of Fre<lonia, for the purpose of 
assisting and caring for his father, who had 
passed the three-score and ten years allotted to 
man, and remained here until his death, in 
1866, at the age of seventy-seven years. Bishop 
Adams was married in the fall of 1811 to Bet- 
sey Palmer, by whom lie had ninv children, 



five of whom died in infancy : John was a phy- 
siciau in this county, and marritd Chloe Wil- 
Inir ; Elizabeth married Smith Wilbur, a far- 
mer in this county ; and Philinda married 
Daniel Elli.s, a farmer in Panama, this county. 

D. B. Adams was educatetl in the common 
schools of this county, of >vhich, happily, the 
youth of the present generation have no knowl- 
edge. He worked on the farm during the plant- 
ing, haying aud harvesting seasons, and winters 
he sawed, .'^)ilit and chopped wood, " done 
chores," attende<l to the live stock, attended the 
school which was locateil close by, on one cor- 
ner of the farm on which he lived, until he 
was fifteen years old. Fortunately nature 
])artly compensated for this pursuit of knowledge 
under difficulties by endowing him with a phe- 
nomenal memory, so that his mind is a store- 
house of knowledge gained by a wide range of 
reading, and never fails to honor the drafts 
made upon it. He worked upon his father's 
farm and eared for him when the infirmities of 
age grew upon him, and after his death pur- 
cha.sed the iuterest of the other heir.s, tiie entire 
farm being ik)w in the very centre of the grape- 
growing district, which materially increases its 
value. He has eight acres devoted to the cul- 
tivation of that succulent fruit of the vine, and 
is increasing the average each year. In June, 
1863, he enlisted in Company A, Sixty-eighth 
New York Volunteers, but was honorably dis- 
charged on account of the expiration of his en- 
listment, August 1st of the same year, and is a 
member of Holt Post, No. 403, G. A. R. of Fre- 
donia, also of Fredonia Grange, and the Temple 
of Honor, Select Templars and of Fredonia 
Lodge, No. 338 I. O. O. F., all of Fredonia, and 
takes an active interest in each. In politics he 
is republican. 

D. B. Adams was marrietl November 9, 
1848, to Mary E. Hyde, a daughter of Jo.seph 
and Laura (Woodcock) Hyde, her father being 
a farmer at Springville, Erie county, this State, 
which uniou resulted in four children, two 



v!«*a-«»«*^ 





''m^ .^yi^i^>/^ 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



285 



.sons and two daughters : Florence A., married to 
M. J. Mattisou, a teacher at Cedar Rapids, 
Michigan ; Marvin B., a farmer iu Pomfret and 
lives on Brigham street, Fredonia, married to 
Anna Fry ; Eva, married Delos Keith, a farmer 
on Brighaiii street, Fredonia ; and Frank M., 
a farmer, married to Sarah Van Wey, and re- 
sides with his parents. 



"RJI'ILTON E. BEEBE, architect and snjier- 
4 intcndent, of Fredonia, and wiio was tiie 

candidate against Grover Cleveland, in 1881, 
for mayor of Buffalo, is a son of Justus T. and 
Harriet C. (Quigley) Beebe, and was born at 
Cassadaga, Chautauqua county. New York, 
November 27, 1840. His paternal grandfath- 
er, Abel Beebe, was a native of Connecticut, 
and was one of the first white .settlers on the 
site of Buffalo, where he purclutscd, in 1800, 
a tract of land called "Cold Springs." He 
afterwards .sold this land, and purchased and 
cleared out a heavily timbered farm on the shore 
of Lake Ca.ssadaga, in this county, wliere he 
reared a family of four .sons and three daugh- 
ters: Delos, James, Justus T., Cyrenus C, 
Locena, Elvira and Lucy. Justus T. Beebe 
(father) was born in Cas.sadaga, December 27, 
1811, and died in Cassadaga, December 5, 
1886. He owned a small farm and married 
Harriet C. Quigley, who is now living. Tiiey 
had two .sons and two daughters : Milton E., 
Laura A., Francis M. and Helen M. 

Milton E. Beebe received his edu(^ation in 
the three months winter school of his town anil 
Fredonia academy, which he attended during 
one term. At an early age he exhibited consid- 
erable talent for music, as well as a ta.ste for 
drawing and mechanical construction. At six- 
teen years of age he went to learn the trade of 
carpenter and joiner witli Ivevi Totman, and in 
a short time was sufficient master of his trade 
to engage in carpentery for himself atCa.ssadaga 
and other places. At nineteen years of age he 
pommenced teaching in the winter schools, and I 



when the late war broke out, he enlisted in the 
9th N. Y. Cavalry. He served at New York 
and Washington cities until 18()2, then was as- 
signed to Col. Hunt's artillery, j)arlicipated in 
the Peninsular Campaign until the battle of 
Fair Oaks, when his command was ordered to 
Washington City, where he took typhoid fever, 
and after his recovery was discharged for plnsi- 
cal disability, wliich prevented his re-eidist- 
ment afterwards. Returning home, in connec- 
tion with his trade, he took up the study of 
architecture, which iie pursued from 1865 to 
187;5, under leading architects in the cities of 
Buffalo, Chicago, New York, and Worcester, 
Mass. In 1873 he established him.self at 
Buffalo as an architect, and among the import- 
ant buildings that he has designed and built are 
the post office building at Buffalo, the court- 
hou.ses of Cambria, Huntingdon and Warren 
counties, Pa., and Niagara county, N. Y., each 
costing one hundred thou.sand dollars ; the 
Board of Trade building at Buffalo, costing one 
hundred and fifty thousand dollars ; and the 
Miller and Greiner l>uildings, costing one hun- 
dred thousand dollars each ; Manufacturer^ and 
Traders Bank building. Agency building, 
Tucker's Iron building, John C. Jewett's build- 
ing, Zink tt Hatch office building, and J. M. 
Richmond's building, each costing upwards of 
one hundred thou.sand dollars, besides many 
co.stly churches and fine private residences. 
He has also just completed one of the finest 
court-houses in the country, at Pottsville, 
Schuylkill county, Pa., co.sting alxjut three 
hundred thousand dollars. In 1885 he came 
to Fredonia, and purclia.sed the old Gen. Ri.sley 
place, where he has one of the finest and best 
furnished residences of the town. He is still 
actively engaged in his profession, with offices 
in Buffalo. 

November 5, 1862, he married Rosina, 
daughter of Sawyer, and sister to Prof. Philii) 
Phillips, the noted singer. They have one 
child, a son, Harry P., who was born May 15, 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



1865, and is uow engaged in architectural work 
with his father. 

In politics ]\Ir. Beebe is a zealous republican. 
In 1879 he was elected alderman in the second 
ward of Butt'alo, and upon the organization of 
the board, was made its president, which was an 
unusual honor to be conferred on a new mem- 
ber. He was re-elected and re-appointed the 
next year to the .same position, and in 18'Sl 
was nominated by acclamation as the republican 
candidate for mayor of Buffalo, but it was a 
year of adverse fate for the republicans in New 
York, and Mr. Beebe, although popular, went 
down with many other prominent candidates of 
his party. He was defeated for mayor by 
Grover Cleveland, whose political good for- 
tunes that carried him to the presidential chair 
were born in his success at that election. Mr. 
Beebe is a member of Bidwell Wilkinson Post, 
No. 9, Grand Army of the Republic, and 
Queen City Lodge, No. 358, Free and Accepted 
Masons ; is now Eminent Commander of Hugh 
de Payens Commandery, No. 30, Knights 
Templar, stationed at Buffalo, N. Y., and is a 
Past Grand Master of the A. O. U. W., of the 
State of New^ York. 



/^ILBKRT I.. DAVIS is an artisan of recog- 
^^ nized ability, whose well- trained hand 
lias erected some of the most substantial and 
.sightly buildings at the village of Falconer. He 
is a son of Simeon C. and Betsy P. (Benson) 
Davis and was born in the town of Carroll, this 
county, June 14, 1828. He is a grandson of 
Rev. Paul Davis, who came to the town of 
Carroll from the State of Vermont in 1816. 
Rev. Davis resided in Carroll until he die<l in 
1826. He was an orthodox minister of the 
Baptist church, a pioneer — one of the first in 
that secjtion, and he was a liberal and fair- 
minded man. Consider Benson, his maternal 
grandfather, was born in New Salem, Massachu- 
setts, on September 4, 1 766, and came to New 
York in 1816, where he followed farming at I 



Carroll, Chautauqua county. During the second 
war with England he carried an old flint-lock 
musket and served throughout the struggle as 
a private. His death occurred at Falconer, 
April 3, 1855. He married Hannah Pnring- 
ton, in Massachusetts, and became the father of 
seven children. Simeon C. Davis was born at 
Wordsborough, Vermont, October 15, 1788, 
and lived on a farm until twenty-one years of 
age. He received a good education for that 
period and then learned masoning, which he 
pursued in connection with his farming. In 
1814 he came to Chautauqua county and spent 
twenty-two years here farming and working at 
his trade. On the 11th day of August, 1814, 
he married Lydia Tobey, who bore him four 
children : Simeon C, Jr., died in June, 1890 ; 
Mary married A. F. Fairbank and died in 
1873; Joseph died February 12, 1888; and 
John T., is now living in the town of Carroll, 
an industrious and thriving fai'mer. His first 
wife died on January 19, 1822, and September 
26,, 1822, he married Betsy P. Benson. The 
latter also became the mother of four children : 
Lydia A., married George A. Hall, of 
Kiantone town, died in 1873; Susan P. is the 
wife of Milo Van Namee, also of Kiantone; 
Gilbert L. ; and Josiah, the latter a prominent 
engineer and surveyor of Jamestown. Simeon 
C. Davis was a whig and being a popular man, 
was elected to several of the town offices, his 
party being dominant at that time. He was 
strongly attached to the Baptist church and con- 
tributed very liberally to its support. When 
the country had been drained of its supply of 
men, who had gone into the army during the 
early war, he was one of the active promoters 
in organizing the boys' regiment of home 
guards, which did such effective service in 
defending the frontier at Plattsburg, Vt. Simeon 
C. Davis was a public-spirited and generous 
man, patriotic and self-denying. He died in 
Carroll, May 12, 1836. 

Gilbert L. Davis was born and educated a 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



287 



farmer and although he has learned the trade of 
carpentering, the fast-inations of farm life cling 
to him and he makes his trade subservient to 
the tilling of the soil. He came to the town 
of Ellicott in 1875 and has since resided there. 

On June 22, 1847, he married Adeline Van 
Namee, and reared three children : George G. 
was born May 9, 1848, and died November 2, 
188'"). He was educated in the common 
branches of English instruction and then went 
to the Medical department of the University 
of Michigan, from which he took the degree of 
M.D., following his graduation, he practiced at 
Frewsburg, New York, for fifteen years ; James 
A. died in 1861, when twelve years of age ; 
and jMurray H. is a carpenter and joiner living 
at home. 

Politically, Mr. Davis is a republican and 
takes an active interest in local affairs. He is 
now serving as justice of the peace, a position 
which he has held for fifteen years ; besides this 
many offices of minor importance have been 
filled by him. Mr. Davis is a member of the 
Congregational churcJi and lias been prominent- 
ly identified with improving the educational 
f^icilities of Falconer for many years. I 



JOHN H. ELY is a farmer of the town of 

^^ Poland and has become noted on account 
of the fine stock he keeps for .sale and breeding 
purj)ose,s. He is ne.xt to the youngest child of 
Samuel aud Artle.ss (Clark) Ely, and was born 
in the town of Ellington, Chautau<pia county, 
New York, July 27, 1844. His grandfathers 
were Israel Ely, who came from a family of 
early New P^ngland settlers of English de.scent, 
and Joseph Clark, a native and resident of St. 
Lawrence county. New York. Samuel Ely was 
born in Hancock, (named for John Hancock) 
Massachusetts, September 2.3, 1786, and changed 
his residence to Washington county in 1800. 
He lived there forty years and then moved to 
the town of Ellington, this county, and died in 



(Jerry in 1885. His education was acquired at 
the common schools and his life-long work was 
farming. His first wife was Rebecca Duell, 
who bore him si.\ children, and after she died 
he united with Artless Clark, by whom he had 
twelve children. None of the children by his 
first wife are living, but of the second eight 
survive: Rebecca, widow of George Broomley ; 
Mary, married Amos Bannore now dead ; Ruth, 
married Samuel Gladen, also dead; Perry, mar- 
ried Ann E. Strong, of Poland ; Clark, resides 
in Ellicott, married to Camelia Mattocks; Sam- 
uel, married Victoria Mosher and lives in Po- 
land ; and John H. Samuel Ely affiliated with 
the Republican party and is a member of the 
school board. He developed ability in business 
matters and by judicious trade became comfort- 
ably wealthy. He was of untiring energy and 
took an active interest in public affairs. 

John H. Ely led the life of a farmer boy un- 
til seven years old, and then left Ellington to go 
to Washington county, where he remained until 
twenty-two years old. He then returned to his 
native town and after spending two years in the 
employ of his father he bought himself a farm 
in Poland in 1875. Mr. Ely .still owns and 
resides near this farm, and gives most of his 
attention to stock raising. 

On April 25, 1872, he was joined in marriage 
to Sophia Fuller, a daughter of Arad Fuller, of 
Poland, and they have had two children : 
Eloise M., born February 22, ]87!l; and Lee, 
born October 1, 1887. 

J. H. Ely belongs to the Democratic party 
and to Herschel Lodge, No. 508, Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons, and now lives in quiet comfort 
giving only a proper oversight to his flirming 
and stock. He is a gentleman deeply read and 
keeps himself thoroughly posted upon the cur- 
rent events of all subjects. Probably do man 
engaged in the same business is better acquaint- 
ed with the affairs of the State and Nation than 
Mr. Ely. He believes that every member of a 
republican form of government should be fam- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



iliar with what is trauppiring, auil with tliis 
eud in view leads the vau. 



i^OCTOK SQVIKE WHITE, the subject of 

^^ this sketch, was born in Guilford, Ver- 
mont, November 20, 1785, and died at Fredo- 
nia. New York, April 2, 1857. He was a son 
of William C. and Eunice (Rogers) White. 
Major William White earned his title in the 
Revolutionary war. He was a line officer at 
the battle of Bennington and received a wound. 
At the close of the war he was awarded one 
thousand acres of land lying adjacent to the 
Susquehanna river, near where the city of 
Binghamton now is. 

Dr. Squire White secured an early education 
and then applied himself to the study of medi- 
cine, continuing it for seven years. In 1808 
he came to Chautauqua county and taught its 
first school. In 1813 he married Sallie Bar- 
ker, a daughter of Hezekiah Barker, who was 
a native of Rhode Island. The latter, too, was 
a Revolutionary soldier and pensioner, and built 
the first saw-mill in this county. The machin- 
ery used in operating it was brought from the 
east by cattle. Mr. Barker came to Canada- 
way in 1806 and one year later brought his 
family. He owned large tracts adjacent to 
Fredonia and gave to the village the beautiful 
park that adorns the centre, and he also dona- 
ted them lots for their churches. He died in 
1834 and was reputed to be among the wealth- 
iest men of that day, and, although a farmer, 
was one of the most liberal and pulilic-spirited 
men in the country. 

For his second wife Dr. White wedded Ijydia 
Gushing, one of that iiimily who made the name 
famous. She was related to ex-president John 
Adams. When S(juire AVhite began practicing 
he settled at Fredonia, and made that village 
his home for fifty years, and his practice exten- 
ded for a radius of thirty miles. Politically he 
was an old-line whig, and for four terms he 
held the office of surrogate and served in the 



legislature in the years 1830, '31 and '32, and 
there secured the friendship of many of the 
leading men of the State. At his death Dr. 
White owned two hundred acres of land within 
the corporate limits of Fredonia. Dr. White's 
popularity was almost phenomenal ; he was 
jH'obably as thoroughly known throughout the 
length and breadth of Chautauqua county as 
any other man and every acquaintance was his 
friend. He stood at the liead of his profession 
and was much souglit for in severe or desperate 
cases. Although highly educated, he never 
stopped studying and he kept himself fully 
abreast of the times, and up with the advance- 
ments of his profession, through his books and 
journals. 

Twice married, he had three children by 
each wife, three of whom are now living. Al- 
though more than a third of a century has 
elapsed since his demise, he is yet fondly re- 
membered by many of the older people of this 
conuimnity, and tradition has handed his mem- 
ory down to those who are yet children. A 
truly good man lives long after the breath 
leaves his body and the heart ceases to pulsate. 



r\ LBERT Jj. PHILLIPS comes from two 

"**■ German families that left the fatherland 
over a hundretl years ago, came to this country 
and have become thoroughly Americanized. He 
began life humbly, secured his education by 
personal efforts, gave three years of service 
towards preserving the Union intact, and then 
returned to the pursuits of peace, and after a 
few years preliminary skirmishing, has estab- 
lished one of the largest flouring-mills in this 
section of the county. Albert L. Phillips is a 
son of George and Lydia (Shaver) Phillij)s, and 
was born in Stephentown, Rensselaer county. 
New York, April 12, 1842. Zachariah Phillips 
was a native of Germany, but in early life he 
emigrated to America and settled in Rensselaer 
county, this State, wliere he died. Being one 
of the pioneers of that county, he attacked th§ 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



forests with his axe, subdued the natural growth 
and in its place sowed the seeds which, sprouting 
and maturing, fed the hungry mouths of stock 
and children. After serving in the Revolutionary 
war lie returned to his farm, where lie dieti in 
1852. Ilis wife bore him five or six children 
that grew to niatiir'ity. In politics he was a 
whig. Of tlie mother's family the same might 
be said ; the grandfather came to America and 
settled in the same county. George Phillips 
was born in Rensselaer county, and learned the 
carpenter's trade, which he followed, with con- 
tracting and building. He died in 1SG7, aged 
seventy-eiglit years. Most of his life was spent 
in Rensselaer county, although, for a time, he 
lived and followed his trade in Dutche.ss county. 
In 1811 he married Lydia Shaver, and reared 
a family of seven children, four daughters and 
three sons. Two of the latter and one daughter 
are still living: George E. is at Stottville, New 
York ; and 8arah A. is married to Alberton 
Hick, of Rensselaer county, New York. Mr. 
Phillips was a democrat. 

Albert L. Phillips passed tlie early years of 
life and received his education through his own 
unaided efforts. He worked hard during the 
day and studied at night and during spare 
monjents. While still a youth he learned the 
secrets of milling, and before he was legally a 
man he was a master miller. Seven years 
apprenticeship was passed, and he then took 
charge of a mill in Chatham, tV)lnmbia county, 
this State, where he remained until August 22, 
1862, and then enlisted in Company I, 1st 
regiment. New York Mounted Rifles, and served 
as private and corporal until the close of the 
war, his discharge being dated June 12, 18f)5. 
His regiment was commanded by Col. C. C. 
Dodge. He was mainly on detached duty 
during his service, and was with Generals I 
Spinola and Terry at Suffolk, Va., Fort Dar- ! 
ling, Bermuda Hundred, City Point and Peters- 
burg. While Mr. Phillips was engaged in 
bearing dispatches from Gen. Terry to Col. , 



I White he was pursued by Confederates and four 
bullets passed through his clothing. Much 
danger was incurred while doing duty as dis- 
patch-bearer, scout and spy, but he .seemed to 
bear a diarnied life, and always escaj)ed un- 
injured. When Ri<^hmond capitulated, his 
company was among the first to ride trium- 
phantly through the streets of the rebel capital. 
Upon returning home, he was employed at the 
following-named phu^s : Pluenix mills and 
Revere mills, Rochester, New York ; Gowanda, 
New York, and was burned out in the latter place 
in March, 1870; then at Versailles, Otto, New 
York ; Union City, Pa., and in 1873 he removed 
to East Randi(l])hand remained until 1 877. From 
there he went to Dayton, Ohio, and engaged in 
the grain business for about one year, then 
moved to Niles, Ohio, and ran a mill ; from the 
latter place he went to Meadville, Pa., and in 
1881 he came to Kennedy, where he has since 
remained, and conducts one of the largest mills 
in Chautauqua county, having a capacity of one 
iuuidred and twenty-five barrels of Hour and a 
car-load of feed per day, and emj)loys ten men. 
Mr. Phillips is a.s.sociatcd with William Thomas 
a resident of Meadvilli', I'm. Politically he is 
a democrat, and belongs to Jamestown Lodo-e, 
Knights of Honor. 

In 1869 he married Jennie Barlow, a daughter 
of Alausou Barlow, of Gowanda, New York, 
and they have one daughter, E. Maud, born 
March 14, 1876. 

Mrs. Philli|)s died Augu.st 5, 1800, after 
having spent considerable time in Florida search- 
ing for health. Albert L. Phillips' success in 
the milling business is a proud monument to his 
perseverance and skill. Under his management 
the business has exjianded lo its present propor- 
tiou.s, a large proportion of their product being 
consumed by local trade. It is not alone in 
business that he is successful ; socially he is a 
pleasant gentleman, and numbers his friends by 
his acquaintances. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



HERBKRT W. AL,T^EN is a young and 
enterprising manufacturer of Silver Creek, 
having a business which is known and patron- 
ized in ail parts of tiie United States and is rap- 
idly spreading over Europe, his machines being 
in demand by the best millers in the world. 
Mr. Allen is a son of Hon. Henry F. and Lucy 
E. (Woodbury) Allen, of Buffalo, New York, 
and was born in (lowanda, Cattaraugus county. 
New York, March IS, 18G2. John F. Allen, 
his grandfather, was boru in the State of Ver- 
mont in 17!llt, and was a graduate of Amherst 
college, Andierst, ]\rassachusetts, class of '29 
and considered a finely educated gentleman. He 
was one of the early settlers of Gowanda, this 
State, where his son, Hon. Henry F. and his 
grandson Herbert W. were born, but in his 
later years he removed to Buffalo, Erie county, 
where he died in 1885, in the eighty-sixth year 
of his age, honored and i-espected by all. Hon. 
Henry F. Allen (father) was born in Gowanda 
in 18.36, in politics is a democrat, and was 
elected a member of the Assembly from Erie 
county in 1878 on the democratic ticket and 
aflerward was a candidate for the supreme judge- 
ship against Hon. J. S. Lambert. In 1879 he 
removed to Buffalo, Erie county, and formed 
the law firm of Allen, Movious & Wilco.v, 
which has a large and lucrative practice, and he 
is also one of the commissioners of the New York 
Stiite Board of Claims. He is a member of 
Ancient Landmarks Lodge, F. and A. M. He 
married Lucy E. Woodbury, who was born in 
Silver Creek in 1842, and by her had four chil- 
dren. She is a member of the Lafayette Pres- 
byterian church in Buffalo. 

Herbert W. Allen was reared in his native 
town of Gowanda, and graduated at the acad- 
emy there in 1879. He then read law with his 
father at the ofHce of his law firm in Buffalo, 
and was admitted to the bar in 1883, after 
which he practiced two years in Gowanda. In 
the latter part of 1885 he abandoned Blackstone 
and entered the office of his father in law, Au- 



gust Heine, in Silver Creek, this county, and 
engaged in the more congenial business of man- 
ufacturing. In 1888, in addition to his other 
duties, he commenced the manufacture of 
middling purifiers for flour mills and is rapidly 
building an extensive trade. He is a democrat 
in politics and is a member of one secret soci- 
ety, Relief Lodge, I. (). O. F. 

Herbert W. Allen was married in 1882 to 
Mary A. Heine, a daughter of August Heine, 
of Silver Creek, by whom he had one sou, 
named in honor of his father-in-law, August. 



nOBERT SHAW, .senior member of the 
boot, shoe and rubber firm of Shaw & 
Hale, of Westfield, was born in County Down, 
Ireland, July 17, 1833, and is a son of James 
and Margaret (Robinson) Shaw. His paternal 
grandfather, William Shaw, was a native and 
life-long resident of County Down, where he 
followed his trade of cooper. He was a Pres- 
byterian in religious belief, and died at the ad- 
vanced age of eighty-seven years. His son, 
James Shaw, the father of Robert Shaw, was 
one of the large linen manufacturers of Irelaml. 
He owned a farm of one hundred and sixty- 
seven acres of land in County Down where his 
liuen factory was built. He employed from four 
hundred to six hundred hands in the manufac- 
ture of linen, operated a general store and was 
a man well-known for his energy and enter- 
prise. He was a member of the Presbyterian 
church and died November 9, 1849, aged fifty- 
seven years. His wife was a native of County 
Down, and a Presbyterian, and died in 1837. 
Robert Shaw was reared in his native countv, 
received his education in the National schools of 
Ireland, and in 1857, at twenty-four years of 
age, came to New York. On May 27th, of 
that year he came to Westfield, where he has 
resided ever .since. He was engaged in farming 
from 1857 to June 1, 1863, when he became a 
clerk in a grocery house of AVestfield, which 
position he held for four years and two months. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



On July 27, 1867, he formed a partnership 
with William Ellison, and they pnrchased the 
establishment in which he had servetl as a 
clerk. This firm of Shaw and Ellison contin- 
ued one year when Mr. Shaw purchased the in- 
terest of Ellison and conducted the store until 
April 1, 1872. He then associated his two 
nephews, W. R. Douglas and J. R. S. Cros- 
grove in business with him under the firm name 
of R. Shaw & Co. On March 29, 1882, he 
disposed of his interest in this firm to W. R. 
Douglas, and for the next three years was not 
engaged in any line of mercantile business. On 
April 14, 1885, he formed his present partner- 
ship with (i. W. Hale, under the firm name of 
Shaw & Hale. They are dealers in boots, shoes 
and rubbers, and their establishment is at No. 
14, Main street. They have well arranged 
salesrooms, carry a nice stock of goods and do a 
good business. 

June 5, 1872, Mr. Shaw united in marriage 
with Nancy Ard, daughter of John Ard, Sr., of 
Westfield. They have three children, one son i 
and two daughters : p]dith May, George Pat- 
terson and Clara Jane. 

Robert Shaw is a straight republican in pol- 
itics, has served for eighteen years as a member 
of the school board and is a successful business 
man of twenty-eight years experience. He is a 
member of the First Presbyterian church of 
Westfield, Westfield Lodge, No. 591, Indepen- 
dent Order of Odd Fellows, Olive Lodge, No. 
621, Knights of Honor, Chautauqua Lodge, 
No. 3, Ancient Order of United \\'orkmen, and 
Westfield Union, No. 63, Equitable Aid Union. 
He was a member of the village board of 
trustees for seven years, also town clerk for 
one year. 



f^ANlKL P. TOOMEV, the proprietor of 
-^^oue of the largest and foremost flour, feed 
and grain houses in Dunkirk, is a son of Daniel 
and Catherine (Buckley) Tooraey, and was born 
in the city of Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, 



New York, February 6, 1855. Daniel Toomey 
was born in 1811, in County Cork, where he 
married Catherine Buckley, a member of the 
Catholic church who died in 1860, at forty- 
four years of age. Daniel Toomey came to the 
United States in 1838, and .settled at Piermont 
on the Hudson river, from where he removed 
to Dunkirk. He is a democrat and a member 
of the Catholic church and has ijcen engaged 
I for some years in the local freight business of 
J the Erie railroad. 

I Daniel F. Toomey attended the public .schools 
of his native city for a few terms and was 
engaged for two years on a farm which he left 
to enter the employ oi" Frank May, then in the 
flour and feed business in Dunkirk. At the end 
} of seven years he left the employ of Mr. May 
I to engage in the flour and feed business for him- 
self. His office is at No. 434-36 Lion street, 
while his ware and .salesrooms are on' the corner 
of Lion and Fifth .streets. He handles a full 
line of flour, feed and grain, has the Dunkirk 
agency for Higgins' P^ureka .salt and Coe's bone 
fertilizers and enjoys a wide trade. 

In October, 1885, he united in marriage with 
Margaret A., daughter of Arthur and Ann 
Lascelles of Dunkirk. To Mr. and Mrs. 
Toomey have been born two children : Loretta 
and Arthur D., aged respectively four and two 
years of age. 

D. F. Toomey is a member of the Catholic 
church, has always been a strong democrat, is 
now serving his fifth term as chairman of the 
Democratic district committee and was a dele- 
gate to the Democratic State Convention of 
1889. He is a member of the Young Men's 
association, which is limited to a membership of 
twenty-five and which was organized in 1887 as 
a philanthropic organization for the advance- 
ment of Dunkirk. This a.ssociation has given 
one thou.saud dollars to the improvement of 
Washington park, besides donating books to 
the library association and in many other ways 
contributing to the progress of Dunkirk. Mr. 



292 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Toomey lias been engaged with good success for 
the last three years in the real estate business in 
Buffalo, N. Y. He and his younger brother, 
Michael P., are the proprietors of tiie Dunkirk 
Stock Improvement farm, where they keep very 
fine thoroughbred horses. Tlieir summer head- 
([uarters are at the driving-park between Dun- 
kirk and Fredouia, while their winter head- 
quarters are in Dunkirk. They also buy and 
sell high-bred horses and have done ranch 
toward the improvement ol the trotting stock 
of western New York. Mr. Toomey has 
achieved business success by his own unaided 
efforts and is energetic in whatever enterjirise he 
engages. 

TTi\\AA\y\ \\. PKTTIT is oue of the 

^■^^ leading grape cultiu'ists and farmers 
of Portland town. He was born in Pulaski, 
Oswego county, New York, January 13, 18;35, 
and is a son of James J. and Sarah (Hill) 
Pettit. The fannily is of French Huguenot 
extraction but of long residence in the United 
States. The paternal grandfather. Dr. James 
Pettit, was a native of Albany, this State, 
where he wa.s born April 13, 1777. Dr. Pettit 
became a physician of renown, paid particular 
attention to optical surgery and gave to the 
world the eye salve which bears his name. He 
came to F'redonia in 1835 and practiced his pro- 
fession until his death May 24, 1849. James 
J. Pettit was born in Hamilton, Madison county, 
N. Y., May 26, 1804. He was a lawyer by 
profession and in 1838 he came to Fredoniaand 
practiced for a number of years. From Fredo- 
nia he went to Perry, Wyoming county, and 
continued practicing law^ until 1848, when he 
removed to Kenosha, Wisconsin, where he 
practiced for a while and was then elected 
county judge. He died August 5, 1877. Mr. 
Pettit was a good man, a member of the Pres- 
byterian church and of the Republican party, 
by whom he was elected judge. He married 
Sarah Hill, in 1829, a native of Cazenovia, 



Madison county, who was born March 15, 1805. 
She, too, was a member of the Presbyterian 
church. They were the parents of six children, 
Mrs. Pettit died May 30, 1 863. 

William W. Pettit was reared at Kenosha, 
Wisconsin, and educated in the public .schools. 
.\fter leaving school he learned the machini.st's 
trade and followed it until 1860. In 1861 he 
j(jined Co. G, l.st regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, 
and entered the war for four months service, 
holding a first lieutenant's commission. In 
1862, he re-enlisted in Co. D, 34th regiment, 
Wisconsin Infantry, and remained in the army 
until 1864. At the expiration of his enlist- 
meut Mr. Pettit aune to Brocton and locateil on 
the farm he now owns, and begau agriculture 
and grape culture which he has since pursued. 

On September 20, 1864, he married Laura 
Reynolds, a daughter of Richard Reyn(jlds, of 
Portland. They have four children, two sons 
and two daughters : Henry W., George R., 
Edith S. and Ruth H. They lost one infant, 
Fred. R., who died February 20, 1870, aged 
foiu- years and one month. Mrs. Pettit is a 
refined and cultured lady who has a charming 
and model home. 

William W. Pettit is a republican, a gentle- 
man of culture and is respected as oue of our 
be.st citizens. He is a member of James A. 
Hall Post, No. 292, G. A. R., and holds the 
position of surgeon. 



mlLLlAM K. MINEK. Like many 
other citizens of Chautauqua county, 
William R. Miner is a lineal descendant of an 
old New England family. His parents were 
Justin S. and Elvira (Newell) Miner. He was 
born October 8, 1834. (Grandfather John 
Miner was born in New England and came to 
Otsego county. New York, shortly prior to the 
war of 1812. He lived but a short time in the 
county famous in literature and story, for he 
was soon called upon to place himself upon his 
country's altar. This he did with rare freedom 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



293 



and self-sacrifice; liis enlistmeut was a sad fare- 
well to friends and home ; lie never returned. 
GrandfiUlier Samuel Newell was a native of 
Massachusetts, and came to .Sheridan, Chautau- 
qua county, New York, about 1810. Here he 
pursued his occupation as conjoint farmer, stock- 
rai.ser and di.stiller. In business affairs he was 
a man of resources, energy and care, and, con- 
.sequently, eminently successful. He married 
Miss Sarah Ranney, by whom he had .seven 
children. His political caste was that of the 
old-line whigs, who.se principles he supported 
with becoming ardor. He died in September 
1854. The father of the subject, Justin S. 
Miner, was born in the year 1809, in Otsego 
county. New York, came to Chautauqua county, 
when twenty years old, and died there at the 
age of forty-six years. He was a farmer I>y oc- 
cupation, owning a farm of .some one hundred 
and twenty-eight acres in fine repair, and gave 
his leisure time to the ])iiblic in the discharge of ' 
charitable and i)hilantlndpic duties. He was a ; 
member of the Presbyterian church for many 
years. His wife .still survives, hale and hearty, 
at the advanced age of eighty years. , 

William R. Miner was the eldest of a family 
of three boys and now resides on a portion of 
the old home.stead. I 

lie inarricd Lydia A. Gilford and has three 
children : Justin P. (married to Miss Martha K. ' 
Mosley), a graduate of Harvard, cla.ss of '85, | 
and at i)resent business manager of To-Day, i 
published in Boston, Massachusetts ; Harley 
G., and Mertie E., at home. \ 

William R. Miner is a member of the Meth- 
odist Epi.scopal church, of which he is also 
trustee, and belongs to the order A. O. U. W. 
He is a good business man, keen, fore-sighted 
and of good judgment, alwaj's ready to lend a 
helping hand to those less fortunate, always 
eager to ameliorate those weighted down by a 
seemingly forced adversity. He is republican 
in politics, and has .served six years succe.ssively, 
as supervisor of the town of Sheridan. Henry 
15 



I N. (a brother of subject) was married to Alzina 
Kilam,aud is at present engaged in farming in 
the State of Indiana. His children are Nellie, 
Bertha, Archie and Fanny. Herbert S. 
I (another brother) was married to Su.san H. 
j Ensign. He is also a farmer and resides in the 
town of Sheridan. His chililren are Edward 
H., Burton O., and J. Leslie. 
[ The wife of subject was born February 24, 
1839 and married December 30, 1857. Her 
parents were natives of Rensselaer county, N. Y., 
and removed to the town of Pom fret, Chau- 
tauqua county. Oliver P. Gifford, her father, 
was born November 24, 1816, and learned the 
trade of tanner, which occupation he followed 
until his death. He was at one time an oHicer 
iu the State militia, a whig in politics and a 
member of the Baptist church. He died in 
the town of Sheridan, February 14, 1852. The 
maternal grandfather of subject's wife, Abram 
Keech, was also a native of Rensselaer county, 
and was born about 1772. His father was a 
soldier of the Revolution and was killed at the 
battle of Bennington, Vermont. At the time 
of his death he held the rank of captain. Abram 
came to Chautauqua county in 1834, and loca- 
ted in the town of J\)mfret, shortly afterward re- 
moving to the town of Hanover. He was a man 
of fine military bearing, and was conimauder of 
a company of State militia. His wife was Naomi 
Taylor, by whom he had six daughters. 



nLBKKT ,T. TIFFANY. One of those, 

**■ who have expended a great deal of enei-gy 
and is deeply interested in developing the prop- 
erty about Falconer, and bringing it to the at- 
tention of a class of desirable residents from 
other places, is A. J. Tiffany, who is a son of 
Jehial and Sophronia (Dnrkee) Tiffany, and 
was born in the town of Ellicott, May 2], 1843. 
He is a grandson of James Tiffany, who came 
from Vermont to Genesee county, this State, in 
1807, where he followed farming and mechani- 
cal work of various kinds until he died. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Like many of the emigrants who came from the 
" Green Mountain State," he belonged to the 
Universalist church and was a very devout 
man. New Hampshire furnished the other 
grandfather, Silas Durkee, who also came to 
Genesee county, where he died. Jehial Tiffany 
was born at Randolph, Vermont, in 1798, and 
passed his early boyiiood on his father's farm. 
When the senior Tiffany removed in 1807, the 
young son remained in his native State, mak- 
ing it his home until 1818, and then he 
came direct to Chautauqua county. The com- 
mon schools of Vermont were the fountains 
from which he drank his theoretical knowledge, 
while constant rubbing against the rough edges 
of an unsympathetic world taught him the 
practical lessons of life. From 1818 until his 
death in 1867, he was a continuous resident of 
this county, with the exception of two years 
spent at Randolph, Vermont. Shortly after 
coming here, he secured one thousand acres of 
land and began the business of changing the 
standing timlier into manufactured lumber, for 
which, at that time, there was quite a demand. 
There was method in his work and while secur- 
ing the logs for lumber, he also cleared the 
land and made it arable. His work formed 
quite a little settlement, which was known as 
Tiffanyville. Jehial Tifiany was a prosperous 
business man and builded his own fortune. He 
remained single until twenty-nine years of age, 
and while on a visit to his parents in Genesee 
county, met Sophronia Durkee, whom he soon 
afterward married. They had eight cliildren. His 
first wife died in 1848 and he married a second 
time to Charlotte Hopkins, in 1853. She bore 
him two children. All are now dead except 
Albert J., by first wife, and John H., a son by 
the second. Jehial Tiffany affiliated with the 
Republican party and was a member of the 
Congregational church. While he was a push- 
ing and energetic business man, all wrapped 
up with the matters in hand, he was conservative 
and close calculating, always seeing where he 



was coming out, before going into a business 
speculation. 

Albert J. Tiffany was born and reared on the 
old homestead. He passed an uneventfid boy- 
hood and was educated in the common schools 
and at Jamestown academy. Upon stepping 
out into the arena of life, he began improving 
some land which he owned near Falconer and 
conducted a general real estate business. In 
1874 he built a store in Falconer, and, with his 
other duties, lias given it general supervision. 

He married Coralyn Conic, a daughter of 
Ephraim Conic, of Ellicott, on the 11th day of 
January, 1871. 

Mr. Tiffany belongs to the Republican 
party, and is a member of Mount Moriah 
Lodge, No. 145, F. and A. M., and of James- 
town Commaudery, No. 61, of Jamestown. 



jo YROX A. BARLOW, an active and suc- 

■^^ cessful lawyer of Jamestown, is a son of 
Rev. Abner and Polly (Strunk) Barlow, and 
was born in the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua 
couuty. New York, August 10, 1835. His 
grandfather, Daniel Barlow, was a native of 
New England, and removed to Chautauqua 
county, New York, in 1821, or '22. He 
served in the army during the War of 1812. 
He was a farmer. He married Elizabeth 
French, and had seven children, three sons and 
four daughters. One of these sons, Rev. 
Abner Barlow, was born in New Hampshire in 
1799, removed to Chautauqua county. New 
York, and in 1836, removed to Wisconsin, 
where he died May 8, 1881. He was a Con- 
gregational minister, and in politics was, in 
early manhood, a whig, but afler the disrup- 
tion of that party in 1853, he joined the repub- 
licans. He married Polly Strunk, a descen- 
dant of one of the pioneer families of Chautau- 
qua county. To their union were born eleven 
children : La Fayette, a hotel keeper and far- 
mer of Medford, Minnesota, who married 
Maria Wheeler; Sophia, wife of Edmund 




;S S. 



/ 



OF CHAVTAUqVA COUNTY. 



Aiidrus; Elizabeth, wife of Sylvester Giles, 
who was postmaster in Galveston, Texas, and 
died there of yellow fever during the late w'ar; 
Mary, wife of Lauce Estes, a stock raiser in 
California ; Margaret, wife of Henry Janes of 
California ; Eunice, wife of David McNeal, a 
fanner in W'isconsin ; Byron A.; Brainard, a 
hotel keeper iu Chicago ; Henry, died in Colo- 
rado ; Sylvester, who enlisted in ISGl in the 
29tli regiment, Wisconsin Infantry, and served 
until the spring of I8G0. He accompanied the 
Red River expedition and died from exposure. 
Byron A. found him sick near Vicksburg, pro- 
cured his discharge and brought him home, 
where he died soon after ; and Frances, wife of 
M. P. Struuk, a lawyer of Jamestown, now 
deceased. Their mother, Polly Strunk Barlow, 
was a descendant of Henry Strunk, who, with 
his sister Katherine, emigi'ated in 1750, from 
Lippe Detmold, in the north of Germany, to 
Troy, New York, where they suffered from the 
ravages of the British soldiers diu'ing the Rev- 
olutionary war. Henry Strunk died in ITTo, 
and three of his ten children removed to Elli- 
cott in 1809. Jacob Strunk (maternal grand- 
father) the eldest of these ten children, died in 
Ellicott in 18."j6, leaving several children, 
among whom was Polly Strunk, the wife of 
Rev. Abiier Barlow. 

Byron A. Barlow received his education at 
Albion academy, at Albion, Wisconsin, from 
which school he was graduated in 18G1, and 
for three years was a teacher in the academy. 
In the fall of 1863, he went into (he oil region 
of Pennsylvania as a book-keeper for a tirni 
dealing in oil, and afterward became a partner 
in the firm. He remained there until 18G5, 
when he removed to Jamestown and read law 
with Cook & Ivockwood. He was admitted to 
the bar in 1867, since which time he has pra<'- 
ticed law in Jamestown. He married Roxanna 
E. Crane, a daughter of Gerard and Sarah E. 
Crane, of Ft. Atkinson, Wisconsin. Mr. and 
Mrs. Barlow have three surviving children : 



Belle F., wife of Henry C. Marvin of James- 
town ; Edith M., and Byron A., Jr. In poli- 
tics, Mr. Barlow is a republican, and has served 
as the city clerk of Jamestown for four terms. 
He was also a member of the I)oard of educa- 
tion for three years, and from 18()0 to 1863 he 
was school commissioner for Dane county, 
Wisconsin. 



•JQ KliA 14. I.(>1M>, a gentleman who has l)e- 

^^ come prominent not only in Chautauqua 
county and the State of New York, but where- 
ever the name of " Holstein cattle" is known, 
as an importer and breeder of the black and 
white beauties, as well as " French Coach" and 
" Percheron" hor.ses, was born October 7, 18-10, 
on the farm upon which he now resides, within 
j the corporate limits of Sinclairviile, ('hautan- 
qua county, New York, and is a son of Bela 

B. and Polly (Hall) Lord, both of whom came 
from Otsego county. New York. Bela B. Lord, 
Sr., came to this county in 1819, purchased the 

j tract of land, and cleai'e(l the farm upon which 
j his son now resides. When he arrived the 
country was almost in its virgin creation, and 
where the prolific fields now feed the fattening 
kiue, the tall monarchs of the forest then stood 
in majestic grandeur, and many of them fell 
beneath the blows of the axe which his strong 
arm wielded. Bela B. Lord, Sr., was a son of 
Sylvenus Lord, and was born in 1799 ; he died 
on the 28th of November, 1874. Sylvenus 
Lord, like Aaron Hall, was a descendant from 
New England Yankees, who, in turn, traced 
their ancestors to the Pilgrims. 

Bela B. Lord was reared on his father's 
farm, and educated at the country schools. 
On March 11, 1862, he married Elizabeth 

C. Kirlton, of Louisville, St. Lawrence county. 
New York, with the understanding that they 
should remain with her invalid, widowed 
mother during her lifetime, which they did ; 
and are still remembered by their ac(juaintances 
there, as deserviny; their later successes for theij' 



•298 



B TOO R A PHY AND HISTORY 



devotion to their aged and lielpless relative. 
They have one son, Clarence J., who associated 
himself with his father, and when tweuty-one 
years of age was admitted to ])artnership. 
Clarence J. Loi-d received a thorough business 
education at Eastman's Business College, of 
Poughkeepsie, New York, and is now cashier 
of the Capital National Bank, of Olympia, 
Washington. He returned to Sinclairville, 
Chantancjua county. New York, for his bride; | 
marrying September 3, 1890, Mary Elizabeth 
Revnolds, only daughter of Henry and Helen 
K. Reynolds, of Sinclairville. 

In 1876, Mr. Lord returned to Chautauqua ; 
county, and to gratify the wish of his mother, 
purchased the old homestead, and in 1880, ! 
commenced the importation of Holstein cattle, 
which, from the first, proved a \ery successful 
venture. Year by year his business increased, , 
and in 1884 he ineludetl French Coach and 
Perdieron horses in his importations, and at 
the present time, the importing and breeding of 
these horses, and the breeding of standard 
bred trotting horses constitute the larger part 
of his stock business, although the handling of 
Holstein cattle will always remain with him a 
pleasant special work. 

Since 1880, Mr. Lord has made seven, and 
his son nine trips to Europe, visiting Holland, 
Germany, Scotland, England and France in the 
interests of his business. Chautauqua county 
is known far and near for the excellence of its 
dairy products, and the " Sinclairville Stock 
Farm," the home of B. B. Lord, h;is added 
much to its reputation, both for dairy goods, 
large milk and butter records and fine slock. 
No finer horses and cattle can be found in 
America than upon this farm, for Mr. Lord's 
motto has always been to purchase only the 
best, and he attributes all his success to this fact, 
together with fair, honorable dealing. His 
stables and herd are well represented at all the 
promineut fairs, and win their share of the 
prizes. At the International Fair held at . 



Buffalo in 1889, every horse he enteral re- 
ceived a prize. 

Mrs. B. B. Lord is a woman of marked 
ability, and has attained an eminence in the 
Grange of the State of New York, which has 
been reached by no other of her sex. Mr. and 
Mrs. Lord have been identified with the move- 
ment for fifteen years, and are enthusiastic on 
behalf of the Order of Patrons of Husliandry. 
Mrs. Lord (Elizabeth C. Kirlton) was selected 
Master of Chautauqua County Pomona Grange 
(fifth degree) in 1890, and is the first woman to 
achieve that distinction. She is also Master of 
Sinclairville Grange, and has several times rep- 
resented her district at the State Grange, being 
an able advocate and active representative ; 
has filled nearly all offices in grange work in 
the county, being at the present time a member 
of the Executive Committee of the County 
Pomona Grange ; was for two years an officer 
of the State Grange, filling the office of Flora 
(sixth degree). She is an intelligent parlia- 
mentarian with a fund of practical knowledge 
of important subjects and ready tact, which in- 
tuitively reads human character aright ; quali- 
ties that, supported by a firm devotion to the 
best interests of (he organization, render her an 
able delegate, whose assistance is counted of 
great value. Mrs. Lord has risen to this prom- 
inence becau.se her abilities fitted her to execute 
its duties, and her elevation is only the proper 
recognition of her personal value. B. B. Lord 
and son attribute much of their success in life 
to the able advice and earnest co-operation of 
this devoted wife and mother. 



^HARLKS H. STERLIXO, a son of Henry 
^^ and Cordelia A. (Clark) Sterling, was born 
at Atkin.son, Piscataquis county, Maine, August 
10, 1847, and has made his home in Silver 
Creek since 1872. Ephraim Sterling (grand- 
father), of Scotch desct^nt, was a native of New 
England, and followed the sea iu various posi- 
tions for many years. Having reached the rank 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



of captain he made a few profitable trips and 
then ijuiit a boat of his own. While making 
his first trip in this vessel it foundered, drown- 
ing himself and oldest son. Henry Sterling 
(father) was born in Kittery, Maine, in 1820, 
but came to Fredouia, this county, in 1857 and 
engaged in the manufacture of agricultural im- 
plements and foundry work wiiich he continued 
for ten years. In 1869 he moved to Westville, 
Chariton county, Missouri, where he followed 
farming until June, 1876, when he died. Mr. 
Sterling was a consistent member of the Metii- 
odist Episcopal church, and a democrat, but a 
modest, unassuming and uprigiit mau. He 
married Cordelia A. Clark, of Maine, in 1844, 
and had six ciiildreu. Tlie Sterling family is 
still living in Scotland ; Lord Sterling being a 
branch of tlie tree from which they sprang, 
]\Irs. Sterling is still living and enjoying good 
health. She is sixty-six years of age, and makes 
her home with a married daughter, Mrs. M. F. 
Ives, of soutiieru Illinois, and is a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church. 

Charles H. Sterling lived in New England 
until eleven years old and then came with his 
father to Chautauqua county. He received his 
education in the public schools and clerked three 
years in a store at Fredouia. The ensuing two 
years were spent learning carriage painting, and 
in 1868 he went to Iowa where he spent three 
years employed at carpenter work. In 1871 he 
returned to Fredouia and in 1872 came to Sil- 
ver Creek and took a position in Howes & Bab- 
cock's Grain Cleaning Machine Factory. He 
was emj)loyed in the wood- working department 
until 1884, and then resigned to accept a place 
with G. S. Cranson, who was developing a de- 
vice for scouring grain. Since that date Mr. 
Sterling has been foreman of the Grain Clean- 
ing Machinery Factory for the firm of Huntley, 
Cranson & Hammond, doing, principally, de- 
signing and drafting. 

On November 18, 1872, he married Alice G. 
Fuller, a daughter of Benjamin Fuller, of Sil- 



ver Creek. This lady died February 22, 1877, 
leaving a sou— Royal L., now fifteen years of 
age. On February IS, 18.S0, Mr. Sterling mar- 
ried for his .second \\\L; Flora Hall, daughter 
of S. R. Hall, of I'errysburg, Cattaraugus 
county, New York, with whom he has since 
happily lived. 

C. H. Sterling is a member of tiie Presby- 
terian church ; of Lodge No. 10, A. O. U. W.; 
and is a republican, now serving as a member of 
the school board. He occupied the position of 
vice-president of the cemetery board but the 
press of his other business compelled him to re- 
sign. He is plain spoken and not churlish, but 
posses.ses suavity of manner and is a j)ieasaut 
man to meet. He is a skillful workman and 
possesses such originality of mechanical ideas 
that he is a valuable man in the position he oo- 
cujjies. His wife is active in all the enterprises 
usually engaged iu by ladies' .societies, and 
has achieved more than local renown as an artist. 
In addition to this her literary efforts possess 
nuich merit. 



A>'HARL,ES R. COLBUKN, a successful 
^^ farmer and grape culturist, of the town 
of Westfield, is a son of Zeuas and Statira 
(Gunu) Colburn, and was born at the village of 
Westfield, in the town of Westfield, Chautauqua 
county, New York, February 3, 1833. Zeuas 
Colburn was born in Connecticut in 1800, came 
to the town of Westfield in 1821, and died at 
Westfield, October, 1874. He was a carpenter 
by trade and \vorked in various parts of the 
county, after which he purchased the farm now 
owned by the subject of this sketch, aud upon 
which lie resided for two years, when he removed 
to W&stfield, but still cultivated his farm and 
worked some at his trade. He was an active 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church ; a 
strong democrat politically, and held several 
of his town and village offices. Mr. Colburn 
was twice married. His first wife was Statira 
Gunn, of Chenango county, who died in 1844, 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



ageil forty-three years; <Tud in 1854 he wedded 
for his second wife Sophia Hough, of Westfield, 
who survived hitu until October, 1889. 

Charles R. Colbiirn grew to manhood at 
Westfield, where he received his education in 
the common schools. He commenced life for 
himself as a farmer on the homestead farm 
which he now owns. He has been engaged for 
several years in the culture of the vine, and h;is 
a very fine vineyard of thirty acres. He also 
raises .some stock and grain, and owns a half 
interest in his father's property at Westfield. 
Mr. Colburn is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, a prohibitionist in politics 
and asul)stautial and reliable citizen of his town. 
He is a member of Summit Lodge, No. 219, 
Free and Accepte<l Masons, of Westfield. 

On April 16, 1863, Charles R. Colburn united 
in marriage with Celestia Peck, of the town of 
Portland, and they have one child, a son, Frank 
B., who is assisting his father. Mrs. Celestia 
Colburn is a daughter of A.sael Peck. 



♦^KWITT (J. .IlLLSOX. Su(X'essfuHarmers 
*^ are, as a rule, intelligent and thoughtful 
people. An exceptionally bright and entertain- 
ing example of to what condition a fitrmer may 
rise is the gentleman now under consideration. 
Dewitt G. Jillson is a son of Philander and 
Elizal)eth (Crim) Jillson, and was born on the 
farm where he now resides, in Westfield, Chau- 
tauqua county. New York, November 19, 1849. 
Philander Jillson was a native of Herkimer 
county, N. Y., and was born in 1811. Twenty- 
eight years later, haviug been married to Eliza- 
beth Crim, he came to Chautauqua county, and 
settled on the spot where his son now lives, and 
clearing from the .soil the brush and briars he 
made in their stead fertile fields, and on the site 
of" tall pine trees he reared buildings — a hou.se, 
barn and granary. Being of a pushing dispo- 
sition and having a good business mind, from a 
small beginning he became one of the most 
extensive and prosperous farmers in that section. 



When he died, in 1873, his estate was valuable 
and the |)roperty extensive. His wife, a gentle 
Christian lady, and a member of the Methodist 
E]tiscopal church, was Elizal)eth Crim, whom 
he married in 1839, and by whom he had seven 
children. She dial in 1880, aged sixty-two 
years. 

Dewitt G. Jillson was reared a farmer. His 
education was secured at the public .schools and 
the Westfield academy. Completing his course 
of instruction he returned to the farm, and has 
since made it the well-spring from which he has 
drawn a competence. He now owns the part of 
his father's farm containing the old homestead, 
and an additional piece, making a total of one 
hundred and fifty acres, located three miles 
southwest of Westfield. Supplementary to his 
farming, Mr. Jillson has a magnificent grape 
orchard which is a .source of much profit. 

On May 27, 1872, he married Lidie Hoitink, 
a daughter of Jonas Hoitink, of Clymer. Mrs. 
JilKson is a kind and entertaining woman, a 
model housekeeper and a suj)erb cook. She is 
a fitting companion fir her luisl)and, and together 
they have a happy and beautiful home. 

D. (i. JilLson is a member of three .societies: 
liodge No. 219, Free and Accepted IMasous ; 
Lodge No. 3, Ancient Order of United Work- 
men, and the Grange. He is a hospitable enter- 
tainer, a social comjjanion, and the friend of 
every one who deserves his friendship. 



^OLONKL ELTAL FOOTE CARPENTER, 

^^ the subject of this sketch was born in 
Jamestown, Chautau(pia county, N. Y., May 
8, 1826, and died May 18,1864, near Bermuda 
Hundred, Va. 

He was the third son of William and Nancy 
(Blake) Carpenter. William Carpenter was 
born in the city of London, England, and 
when a boy was bound out to service, ou a 
British man of war. While serving in the 
British navy, his ship was wrecked upon the 
coast of Guinea. With the destruction of his 




COL. ELIAL FOOTE CARPENTER. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



vessel, his sea life ended and he came to 
America, going to the State of Maine, where he 
married. 

The Blakes were natives of New England 
for many years. When the present site of the 
prosperous city of Jamestown was a dense 
forest, William and iiis wife moved to what 
was soon after called Dexterville, but now 
within the limits of the city. Here he resided 
until his death, which occurred in 1869, while 
on a visit to his daughter in Oil City, Pa. Mr- 
Carpenter is described as a small, but stout 
man, a good story teller and a great favorite 
with (he children. For many years preceding 
his death, he was a devoted member of the 
Methodist church of Jamestown. He helped 
to build the first steam-boat on Chautauqua 
lake, and for some time acted as Captain. He 
was the father of twelve children, all of svhom 
are dead except three, viz : Mary Ann Tanner, 
Emeline Follmer and Laura Stock. 

Elial Foote Carpenter was reared in James- 
town and educated in her public schools. Soon 
after leaving school, he went upon a visit to his 
sister Mary Ann, who resided in Kentucky, 
and for two years was engaged as the manager 
of a large tobacco plantation ; but the cruel 
and inhuman treatment expected by his em- 
ployer to be shown toward the slaves was more 
than his nature could bear, and although offered 
large pay, he resigned his position and returned 
to Jamestown, where he engaged in the lumber 
business, buying along the Allegheny River and 
its tributaries and rafting to Pittsburg, Cin- 
cinnati and Louisville. He subsequently be- 
came engaged in the manufacturing of axes at 
Jamestown, and the breaking out of the war, 
found him in the oil field of Pennsylvania and 
one of the then most successful operators. Lay- 
ing aside the private pursuits of a citizen, he 
enlisted August 16, 1861, in the 49th N. Y., 
Vol. Inf. and was elected 2nd Lieut., Co. K. 
at its organization. Subsequently, in April, 
1862, he was commissioned 1st Lieut. He 



participated in the battles on the peninsula 
under McClellan, and after the battle of Malvern 
Hill, he was promoted to be major of the 112th 
N. Y., Vols., a new regiment then being re- 
cruited in Chautauqua county. He was con- 
stantly on duty with this regiment, and was 
promoted to be Lieutenant Colonel, January 
11, 1863. He was in command of the regi- 
ment after its transfer to the Army of the 
James from May 5th to May 16, 1864. He 
was in action May 8th, at Walthal Junction, 
and at the battle of Proctor's Creek was mor- 
tally wounded and died at night. He was a 
brave man and greatly loved by the men of Iris 
command. 

Rev. \V. L. Hyde, chaplain of the 112th 
Regt. in his History of the Regt., says of him. 
"Often have we seen him during a hard day's 
marching, dismount from his horse and place 
some weary, foot-sore soldier upon him, and 
then take the gun of another who was hardly 
able to drag himself along, and then march 
most of the day with his men. The result was, 
his men loved and trusted him." 

Carpenter Post G. A. R., of Mayville, N. 
Y., is named in memory of the Colonel. In 
politics, he was an active worker in the Repub- 
lican party, and with himself and wife who 
survive him, were devoted members of the 
Methodist church at Jamestown. 

July 3, 1848, he married Julia A. daughter 
of John and Phebe (Wood) Jeffords. Three 
children were born to Col. and Mrs. Carpenter: 
Belle E. wife of T. E. Grandin ; Franc C. wife 
of F. A. Brightman ; and AddieJ. wife of W. 
P. Frink. The two former reside in James- 
town, and the latter in Lewis Run, Pa. 



TTiUAAX^l WALLACE HUNTLEY, in- 
^-■^-^ ventor and manufacturer of wheat, 
corn and buckwheat cleaning machinery, and 
one of the most active and successful business 
men of Silver Creek, is a son of Charles and 
Polly (Davison) Huntley, and was born one 



304 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



mile east of the village of Silver Creek, in the 
town of Hanover, Chautauqua county, N. Y. 
Feb. 5, 1831. His ancestors are of New Eng- 
land origin, and among those sons of Connec- 
ticut who went west before the middle of the 
present century, was Beth Huntley, the paternal 
grandfather of W. W. Huntley. He first set- 
tled in Michigan, but subsequently removed to 
Iowa, where he died in 18(J0. One of the sons 
born to him in Ids native city of New Haven 
was Charles Huntley (father) who learned the 
trade of ship-builder and came in 1829 to 
Silver Creek, where he followed boat a,nd ship 
work until 1855, when he wcut to Sheboygan, 
Wisconsin. Ten years later he removed to a 
farm, purchased for him by the subject of this 
sketch, in iMichigan, upon which he died in 
October, 1890, aged eighty-two years. Charles 
Huntley was industrious, and, though a good 
workman, yet never was very successful as a 
business man. He married Polly Davison, a 
native of Rutledge, Vermont, and a daughter of 
Henry Davison, who, at sixteen years of age, 
was present at Burgoyue's surrender, with his j 
father Col. Daniel Davison, one of the bravest I 
of the " Green Mountain Boys," who then 
commanded a regiment of State militia, and 
served throughout the llevulutionary war. 
Col. Davison (maternal great-grandfather) cap- 
tureil a pair of large iron steelyards at Bur- 
goyne's surrender, which have descended down 
through his family until they are now in the 
possession of the subject of this sketch. 

W. W. Huntley was reared on the farm of 
his grandfather, Henry Davison, until the 
death of the latter in 1840. He receival his 
education in the schools of Silver Creek, which 
he attended for a few years in the winter 
seasons, while the summers were spent on the 
lakes and in the ship-yards. He worked at 
carriage building for one year and then was en- 
gaged [at blacksmithing at intervals, besides 
working on houses, railroad bridges and mills. 
In 1853 he and liis elder brother, Albert, pur- 



chased a small sailing vessel with the intention 
of permanently engaging in the transportation 
of freight on the lakes, but the low freight 
rates of that year cost them all tiiat they had 
invested in their vessel, and so disgusted them 
tiiat they left the lakes. This apparent ill-for- 
tune was the controlling circumstiuice tliat 
drove Mr. Huntley from an obscure life on the 
lakes and shaped his subsequent well-known 
career as a manufacturer. In 1858 he com- 
menced working for K. Montgomery & Co., 
who were the first parties to establish the man- 
ufacturing of smut machines in Silver Creek, 
and while working for the first named firm he 
also built patterns for W. R. Greenleaf, an en- 
gine builder of Silver Creek. In 1861 Mr. 
Huntley invented his bran duster, known all 
over the world as the Excelsior, and in 1862 
sold one half interest in the patent, when ob- 
tained, to Alphcus Babcock for the amount of 
ijfSO.OO, or the cost of obtaining it. This E.x- 
celsior Bran Duster was manufactured by Jlr. 
Huntley in the shops of E. Montgomery & Co., 
at Silver Creek, until the close of the year 1865, 
when the firm of Howes, Babcock & Co., took 
possession by purchase from E. IMontgomery 
& Co., January 1, 1866, Mr. Alpheus Bab- 
cock, Huntley's partner in the manufacture, 
being one of the members of the purchasing 
firm. Mr. Huntley continued manufacturing 
in the same shops until 18()8, when he built 
new shops of his own, which are known now as 
the Excelsior Works, and owned by Aug. 
Heine. In 1S69, Mr. Alpheus Babcock sold 
his interest in the i)atent to I^rank Swift, who 
in 1870 sold the same to A. P. Holcomb. 
Very soon after this, Mr. Huntley commenced 
to construct a Miildlings Purifier, which proved 
a great success, and has been one of the original 
machines to work out the manufacture of new 
process flour, known all over the world as the 
very best brand ever produced from wheat, and 
for this result the world is indebted to Mr. 
Huntley as mucii, if not more than any other 



/ 



A>^^\ 




y/^-^Mi^ c 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



307 



man living. Messrs. Huntley & Hoicomb in 1 872 
sold one-third interest in the Excelsior Worlcs, 
and jiatents to Aug. Heine, when the firm 
became Huntley, Hoicomb & Heine, which 
firm continued until 1882, doing a large busi- 
ness in the manufacture of Bran Dusters, S]x- 
celsior Middlings Purifier and the importation 
and selling of the Excelsior Bolting Cloth, at 
which time Mr. Huntley sold his interest of 
one-third to Hoicomb & Heine. About one 
and one-half years after this, Mr. Heine bought 
out Mr. Hoicomb, and now owns and conducts 
the shojis alone, and still manufactures the Ex- 
celsior Bran Duster, together with other mill- 
ing specialities. In 1883, Mr. Huntley bought 
of Mr. Heine the entire stock and business of 
imjwrting the Excelsior Bolting Cloth, and as- 
sociated with himself in the business, Mr. C. 
G. Hammond, and these gentlemen now con- 
duct the business under the firm name of 
Huntley & Hammond, and they have estab- 
lished a branch house in Minneapolis, Minn., 
besides having stocks to sell from in St. Louis, 
Missouri ; Portland, Oregon ; and in the provin- 
ces of Canada, and do a yearly business of over 
$100,000. In 18(51 and 1862 Mr. Huntley as- 
sisted Mr. Alpheus Babcock in the remodeling 
of his smut machine, and they together brought 
out the best smut machine on the market at 
that time. In 1863 Mr. Huntley assisted 
Messrs. E. Montgomery & (V)., in the remodel- 
ing of their smut machine, in which instance it 
was largely improved by them. In 1863 Mr. 
S. Howes returned from the seat of war on the 
Potomac, and, late in the .season, became associa- 
ted with Mr. Alpheus Babcock in the manuu- 
facture of the Babcock smut machine, the firm 
being known as Howes, Babcock tt Co., Mr. 
Norman Babcock, a brother of Alpheus becom- 
ing a partner at the same time Mr. Howes was 
admitted. In 1864, a purchase of the Mont- 
gomery shops and the patents was consummated 
by Howes, Babcock & Co., they taking posses- j 
sion on the first day of January, 1866, at which I 



time Alpheus and Norman Babcock together 
with Mr. Huntley, combined the best elements 
of the Babcock Smutter and the Montgomery 
Smuttcr together in one machine, and the 
firm of How&s, Babcock <t Co., called it the 
Eureka Smut Machine. 
j Mr. Huntley was granted i)y tiie Patent Of- 
I fice, at diflferent dates, two j)atents on the Ex- 
' celsior Bran Duster, four patents on the Mid- 
I dlings Purifier, one patent on a sieve, one pat- 
ent on a machine for testing rotating parts (or 
bodies) and two |)atcnts for improvements on 
smut machines and one on a ship's rudder. 

Mr. Huntley has never had any political as- 
pirations, but has beeu since 1860, a strong 
supporter of the political party that saved the 
nation from disruption by the Rebellion, and is 
a strong protectionist in his views. He has 
served six years as one of the village trustees, 
and two consecutive years as president of the 
village of Silver Creek ; during which two 
years there were a steam fire engine and hose- 
cart bought for -the village. Mr. Huntley, 
being president at the time, organized a fire de- 
l)artment, which has since proven one of the 
finest fire departments in western New York. 
In honor to Mr. Huntley, the Hose Company 
assumed the name of "Huntley Hose No. 1." 
In 1886, Messrs. Huntley & Hammond pur- 
chased one-lialf interest in the business of man- 
ufacturing buckwheat machines, from G. S. 
Cransou & Son, and, by the retirement of G. S. 
Cran.son, now own two-thirds of the immense 
factory, which is now one of the largest of its 
kind in the world, and known as the Monitor 
Works, the business being conducted by the 
firm of Huntley, Crauson & Hammond. At 
the time of pfirchase by Huntley & Hammond, 
these works were only employing eight men, 
but under the new firm their orders began to 
increase, and they were compelled to enlarge 
their works, and added to the different kinds of 
grain cleaning and buckwheat machinery which 
they manufactured, until now they employ a 



308 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



force of 80 meu, pay $G0,000 yearly iu wages 
aud send out over 1,500 machines per year, 
and their yearly sales amount to over |1 50,000. 
Many of their machines have either been in- 
vented or improved by Mr. Huntley, and they 
now manufacture the following patented ma- 
chines: Cransou's Wheat Scouring, Polishing 
and Separating Machines ; Cransou's Buck- 
wheat Scouring, P'olishing and Sejiarating Ma- 
chines ; Cransou's Corn Scouring, Polishing 
and Separating Machines ; Cransou's Roller 
Buckwheat Shucker ; Monitor Dustless Receiv- 
ing and Elevator Separator ; Monitor Dustless 
Milling Separator ; Monitor Dustless Malt and 
Barley Separator ; Monitor Malt and Barley 
Scourer ; Monitor Oat Scourer ; Diamond Dust- 
less Coru Sheller antl Separator ; and Diamond 
Corn Sheller. Mr. Huntley receives orders for 
his machines from all parts of the United States 
and from England, Australia and New Zealand. 

On November 24, 1854, he unittcl in mar- 
riage with ]SIary Chapman, of Onondaga 
county, New York. 

W. W. Huntley has been identified with the 
progress of Silver Creek since 1848. He is 
fully imbued with the New England spirit of 
enterprise, which has infused itself so largely 
and with such beneficial results into the social 
aud business life of New York aud the great 
West. 



^HAUNCEV (i. TATXOTT. A farmer, 
^^ aud one of the national guards who or- 
ganized a company and helped to repel Lee at 
Gettysburg, is Chauncey G. Talcott, who is a 
.son of William D. and Persis Brandgee (Gage) 
Talcott, and was born iu Silver Creek, Chau- 
tauqua county. New Yt)rk, October (J, 1834. 
Until the coming of William D. Talcott to Sil- 
ver Creek iu 1831, the family had lived iu Con- 
necticut since l(j.']2, that being the date when an 
Englishman named John Talcott landed at Bos- 
ton, Mass., and then went to Hartford, Conn. 
He soon after acquired a large tract of land. 



One of the patentees named in the charter of 
Charles the First, granted to Connecticut, 16(V2, 
and it was the foundation of the wealth owned by 
later members of the older family. The Tal- 
cott mountains w'ere named for a member of the 
family, probably for Gov. Joseph Talcott, who 
was one of the early governoi's of the colony — 
from 1724 to 1741. David Talcott was our 
subject's grandfather and he spent his life iu his 
native State. His son, William D. Talcott 
(father), was born in Glastonberry, Connecticut, 
on March .3, 1811, where he lived until he at- 
tained his twentieth year. In 1831 he set out 
for Buffalo but after reaching it remained only 
a short time and then went to Jamestown, this 
county. A few months later he went to Silver 
Creek, arriving November 2d, where he bought 
a home and resided until lie died December 15, 
1 880. By trade he was a harness maker and 
saddler, which he followed at this place until 
1839 when he began lumbering, siiip building, 
etc., continuing this business until 1876. Wil- 
liam D. Talcott was a man of magnetic influ- 
ence; with good judgment and rare perspica- 
city, and conducted his business in a systematic 
manner. Politically he trained with the demo- 
crats, and held the offices of superintendent of 
highways, school trustee and supervisor of the 
town of Hanover. He was a liberal contributor 
to the cause of Christianity, and iu 1856 be- 
came a member of the Presbyterian church. 
Five years later he was created an eliler of his 
church, the duties of which he filled with honor 
and Christian humility until he was called to 
join the great congregation above. Sabbath- 
school work especially was the recipient of his 
attention and generosity. In 1 833, he married 
Persis Braudgee Gage, a native of Wiufield, 
Madison county, this State, where she was born 
in 1814, but when three years of age her pa- 
rents, Asa and Nancy (Brace) Gage, brought her 
to Silver Creek. Mrs. Talcott died August 7, 
1878. They were the parents of .seven children, 
six sons aud one daughter : Chauncey G., Wal- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



lace W. ami William S. reside in Silver Creek ; 
Asa G. , lives in Biiffalu; Walter makes his 
home at Sandusky, Ohio ; and INIrs. Elizabeth 
(Talcott) Harroiin, of New York city. Mrs. 
Taleott was a woman possessing rare motherly 
characteristics and erijoyed the peace of a genu- 
ine Christian spirit. She was a devoted mem- 
ber of the Presbyterian church at Silver Creek, 
New York, and her body is laid away to rest in 
Glenwood cemetery, Silver Creek. Coming 
from the renowned English family of CJage, the 
best blood of that country flowed in her veins. 
Viscount Gage, an old Irisli nobleman, belonged 
to the same family and she was closely con- 
nected with our own Kevolutionary hero, Gen- 
eral (iage. 

Chauncey G. Talcott was reared at Silver 
Creek and after graduation in the public schools 
he was sent to the Brockport ( 'ollegiate Insti- 
tute, and later, in 185(5, he graduated from Bry- 
ant & Stratton's business college, at Buffalo. 
Being thus fitted by education as well as natural 
endowments for business, he walked out in life 
and began as an accountant for a lumber firm in 
Toledo, Ohio, but after a stay lasting one year 
he went into his father's service, keeping the ac- 
counts of his large lumber and lake transporta- 
tion business. In the fall of 1858 he entered 
into partnership with his uncle, John H. Tal- 
cott, the firm name being Talcott & CJo.,- and 
their business in wool and tauniug. The part- 
nership continued for twenty years and was dis- 
solved in 1878 by mutual consent. Since that 
time Mr. Talcott has been engaged in farming 
and dealing in live stock and real estate. The 
beautiful home where he resides is but a small 
portion of his [)roperty holdings. In 1859 he 
organized a company of national guards and 
was made its first lieutenant. In 1863, when 
the Confederate army invaded Pennsylvania, 
Mr. Talcott was commissioned captain of the 
company and took it to Gettysburg, but after 
the rebel army was repulsed they returned liome, 
having seen about one month's active service. 



On December 7, 1858, he married Maria L. 
Lee, a daughter of Oliver Lee, of Silver Creek, 
who was a soldier in the war of 1812, and one 
of the earliest settlers in thistowu. They have 
an adopted daughter: Helen M. Abell, a 
daughter of William H. and Eliza (Lee) Abell. 

Chauncey G. Talcott is a tiieuiber of the 
Presbyterian church and serves it in the ca[)a- 
city of an elder. For four years he was super- 
intendent of its Sabbath-school. He is a dem- 
ocrat and has held some of the responsible offices 
in the gift of the town. When Sylvan Lodge, 
No. 757, F. and A. M. was chartered, Mr. Tal- 
cott was a member of it and was elected the first 
secretary. He is a gentleman of more than or- 
dinary busine.ss acumen, of undoubted integrity, 
genial, warm-hearted and generous. 



TTi llAAA^I flIAKTIN, the head of one of 

^^^ the largest and most important busi- 
nesses in Dunkirk, and at present the political 
head of the municipality, was born in the city 
of Exeter, England, on the first day of March, 
1848, and is a son of George and (Jrace (H(jw- 
ard) Martin. 

William Martin was brought to this country 
in early childhood and in youth learned the 
machinist's trade. He was educated at the East 
Greenwich Seminary, Rhode Island, and from 
thence engaged in theological study and in 1871 
came to Dunkirk and filled the pulpit of the 
First ]\Iethodist church of that city. He en- 
gaged in the ministry of that denomination for 
twelve years and for two years labored in the 
Presbyterian cause. 

In 1872 he married Frances Helen Cary, 
daughter of David E. Cary, and their union 
has been blessed with four children : Sarah ; 
Cary; (irace; and Howard. In the latter part 
of 1872 Mr. Martin left Dunkirk and returned 
in 1882 to develop the present immen.se business 
which he now directs. About this time an ani- 
mated discussion arose regarding the feasibility 
of replacing the car stove for heating railway 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



trains, and Mr. Martin believed he could solve 
the problem. He executed a model and induced 
the officials of the Dunkirk, Allegheny Valley 
and Pittsburg railroad to allow him the privi- 
lege of equipping a train, and by experience per- 
fect the system. The first model worked well, 
and in May, 1882, they applied for a patent 
antl formed a stock company with an authorized 
capital of two hundred thousand dollars. He 
associated with him Frank E. Shaw of Sinclair- 
ville, and Charles A. Clute, then assistant su- 
perintendent of the D., A. V. & P. R. R. 
Their system was rapidly improved and in May, 
1884, the " Bee Line" was equipped and to-day 
about five thousand engines and cars are operat- 
ing this mode of heating. The out put of 1888 
showed about five hundred thousand dollars and 
some seventy-five people are employed in their 
beautiful buildings, recently erected at the cor- 
ner of Third and Dove streets. This invention 
ranks with the Westinghouse brake for safety, 
and with George M. Pullman's famous palace 
cars for comfort and convenience. The deadly 
car-.stove is displaced by this contrivance, which, 
in case of a wreck, automatically shuts off the 
steam and prevents the horrors of burning in 
flames or scalding by steam. 



TTJILLIASI H. ARNOLD. One of the 

^^^ very oldest of Portland's successful 
agriculturists and grape growers, and one 
who has exceeded by eight years, man's quoted 
allotment of three-score years and ten, all of 
which have been spent within the boundaries 
of old Chautauqua, is the venerable gentleman 
whose name appears above. William H. Ar- 
nold is a son of Elisha and Patience (Patter) 
Arnold, and was born February 7, 1813, in 
the little State of Rhode Island. His father, 
Elisha Arnold, was born in Rhode Island, in 
1778 and came from Rhode Island to Portland 
town the year William was born. His occupa- 
tion was distilling and he followed this busi- 
ness in Westfield until able to secure one of his 



own. In those days the business was not over- 
crowded, and he operated his still with profit 
for a number of years. He married Patience 
Potter, of Rhode Island, and reared a family 
of seven sons and five daughters, of whom 
our subject is the only one now living. 
Mr. Arnold was a uuiversalist and affiliated 
with the whigs. He was learned in the law 
and was a member of the Constitutional Com- 
mittee appointed to alter the constitution of the 
State. He filled several of the local offices 
in his county and was a prominent man, re- 
spected and esteemed. He died in 1841, aged 
sixty-three years. Mrs. Arnold was a native 
of Rhode Island. She died in 1854, aged sev- 
enty-five years. 

William H. Arnold was brought to Chau- 
tauqua county an infont in his mother's arms. 
The educational facilities at that time were 
meager, and farm work was more plentiful than 
school books. He, however, managed to secure 
sufficient knowledge to make a successful busi- 
ness farmer, as is attested by the value of his 
property to-day. Mr. Arnold has always been 
a farmer and the old homestead which he now 
owns, built, and for many years occupied by 
his father, contains one hundred and twenty- 
five acres of tillable land. In addition to this 
valuable property, he is the possessor of an- 
other of two hundred and forty-nine acres in 
Chautauqua town, where particular attention is 
given to live stock, in which he deals, and to 
grape culture. 

On December .3, 1840, he married Mary L. 
Spurr, a daughter of Amos Spurr, of Portland. 
They reared three sons and five daughters : 
Eliza, married L. H. Kendall, of Buifalo ; 
Sarah, wedded Warren Dickson and lives in 
Wilkinsburg, Pa.; Mattie, is the wife of Ver- 
non Kent, a resident of Westfield; William, is 
a citizen of Chautauqua town and is married to 
Etta Hardonburg ; Chester, removed to Dun- 
kirk, married Nettie Burnell and is engaged in 
railroad work ; Redmond, Mary and Agnes, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



W. H. Arnold has voted with the Republi- 
can party since it came into existence, but has 
refrained from entering active political life. 
He is now far advanced in years, but is one of 
the most highly respected and honored citizens 
of the county. 

*s> 

tJ ARVEV BEMIS is a son of Stephen and 

{ -*■ Clarissa (Huntley) Beniis, and was born 
at Moscow, Livingston county, New York, Sep- 
tember 15, 1814. Stephen Bemis wtis a native 
of Connecticut. From there he moved to Liv- 
ingston couuty, thence to Genesee county, N. 
Y., and in February, 1825, he came to Chau- 
tauqua county and located in the town of Cly- 
mer, aud engaged in farming until his death, 
which occurred in December, 1847, after he had 
passed the age of seventy-four years. Mrs. 
Bemis was a native of Vermont, a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, and died in 
1859. Both Mr. and Mrs. Bemis were of 
English descent, and they reared a family of 
eight children, seven sons and one daughter. 

Harvey Bemis was a boy of eleven years 
when his father came to this county. He was 
reared on the farm and educated in the public 
schools, which M'ere equal to any of the country 
schools of that day. Farming has been his 
life-long occupation, and to-day he owns seventy- 
two acres of very fine land lying on the Nettle 
Hill road, two miles east of Westfield. Grape 
culture receives a portion of his attention, and 
in the spring of the year, for sixty-five years 
past, he says, he has helped to make maple-sugar 
and syrup. 

On May 8, 1837, he married Melissa Ann, a 
daughter of Nathaniel Dowley, who lived in 
Greenfield, Pa. By her he has three chil- 
dren, one son and two daughters : Emma, 
wifeof Perry Saunders, who lives in Wisconsin; 
Mary is the wife of Charles E. Flitner, who lives 
in St. Paul ; and Alton is an attorney-at-law in 
Cleveland, Ohio. 

Harvey Bemis is a venerable and respected 



old gentleman, who has the esteem of his neigh- 
bors and acquaintances. 



JESSE WARR, an adopted son of the United 
'^ States, who bore arms in her defense when 
her misguided sons sought to rend asunder her 
time-honored institutions, is a son of John and 
Jane (Mould) Wan-, and was born in Ailsbury, 
England, near the palace of the Duke of Buck- 
ingham, June 1, 18-28. For generations the 
Warrs had acknowledged allegiance to the 
sovereign of Great Britain, and James Mould, 
the maternal grandfather, was in the service of 
the duke above mentioned. John Warr was 
born at Glancutt, E]ngland, and came to America 
in IS'.j'.i and settled in Durhamviile, Oneida 
county, this State, and soon after moved into 
the city of Utica, where he made his home until 
his death in 1 852. He attained the age of sixtv- 
seven years. When he' identified himself with 
American political institutions, Mr. Warr became 
attached to the Democratic party ; his trade was 
harness-making, an employment that he followed 
in the mother country, and for many years in 
his new home. While in England's militarv 
service he belonged to the cavalry, and was 
skilled in the manual of arms in that branch of 
the service. Jane Mould was born at Bnckino-- 
ham, England, and died in Utica, New York, 
when eighty-two years old. She was a very 
religious lady, and was thoroughly conversant 
with the Bible, whicli was her constant com- 
panion. 

Jesse Warr came with his parents to America 
when only five years old, and the passage being 
made in a sailing vessel, it was long and tedious. 
He was reared principally in Utica, and secured 
his education at the public schools of that city, 
and after leaving school he learned shoemaking. 
During the month of August, 1862, Mr. WaiT 
enlisted in Company A, 112th Regiment, New 
York Volunteers, as a private, and served two 
years and two months, when he was discharged 
on account of disability. He participated in 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



many of the principal fights of his regiment, 
and conducted himself in such a manner as to 
win the respect of his comrades. Jamestown 
first knew him in the fall of 1859, when he 
came here and established a home, where, with 
the exception of the time spent in the array, he 
has lived ever since, and found employment at 
his trade until 1S77, whoii, having a natural 
taste for floriculture, he o])ened a green-house 
and took front rank while he followed it. He 
is now retired from business and owns some 
valuable city property. 

In 1851 he married Helen T. Osborn, of 
Utica, New York, and is now the father of three 
children : Mrs. Anna M. Wilcox lives in Jamef- 
towu ; Mrs. Mary E. Kice resides here ; and 
Emily L., who is superintendent of the training- 
school for nurses in the hospital at St. Louis, 
Missouri. 

Jesse Warr is a member of the Presl)yterian 
church, is a republican and belongs to James 
M. Brown Post, No. 285, G. A. R. Mrs. 
Helen T. Warr is a member of the same church 
and is one of the active members of the Woman's 
Relief Corps, No. 73, attached to James M. 
Brown Post, G. A. R., and also belongs to the 
Royal Templars of Temperaiic(^ Her father, 
Henry W. Osborn, was in the War of 1812, 
where he served with credit. He was of German 
descent, a native of Albany, New York, and 
(lied in Utica, this State, in 1882, aged ninety- 



SAMVKL CAI.DWKIvL. It is said of 
Samuel Caldwell that when a young man 
he could do a bigger day's chopping, out-jum|) 
or throw down any man in the district. He 
stands six feet tall and to-day, although sixty- 
nine years of age is still active, strong and vig- 
orous. Samuel Caldwell is the sou of Samuel, 
Sr., and Nancy (Coman) Caldwell, and was born 
in Salem, Washington county. New York, March 
17, 1822. James Caldwell (grandfather) came 
from Londonderry, Scotland, and served in the 



Revolutionary war. At the battle of Bunker 
Hill he was twice wounded but recovered and 
died in Arlington, Vt. His wife was Mary 
Clyde, a Scotch lady, who was remarkable for 
her historical knowledge. She was possessed of 
a fine memory, an inveterate reader and a keen 
olxserver which made her of more than ordinary 
interest. She lived to an advanced age and re- 
tained lier marvelous memory until the time of 
her deatii. She was also renowned for her skill 
in accouclienicnt cases. Samuel Caldwell, Sr., 
was born iu Arlington, Beuningtou county, Vt , 
in 1795, and removed from there to Washington 
county, this State, in 1812. Twenty years later 
he came to Portland town, arriving May 17, 
1832. He was a lifelong farmer and lived in 
this town until his death in 1878, when he was 
eighty- three years of age. Many anecdotes are 
told of Mr. Caldwell. He was of striking ap- 
pearance, six feet and two inches ; straight as an 
arrow and weighing but two hundred and forty- 
five pounds, was perfectly proportioned. He 
was renowned for his great strength and many 
would be champions for wrestling honors fell 
before him. Mr. Caldwell had the reputation 
of being the best and neatest former iu the town. 
He was a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church and officiated in the capacities of class- 
leader and steward. He married Nancy Coman, 
who was born in Warren county, N. Y., in 1799. 
They reared a family of twelve children, nine 
of whom are still living, five sons and four 
daughters. Mrs. Caldwell was a gentle Chris- 
tian woman, a consistent member of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church and died iu 1884, aged 
eighty-five years. 

Samuel Caldwell came to Portland with his 
father and was reared on the farm and educated 
in the public schools. When a young man he 
learned the carpenter trade but never pursued it 
steadily, diuging instead to the farm. Mr. 
Caldwell is now the owner of a good farm, 
which he secured by hard work and pays con- 
siderable attention to grape culture. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



On Christmas day, 1843, lie wedded Jane 
Ann Springstead, of Portland, who died two 
and one-third years later (April 21, ]84(j), leav- 
ing him two sons — Dewitt and Isaac W. The 
first-named dieil an infant and Isaac W. resides 
with his father. Mr. Caldwell married for his 
second wife Martha Ann Wilbur, of Portland, 
in 1848, and she died in 18(J8, leaving two 
daughters — Ellen E. and Martha J. Ellen E. 
is the wife of M. W. Brown, a Portland farmer, 
and Martha J. married L. A. Bigelow, similarly 
employed in the same town. In November, 
1889, Mr. Caldwell re-married, this time to 
Mrs. Louisa (Wilbur) Smart, who came from 
the town of Chautauqua. 

He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church and Lodge No. 3li, Equitable Aid Union. 
Politically he is an uncomprouiisiug democrat 
and has filled the office of road commissioner 
for two years. 



jA ATHAN BKOWN. One of the oldest ot 

\ Jamestown's citizens, and in his active 

days the leading and most enterprising business 
man of that .section, who took the manufactured 
wares of that city's early factories down the 
Ohio and Mississi])pi rivers and exchanged tiiem 
for casii, is Nathan Brown. He is a sou of the 
late Nathan, Sr. and Levia (Smith) Brown, and 
was born in Eaton, Madison county, New 
York, November 19, 1812. The family is of 
English extraction in both branches ; the pa- 
ternal grandfather, Joseph Brown, was a native 
of Boston and was born about the middle of 
the eighteenth century. Following the sea for 
many years, he rose to the rank of captain of a 
merchant vessel, plying between Boston and 
Liverpool, prior to the Revolutionary war, and 
he was lost at sea during a west bound voyage. 
He married a Miss Jones and had three ddl- 
dren, Nathan Brown, Sr. being the youngest. ' 
Samuel Pomeroy Smith, the maternal graud- 
father, was of English Puritan stock and a 
native of New London, Conneoticut. He mar- 



ried Rebecca Armstrong and emigrated to 
Onondaga county, this State, and settled at 
Avhat was then Ceddesl)urg, now Syracuse. His 
union gave the worlil ten children, five sons and 
five daughters. The mother of Nathan Brown 
was born in 1786. Nathan Brown, Sr. was 
born in Boston, Massachusetts, June 30, 1782 
and went to Madison county about 18(J6 ; later, 
in 1822 he came to Chautauqua county and 
bought a piece of land of the Holland Laud 
Company, in the town of Ellington, and followed 
farming so successfully that lie became one of 
the largest land owners of his neighborhood. 
Mr. Brown possessed a superior education for 
his day, and it enabled him to reach a pinnacle, 
which, without it, would never have been at- 
tained. Politically he was a whig, without 
ambitious aspirations. In 1808 he married 
Levia Smith, and became the tather of nine 
children, two of whom died in infaucv ; all are 
now dead except Nelson, the twin brother of 
subject, who lives in Ellington, this county, and 
has retired from business ; Daphne, living in 
Minneapolis, Minnesota, the widow of a Mr. 
Waterman ; Albro S., late mayor of the city of 
Viiieland, N. J., a practicing lawyer for twenty 
years at that place, died December l(j, 1890. 

Nathan Brown was i-eared and passed his 
early life in the uneventful manner usual with 
country boys. In 1823 he first came to James- 
town, but did not begin a permanent residence 
until 1832, when he engaged in manufacturing 
pails, and followed that line of business until 
1843, when he commenced ruiming store-boat 
cargoes of building materials down the Alle- 
gheny, Ohioand Mississippi rivers andsellingat 
the larger towns. He enlarged his business until 
its scope included agricultural implements, 
doors, sash and everything manufactured at 
Jamestown. 

Augu.st 17, 1841, he married Caroline E. 
Le Fevre, a daughter of Daniel and Henrietta 
L. (Colsou) Le Fevre, who was born in Mead- 
ville, Pennsylvania, March 24, 1822. Her 



314 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



father was of French extraction and took a 
prominent part in the politics of the Keystone 
State and served at Harrisburg in the Legisla- 
ture ; he was a prominent Mason, having at- ! 
tained the degree of Royal Arch Mason. The 
mother of subject, is still living with her (laugh- 
ter, at Jamestown. Mr. and Mrs. Brown are 
the parents of children as follows: Henry 
LeFevre, born May 30, 1842, married N. 
Alcesta Fisher, March 27, 1865 and now lives 
iu Jamestown. He entered the Unitetl States 
army in Co. B, 72nd regiment, N. Y. Infantry, 
in 1861 ; he re-enlisted, and served during tlie 
entire war. Jieon G., was born July 18, 1844^ 
and married Lucy Hayes, January 31, 1870; 
lie now resides at Huntingdon, W. Va. He 
enlisted September 12, 1862, in Co. F, 112th 
regiment, and served to the close of the war 
Amelia Marvin was born May 15, 1848, and 
married Theodore W. McClintock, a .son of the 
late Dr. James McClintock, of the Philadelphia 
College of Medicine. Theodore W. McClin- 
tock was born May 28, 1846 and was the 
author of" The Analysis of Zell's Encyclopedia," 
a work of extensive circulation, consisting of 
an outline of universal history. He died May 
12, 1889. Charles N., was born October 21, 
1851, and married Alice Ross, January 13, 
1881. He is engaged in manufacturing plush 
at Jame.stown, the firm name being the "James- 
town Plush Mills Com})any." George B. W. 
was born September 15, 1853, and married 
Blanche A. White, July 20, 1884. He resides 
at Titusville, Pa., and conducts a pharmacy, 
being a giaduate of the Philadelphia School of 
Pharmacy in the class of 1878. 

Nathan Brown spent forty-four years in bus- 
iness and did not retire until 1885, after pass- 
ing three-score and ten j'cars of age. During 
his career he took one hundred and fifty-four 
store boats down the river, the aggregate value 
of the cargoes being over half a million dollars, 
and mast of it was manufactured articles made 
in Chautauqua county. With the advent of 



the railroads in the South and other conditions 
arising soon after the close of the war, the busi- 
ness l>ecame unremunerative ; prices and profits 
being much smaller than before. Since 1885 
Mr. Brown has led a retired life. He is a re- 
publican in politics and has been a member of 
the Presbyterian church since 1836 ; he is the 
oldest male member in the Presbyterian church of 
Jamestown; Mr. Brown also out-ranks all 
others in term of membership in Lodge No. 
221, I. O. (). F., at Jamestown, having been 
continuous tor over forty years. For some 
years past he has devoted much time, as a recre- 
ation, to writing the local history of James- 
town and its environments, and so well is lie 
posted, that he is considered authority upon 
local historical matters. 

Nathan Brown's has been a life well spent ; 
public confidence rests with him implicitly, and 
it may be truthfully said " he is a good man," 
an assertion to which posterity may point with 
pride. Mr.s. Brown came to this county in 
1827, with an uncle, Augustus Colson, who 
married a niece of Andrew Ellicott, named Sarah 
Kennedy, after whose family the village bear- 
ing that title was named. Mrs. Brown lived iu 
Kennedy but a short time and then went to 
Buffalo, where her young ladyhood was passed 
and she remained until her marriage. Since 
that time she has lived continuously in the 
same home, in Jamestown. 



HOMER J. SKINNER is a leading farmer 
of the town of Portland, and owns a 
property eighty-four acres in extent, two and 
one-half miles from the village. He is a son 
of David and Betsy (Hill) Skinner, and was 
born in Portland, ('liantau(|ua county, New 
York, June 6, 1821). 

Homer J. Skinner traces his ancestry to the 
Emerald Isle ; his father, David Skinner, was 
born in Chenango county, in 1803, and came to 
Portland when sixteen years of age, located in 
this town, began to farm, and has followed it 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



uninterruptedly for seveuty-two years. The 
old gentleman still lives, aged eighty-eight 
years, is a prosperous farmer enjoying fair 
health, and is now haj)py in the association of 
his grandchildren of the fifth generation. On 
account of his advanced age, as would be ex- 
pected, he is not actively engaged, but is a mem- 
ber of the Metliodist church at l\)rtland, and 
belongs to the Democratic party, as do all of his 
sons. On December 25, 1825, David Skinner 
married Betsy Hill, who was born August 14, 
1803, and having borne her husband five chil- 
dren, four sons and one daughter, died in the 
faith of the Methodist church, December 22, 
1836. He then married for his second wife, 
Mary Williams, who is still living, and is the 
mother of three cliildi'en, two sons and one 
daughter. 

Homer J. Skinner was reared on the old 
farm, and secured a district school education. 
He, like his father, has made farming his life 
work, and is now the proprietor of a fine vine- 
yard twenty acres in extent. 

On October 20, 1851, he married Martha 
Fuller, a daughter of Michael Fuller, of Port- 
land, and they have one son, Norman Lester, 
who is united in mairiage with Fanny Secord, 
of Erie, Penua., on the 2d day of August, 
1888, and now lives with his father. 

Homer J. Skinner is a member of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, a demo- 
crat, good citizen and a prosperous farmer. 



TJ N1>KU.S M. Hr YCK was one of the earliest 
-**■ settlers of the town of Arkwright, having 
located here in 1820. The follo^ving sjiring he 
built a log-house, which was soon occupied by 
his family consisting of his wife and sons, Shad- 
rach and Oscar. When Mr. Huyck ar- 
rived there were no neighbors near him but so 
rapidly did new arrivals come in, that they 
erected a log school-house in time for a term in 
the winter of 1827 ; and a few years subsequently 
a large and comfortable frame I)uilding was 
16 



erected. The "Abbey school," as it was called, 
prospered, became a popular institution and 
many men, who afterward became ])rominent 
and useful, received an education within its 
walls. Our subject was a successful teacher and 
to him in a large measure was due the credit fia- 
this successful school-house. He filled the oflice 
of commissioner of schools and for a number of 
terms was justice of the peace. He had four 
children born in this town: Elijah and Avery 
and two daughters, Tamar and Hester, three of 
whom went west. The youngest sou Avery en- 
tered the Union Array and served three years, 
passing through several battles without injur}'. 



T ^KVI BALDWIN was a prominent man in 

■'■^ the town of Arkwright, Chautauqua 
county. He was a son of Isaac and Parthena 
Baldwin, and was born in Pawlet, Vermont, 
January 26, 1802. When ten years of age lie 
accompanied his fiither to this county and they 
at first made their home in the town of Sheridan, 
where he remained until after his marriage with 
Eliza Ann Putnam, which occiu'red October 23, 
1831, and he then moved into this town and 
made himself a home. His first wife died No- 
vember 10, 1863, having borne him three sons : 
Oliver T., who went to California about the 
time he reached manhood, married Nancy 
Wright ; L. Courtney, who married Amoret 
Saunders and settled in this town, and Orville 
D., who married Eglantine Dawley, and for 
many years conducted a drug-store in Fredonia. 
For his second wife Levi Baldwin married 
Eleanor B. Phelps on March 26, 186G. 

Levi Baldwin was quite active iu political 
matters and for eight years held the office of 
supervisor, was justice of the peace for several 
terms, and town superintendent of schools. 
The duties of all of which he discharged with 
fidelity and to the satisfaction of his fellow- 
citizens. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



O'IMEON CIjINTON was well known to the 
*^ early citizens of Arkwriglit town, having 
for many years followed the profession of sur- 
veying, and thereby coming in contact with 
most of the early settlers. He was born in 
Saratoga connty, this State, on the third day of 
February, 1779, and went from there to Otsego 
connty, from whence he came to Chautauqua 
and settled iu the town of Arkwriglit in 1813. 
Being a bright and intelligent man and of a 
companionable disposition, he attained consider- 
able prominence in the nortiieast portion of the 
county and about 1825 it is said that he made 
the first survey and plot of the village of Dun- 
kirk ; he performed a similar service for Sin- 
clairville some years later. Mr. Clinton kept 
the first tavern in the town of Arkwriglit and 
was also the first postmaster, holding the posi- 
tion for twenty years; politically he was a whig 
and was town-clerk and justice of the peace for 
several terms. In 1859, during a thunder 
shower, he and an only son were iu a barn and 
upon leaving the building, when just iu the act 
of closing the door, he was struck by lightning 
and killed. The son was prostrated but soon 
recovered. Simeon Clinton had a family con- 
sisting of a son already mentioned and five 
daughters. The last of the latter being triplets, 
all of them are now dead. A grandson of Mr. 
Clinton, Charles Cole, a son of INIilton Cole, 
has been town-clerk of Arkwright, a highly 
respectable man. 



^Kl^N .ST(>I>I)ARD. A prominent agri- 
^^ culturist of the town of Busti, who was 
born in the "Green IMountain State," but who 
has been identified with Chautauqua county 
since his early manhood, is the gentleman whose 
name heads this sketch. He is a son of Alvin 
and Rena (Hall) Stoddard and was born at West 
Brattleboro, Windliam county, Vermont, July 
18th, 1818. The Stoddard family are of Eng- 
lish descent, and our subject's grandfather, Jacob 
Stoddard, achieved distinction by serving on 



General Washington's body guard during the 
Revolutionary war. Until his enlistment he 
was a farmer in his native State and at the close 
of hostilities returned there and died in 1812; 
his wife drew a Revolutionary widow's jiension 
until her death. Alvin Stoddard was a native 
of the same State and by trade was a miller and 
mill-wright. When a young man he was em- 
ployed as a school teacher, and, having acquired 
a superior education, was offered a professorship 
in Yale College, which he declined. He was a 
deacon in the Baptist church and died when 
fifty-eight years of age. He married Rena Hall, 
a native of Brattleboro, Vermont, of French 
extraction ; she, too, was a member of the Bap- 
tist church and died on April 5, 1853, aged 
sixty-three years. 

Oren Stoddard was reared near tlie scene of 
his birth and was educated in the common .schools 
of his native State until nineteen years of age, 
when, failing health compelling him to leave 
the rigorous climate of Vermont, he came to 
Chautauqua county and remained three years, 
and although he returned home at the end of 
that time, the salubrity of the climate and the 
natural beauty of Chautauqua county caused him 
to come back almost immediately and he has re- 
sided here ever since. He learned the carpenter 
and joiner's trade and followed it for some time 
in connection with his farming. In 1841 he 
moved upon the farm where he now lives and 
has resided there since without interruption — an 
unbroken period of fifty years. 

In 1842 he married Catherine M. Smith, a 
daughter of William Smith of the town of 
Busti, this county, and they were blessed with a 
family of five children, two sons and three 
daughters : Rena is the wife of Charles H. 
Johnson, a prominent manufacturer of this 
town; Eugene died when eight years and nine 
months old; Ella married H. E. Davis and re- 
sides at Warren, Pa. ; Cooley died aged twenty- 
two years and four months; and May Belle is 
unmarried and at home. Mr. Stoddard owns a 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



317 



fine farm of well-improved lautl, and his resi- 
dence is a nice brick lioiise. 

The grape product requires a large number of 
baskets in which to market it; to supply this 
demand Mr. Stoddard is engaged in manufac- 
turing grape baskets, ii business which he has 
conducted in connection with his farming for 
the past twenty-five years. Politically he is a 
republican and has held the honorable position 
of president of the Chautauqua County Agri- 
cultural Society in the year 1882. He was his 
party's candidate for tiie Assembly at one time, 
but was not elected. Mr. Stoddard has always 
taken an active part in politics and is recognized 
as a very influential man. He is an intelligent 
and educated gentleman, fond of company and 
an excellent entertainer. 



y^R. KAYM(>NI> M. KVARTS, a skillful 
^"^ physician of the younger school, and a 
graduate of Howard University, of Washington, 
D. C, is a sou of Charles H. and Lucy (Kellogg) 
Evarts and was born August 27th, 1859, at 
Leon, Cattai-augus county, New York. The 
Evarts family have risen to prominence, a citable 
example being the Hon. William M. Evarts, 
Ex-United States Senator from the Empire 
State. For some generations they were homo- 
geneous to New England, the paternal great- 
grandfather, Rinaldo Evarts, being a native of 
Connecticut. He entered the ministry of the 
Methodist Episcopal church and after coming to 
New York State was for a number of years 
presiding elder of the Erie Conference. Rinaldo 
Evarts married Eliza Morlcy, a descendant of 
one of the most distinguished New England 
families. They had six children, three sons 
and three daughters. The maternal grandfather. 
Captain Galord Kellogg, was born in the eastern 
part of New York ; he followed farming and 
earned his military title by several years service 
in the New York State militia. Early in life 
he emigrated to Cattaraugus county, where he 
establishe<l fir himself a name and reputation 



second to none. Politically he was a whig and 
republican and he married Rosanna Warner, 
who bore him three sons and two daughters. 
Charles H. Evarts was born in eastern New 
York about 1823. He has always been identi- 
fied with agricultural work and now lives in 
Chautauqua county. Politically he is a repub- 
lican but is not desirous of political distinction, 
although he takes an active interest in the aifaii's 
of his party. He married Lucy Kellogg, who 
is yet living, aged fifty-eight years, and they 
have had six children, four sons and two daugh- 
ters: Julia is dead; Raymond M.; George, who 
lives at Irving, New York, and is engaged as a 
traveling salesman for a Saratoga wholesale drug 
house; Estella is dead ; Grant lives at Collins, 
Erie county, New York ; and < 'Jiailes, who is 
dead. 

Dr. Raymond M. F^varts married Annie Tully, 
a native of Cortland county, this State, on the 
Gth day of February, 1884, and they have three 
children: Ruby T., Lucy and Cora Ruth. 

Raymond M. p]varts was educated at the 
common and more advanced .schools of the lo- 
calities in which he lived, and \vlnii twenty 
years of age he entered the office of l>r. A. A. 
Hubbell, then located at Leon, New York, but 
now jirofessor of diseases of the eye and ear at 
Niagara University, Buffalo. After the usual 
term of reading, our subject matricidated at the 
Buffalo College of Physicians and Sin-geonsand 
took one course of lectures. He then went to 
Howard University, Washington, I). C, where 
he took his graduating course in the medical de- 
partment of that institution, and received his 
diploma March 7th, 1882. He first located for 
practice at Pine Valley, Cattaraugus county, 
where he remained one year and three months, 
and July 23d, 1883, came to Irving, Chautauqua 
county, where he has ever since resided. Dr. 
Evarts is a member of both the Chautauqua 
County Medical society and the Lake Erie 
Medical society, and in politics is a republican, 
besides being a member of the Knights of the 



BIOGRAPHY AND IHSTOBY 



Maccabees. He is an interested student of 
arclucolcigy and has in his possession an extensive 
and valuable collection of historical relics, both 
of the stone or Indian age and the early French 
explorations. 

Dr. Evarts is a skillful physician, is thorough- 
ly familiar with his profession, because he loves 
it, and upon the appearance of every new and 
valuable treatment of pi-actical value, he ac- 
quaints himself with it at once. 



HENRY R. CAKE, sheriff of Chautauqua 
county, and loan commissioner by ap- 
pointment of the governor of New York, in 
1873, for four years, is a son of Gardiner and 
Lucy (Cutting) Case, and was born in the town 
of French Creek. Chautauqua county, New 
York, April 28, 1839. While a large stream 
of pioneer settlers came direct into Chautauqua 
coiuity from Mas.sachusetts, the parent colony 
of New England, an indirect stream of consid- 
erable size came from the Bay State through the 
minor colonies of New Hampshire, Connecticut 
and Vermont, in which it had been arrested in 
its westward course for a generation in the 
lives of the fathers, but moved forward in the 
adventurous spirit of the sons who crossed the 
confines of eastern civilization and made homes 
for themselves in the vicinity of the great 
lakes. Among the families of Elnglish descent 
in Massachusetts, who nioved to Vermont, were 
the Cases and Cuttings, and of the next gener- 
ation, which was born in the Green Mountain 
State, Rev. Joseph Case and David Cutting, 
the grandfathers of Sheriff Ca.se, became early 
settlers in Chautauqua county, where they con- 
tinued to reside until they died. Rev. Joseph 
Case was a minister of the Baptist church, and 
served as a soldier in the war of 1812, while 
David Cutting was a farmer, and served like- 
wise in the second War for Independence. 
Gardiner Case (father) was born on his father's 
Massacliusetts farm, and served on tiie Canad- 
ian frontier in the war in which his father, and 



afterwards father-in-law were soldiers. Some 
time after i)eace had been ratified between Great 
Britain and the United States, he cametoChau- 
tau(pia county, where he settled in the town of 
French Creek, in which he was a resident until 
his death, February 20, 18G0, at seventy-one 
years of age. His wife was Lucy Cutting, who 
was born in Vermont, April 7, 17fll), and passed 
from earth in April, 1871. To Gardiner and 
Lucy Case were born in their western home, 
four sons and two daughters : Luther H., a car- 
penter of Brocton, who owns and operates a 
vineyard ; Homer, a farmer of Bremer county, 
Iowa; Joseph, a justice of the peace in iMou- 
tana ; Darwin, who is engaged in farming in 
the town of Ripley ; Henry R. ; Ziba, widow of 
Eli N. Brown ; and Lucy, wife of P. N. 
Cross, now of tiie town of French Creek, l>ut 
formerly a merchant of ('orry, Pa. 

Henry R. Case was reared on a farm, attenil- 
ed the common .schools of his town, and en- 
gaged in farming as his first business in life. 
In 18G1 the oil fields of Venango county. Pa., 
attracted his attention as oflFering superior ad- 
vantages to investors, and as being far more 
profitable than investments in farming could 
possibly be at that time. He leased jiropertv 
in that county, and for four years was engaged 
as an oil producer. During the early part of 
that time he was seriously burned and lost the 
sight of one of his eyes at a fiowing well, which 
caught fire and Inirned nineteen others to death. 
These injuries which he received prevented his 
entering the late war, and when he quii operat- 
ing in oil in 18G5, he embarked in the feed and 
grocery business at Pioneer, on Oil Creek, 
which he followed for about five years. He 
then became a member of the mercantile firm 
of Cross & Case, at Corry, Pa., which lasted 
for eight years. In 1878 he returned to French 
Creek, where he has been engaged in the lumber 
and shingle manufacturing business ever since. 
In November, 1888, he was elected by the Re- 
publican jiarty as sheriff of C'liautauqua conn- 




7^/f^^ 



my>^ 



OF CHAVTArqUA COUNTY. 



ty, and assumed charge of that office January 
1, 1880. Previous to tliis lie had sorve-1 for 
nine years as supervisor of Freneii Creek, ami 
in 187."5, was appointed as a loan couiuiissioner 
by the governor of New Yurh. 

January 1,18<J1, he married Marv Iliil)l)ar(i, 
daughter of Jonas Ij. lliiijljard, of this county. 
In 18(}'2 Mrs. Case died, and on Decead)er 25, 
18()(j, Mr. Case tuiited in marriage with Susan- 
na Hubbard, a sister to his former wife. 

H. K. Case has always been identified with 
the Republican party, which has always re- 
ceived his undivided and active support. His 
time has chiefly been devoted to his various 
business enterprises. In addition to lumbering 
he is largely interested in dairying, and owns a 
large cheese factory. He also owns a valuable 
stock farm of nine hundred acres, which is till- 
able and well adaj)ted to grazing. He is a 
member of Columbus Lodge, No. 1(14, F. & 
A. M., at Columbus, and Clymer Lodge, No. 
•)\, Ancient Order of United Workmen, of 
Clymer, N. Y. Sheriff Case has always been 
diligent, energetic and active in every business 
enterprise in which he has been engaged. As 
a business man he has been successful, as a citi- 
zen he has liberal ideas as to ])ublic affairs, and 
as a sheriff he is prompt and ftiitliful in the dis- 
charge of every duty of that important olHce. 



TAV WINCIM, the proprietor an<l manager 

^ of the Clymer butter and cheese factories, 
is a son of John S. and Sarah (Suhulster) 
Winch, and was born in the town of Marilla, 
Erie county. New York, November 3, 18(J7. 
The Winches and Schulsters are both of Eng- 
lish ancestry. Tlie paternal grandfather of Jay 
Winch was William Winch, who was a soldier 
of the war of 1812, and died in Erie county ; 
while his maternal grandfather, Mr. Schulster, 
was a resident for some years of Wyoming 
county, in which he died. John S. Winch 
(father) was born in the State of New Jersey, 
and in 1835 removed to Erie county, where lie 



died in 18fj!». He was a former by occupation, 
a lepubliifin In politics, and a ]iresbyterian in 
religious I'aitli. He served as suinu'visor of his 
town for a number of years, married Sarah 
Schulster, and reared a family of five sons and 
(liree daughters. The sons are Martin, Frank, 
Alfred, Andrew and Jay, and all reside in Wy- 
oming county, New Y'ork, except the last 
named one. 

Jay Winch was reared on the tiirni, olitained 
a good academic education at Franklinville, 
Cattaraugus county, and commenced life for 
himself as a clerk in a store of East Aurora, 
Erie county, New Y''ork. After some time 
spent at the latter place he received an advan- 
tageous offer and went to Charleston, the me- 
tropolis of South Carolina, where he was a 
clerk for eighteen months in a large store. 
From Charleston he returned to his native 
State where he was employed as a clerk in a 
mercantile establishment of Warsaw until 188G, 
when he went to Sherman, wliert^ he occupied a 
position for five years in the employ of Mr. Ed- 
mund's butter and cheese factories. During the 
time spent in the factory office he learned all 
the details of the successful manufiicture of but- 
ter and cheese, and in the spring of 1890 he 
came to Clymer where he established his pres- 
ent butter and cheese factories, the one at 
Clymer, and the other at North Clymer. The 
Clymer factory has an annual output of ninety 
thousand pounds of butter, while the North 
Clymer factory turns out sixty thousand pounds 
per year. Mr. Winch makes a very fine arti- 
cle of butter which finds a market in the larger 
cities of the United States. 

In politics Jay Winch is rather independent 
and supports the man or the measure more than 
the party or the nominee. In religious matters 
he is a presbyterian, and has been a member of 
the church of that denomination at East Au- 
rora for several years. Mr. Winch's present 
enterprise has added much to the business pros- 
perity of his village, and from its present pros- 



BIOGBAPHY AND HISTORY 



peroiis condition promises to be an assuretl suc- 
cess in the future. 



SARDIUS FltlSBEE, a descendant from an 
old New England family, and one of the 
substantial, wide-awake merchants of Ellington, 
is a son of James and Eunice (Harris) Frisbee, 
and was born at DeWittvilIe,Cliautau(iua county, 
on the twenty-fourth day of September, 1839. 
Subject's father came from the State of Vermont, 
of wdiich he was a native, to the county of 
Chautauqua, New York, when but a mere boy, 
being accompanied by his mother. He learned 
the trade of briekmaker and mast)n and moulded 
the brick for the first county buildings in Chau- 
tau(iua county — the old jail and court-house. 
At this time he was resident at DeWittville, but 
shortly afterwards moved into the town of 
Ellery, where he engaged in fl\rmiug. From 
Ellery he again removed to Ellington where he 
lived eight years; he died in 1881, at the age 
of seventy-one years. In the year 1853 he 
made a pilgrimage to California, and there pur- 
sued the business of brick-making for about a 
year, when he again i-eturned to the east. On 
his way back, which was by steamship, via the 
Isthmus of Panama, he suffered the horrors of 
shipwreck, but was finally succored and safely 
landed at New York. James Frisbee was a man 
of great energy antl force of character, somewhat 
set in his ways, but kindly withal. Both he 
and his wife were members of the Christian 
cUurch at DeWittville, and regarded as con- 
scientious in life and conduct. His wife is still 
living at P]llington, in her seventieth year. 
James Frisbee was an ardent, hearty supporter 
of the Republican party. 

Sardius Frisbee was brought up in Chau- 
tauqua county, on the shore of the famous lake 
of that name, and passed his youth in a com 
l)aratively uneventful way. He passed through 
the common schools and also attended the 
academies at Mayville and Ellington. Upon 
leaving the academy he taught school for two 



yeare, after which he engaged in farming for 
.some six years, and finally, in 18(39, purchased 
his present business stand. From this date, 
merchandising in its various forms has been his 
constant occupation. He has a fine general and 
miscellaneous store, embracing the largest stock 
of goods in the towu of Ellington, which he 
has successfully and with profit conducted ever 
since his embarkation. 

In 18();2 Mr. Frisbee was joined in marriage 
to Miss Lavantia M., daughter of Horatio N. 
Barnes, of the town of Ellington. She died in 
1872 leaving one child, Cora L., who died at 
the age of fifteen years. His second wife was 
Miss Amelia Benedict, daughter of John Bene- 
dict, of Ellington, who died in 1884, leaving 
two children, both sous, John B. and James H., 
both of whom are still living. Mr. Frisbee 
was married a third time, in January, 1887, to 
Mrs. Francelia D. Shannon {nef Hunt) of Leon, 
Cattaraugus county, New York. By this last 
union there has been no issue. Mrs. Frisbee had 
by her first husband a daughter, Inez E. Shan- 
non, who is a graduate of the New England 
Conservatory of Music, and at present has charge 
of the music department of Pcddie institute, at 
Highstown, New- Jersey. 

Mr. Frisbee is a member ot tiie Congregational 
church at Ellington, and in that church holds 
the office of treasurer. In jwlitical ati'airs he is 
an adherent of the Republican party, and held 
the position of jiostmaster for a number of years. 
He is also a member of the A. O. U. W., and 
present supervisor for the town of Ellington. 
Mr. Frisbee is a man of sterling worth, exem- 
plary habits and conscientious conduct. 



JA3IES COCHRANE, who for eighty years 
was a resident and fiirmer of the town of 
Ripley, living in the village, was a son of Alex- 
ander and Nancy (Martin) Cochrane, and was 
born in the town of Ripley, Chautauqua county, 
N.Y., April 4, 1811, and died May 14, 1891. 
His paternal grandfather, Hugh Cochrane, was 



OF CHAUTAUQUA VOUNTl'. 



a native of Ireland, where he lived and died, 
the scene being Woodgrange, County Down. 
He belonged to the peasant class in which he 
was a rejjrcsentative man. He married Nancy 
Beatty and reared a family of eleven children ; 
but three are mentioned : Alexander, Kolicrt 
and Hugii. The maternal grandfather was John 
Martin, also a native of Ireland, where he passed 
his life and died. The three brothers mentioned 
above all came to America and settled in Ripley, 
Chautauqua county, New York. Robert was 
twice married, had thirteen children, and died 
iu October, 1854. Hugh married Saraii Ncsbit 
before he left Ireland, and reared eigiit children ; 
he died early in 1854. 

Alexander Cochrane was a protestant, or what 
is known as a Scotch-Irishman. He was the 
first settler in Ripley town, having bought his 
farm in October of 1804. Some authorities 
state that he entered the town in 1802, which 
may be correct. His is the first name that 
appears on the Hollaud Land Company's books 
as a purchaser in this town, He took a tract of 
three hundred acres and built a house, in which 
his entire family of thirteen children were born. 
Politically he was a whig, and an elder in the 
Presbyterian church. Alexander Cochrane was 
born at Woodgrange, County Down, Ireland, 
where he married Nancy Martin shortly before 
leaving for America. Their children were: 
John, Nancy, the wife of W. A. Robinson ; 
Hugh, Alexander, Robert, William, Samuel, 
Margaret, who married Jediah Loomis; James, 
Martin, Andrew, David and Eleanor. The 
number of his grandchildren reached sixty-four. 
All of the above-mentioned are dead except I 
Eleanor, who married a IMr. Dickson. Alex- 
ander Cochrane died in lS5(i at Rijiiev, New 
York, aged ninety years. 

James Cochrane was reared on his father's \ 
large farm. He married Nancy Johnston, a 
daughter of John Johnston, who was a native 
of Woodgrange, County Down, Ireland, brought ' 
his f\imily to Westfield, this county, and died 



in 1852. James Cochrane and his wife reared 
nine children : Joseph A. resides in Rochester, 
New York ; Elizabeth A. lives in Eureka, Kan- 
sas ; Francis Johnston resides on a portion of 
the old farm ; Catherine is living in Eureka, 
Kansas ; Mary E. is living in the old home, so 
long made bright by her kind parents ; Sarah 
A. married Alexander Cochrane, who lives on 
a farm in East Ripley ; Julia Etta died in 1878, 
aged twenty-three years ; James Alexander owns 
the east part of the farm that belonged to his 
grandfather and lives upon it; and Charles F., 
who resides on a portion of the flirm fijrmerly 
owned by his father. 

Farming was the steady employment of James 
Cochrane all his life, until he bought the prop- 
erty where he died in Ripley village, and moved 
there in 1887. Mrs. Cochrar.e died May 9, 1891, 
only five days before her husljand. 



HEXKY REYNOLDS. Prominent iu the 
business circles of Sinclairville is the 
well-known hardware merchant mentioned 
above, who has conducted his present establish- 
ment since 1870. Henry Reynolds is a son of 
Abraham and Elizabeth (Smale) Reynold.s, and 
was born in the suburbs of tlie village where he 
now lives on the 2d day of April, 1827. His 
parents were natives of " merry old England," 
and his father, Abraham Reynolds, was a baker 
in the city of London. They left that metrop- 
olis of the world and came to the wilderness of 
the Empire State in 1819, and settled on what 
is now his farm near Sinclairville. Two of his 
daughters are yet living in England, and one 
son, George S., left houie in 1849 and has not 
been heard of since 1850. Abraham Reynolds 
.secured a farm and made a fine property of it. 
He died in 1853, aged seventy years. 

Henry Reynolds was reared on the farm and 
followed that occupation until twenty-four years 
of age, securing a common school education at 
the district schools. At the age of twenty-four 
lie entered the service of Alonzo Langworthv, 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



a dry-goods dealer at Sinclairville, and remained 
with liim six months and then accepted like 
employment with C. J. Allen and staid there 
two years. The succeeding two years were de- 
voted to John Dewey, and in 1860 he took a 
trip to his father's native land, but re-crossed 
the water in the spring of ISlil, and again went 
back during the latter part of the same year and 
staid there one year. During the fall of 1862 
he came to Sinclairville, and iu 1863, '64 and 
'65 was supervisor of the town. During his 
term of office he speculated some iu real estate 
at Dunkirk. Tlie present business of Mr. Rey- 
nolds was inaugurated in 1870, iu partnership 
with Richard Reed, and has been conducted 
with constantly increasing success ever since. 
Henry Reynolds inherited the old homestead 
and now owns it and other farms. 

In 1867 he married Mrs. Helen (Kimball) 
Richmond, a daughter of Dr. Josej)h E. Kim- 
ball, for many years a prominent physician of 
the town of Ellicott. Two children have come 
from the union of Mr. and Mrs. Reynolds : 
Elizabeth M. and Elliott K. Henry Reynolds 
stands high iu the estimation of his acquaint- 
ances as a man of integrity and honor. 



T» >-l':SLEY 3I1L,SPAW. Among the promi- 
•""^ neut business men and progressive citi- 
zens of western New York, Wesley INIilspaw 
stands iu the front rank. He is a sou of Jere- 
miah and Margaret (Waggoner) Milspaw, and 
was born in the town of Townsend, Huron 
county, Ohio, February 2.">, 1823. His grand- 
father, George Waggoner, was a native of New 
Jereey, and at the outbreak of the Revolution- 
ary war, without a thought of self, placed him- 
self at the service of the country which gave 
him l)irth. He served in that memorable strug- 
gle through seven years of hardship, privation, 
battle and National darkness with unswerving 
patriotism, and, strange to remark, without hav- 
ing received a single wound. Another fact 
showing the strange and somewhat remarkable 



workings of fortune, was that his death occurred 
in the country against which in early life he bad 
risked his lifij. When he died he was seventy- 
eight years of age. The father of our subject 
was born in Orange county. New York, but 
soon became a resident of the State of Ohio, 
whither his father remo%'ed. In 1827 he re- 
turned to New York State and located iu what 
is now known as Cherry Creek, Ciiautauqua 
county. Here he resided for a period of three 
years, after which he went to Canada and re- 
mained a couple of years, thence returning to 
Ellington, where he died in 1852, at the age of 
seventy-two years. By trade Mr. Milspaw \\as 
a tailor, having served a long apprenticeship in 
that business in New York city. He was 
regarded as a very skillful and artistic workman 
in his line, but his abilities as a manager were 
ratlier mediocre. He was in religion a commu- 
nicant of the Methodist Episcopal church, and 
in his political views a stanch democrat. The 
Milspaw family is of French extraction, though 
on the maternal side was of German origin. 
Subject's mother was a native of New Jersey, 
au entiinsiastic churchwomau, and during their 
I residence in Canada devoted much time to teach- 
' iug and Christianizing the Indians. She was a 
woman of rare gifts, sincere and devoted to the 
cause of truth and religion and, above all, filled 
with unbounded enthusiasm and energy. Her 
missionary efforts bore fruitful results, and she 
lived to enjoy the benedictions which arise from 
a life of devotion and good works. Her death 
occurred in 1842, wiien at tiie age of fifty-eight 
years. 

Wesley Milspaw was reared principally in 
Chautauqua county, educated in the common 
schools, and upon leaving took up trading and 
peddling for some time. He was a poor boy 
who was comj)elled to make his own way in life, 
so that all his spare time had to be turned toward 
making a livelihood. When a young man he 
cut wood at eighteen cents per coi'd and worked 
in the hay fields at fifty cents per day. After 



OF CH.iUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



accumulating a little money and establishiug a ' learning and ability in the profession of the law. 

credit, he engaged in the lumber business and He is a citizen of New York Htate and Cliau- 

farmiiig, finally embarking iu commission busi- tanqua county by adoption only, but has become 

ness for eastern firms. For the past ten years peculiarly and firmly wedded to its interests 

Mr. Milspaw has been engaged in the oil busi- and fortunes. Mr. Towne was born in the 

ness and is now the lessee of twenty-nine flowing Granite State, village of Keene, November 7 

wells, for whicii he has been offered one hundred 1S54, and is a son of Andrew H. and Caroline 

thousand dollar.-s. He also owns and ojjerates a (Spring) Towne. Five generations of Townes 

large agricultural house iu Elllington, where is Jiave been native to the State of New Hamii- 



kept a large variety of farming implements, 
buggies and wagons, grass seeds, etc. Besides 
these interests, a couple of farms and other 
properties claim his attention. 

Wesley Milspaw was luiited in marriage, on 
December 24, 1843, to Angeline, daughter of 
Mrs. Almira C'heeseman, of Ellingt(m, N. Y. 
To them have been born five children, three 
sous and two daughters : Charles L., Willis M., 
Luella, Alice and Francis. Luella is married 
to Clinton Conet, of Conewango, Cattaraugus 
county ; Alice is married to George Wells, of 
Warren, Pennsylvania, while the sons are resi- 
dents and large farmers of the town of Ellington. 

He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church (and has been for forty-eight years), in 1 
which he is steward and trustee. Politically he 
is a republican, and iu 1864-65 was highwav 



shire, and have lived in the immediate vicinity 
of Keene. The grandparent of the subject, 
David Towne, was one of the daring patriots 
and valiant soldiers who, under the incompara- 
ble leadership of Ethan Allen, captured Fort 
Ticonderoga during the Revolutionary war. 
He was also one of the famous "Green Moun- 
tain Boys" who won such a decisive and over- 
whelming victory at Bennington, Vermont. 
Andrew H. Towne (father of subject) is a 
resident of Frankliuville, Cattaraugus county, 
New York, and has been engaged in agricul- 
tural and viticultural pursuits the major part of 
his life. His wife, who was a native of Grafton, 
Vermont, died iu 1888. 

George E. Towne passed his childhood in 
New Hampshire, and removed to Cattaraugus 
county, N. Y., at the age of thirteen. He 



commissioner, during which term of service he : entered the Ten Broeck academy at Franklin- 
built twenty-five bridges. Mr. Milsi)aw is a | ville, graduating in 1875. In the si)ring ibl- 
remarkably well-preserved man for his age, lowing his graduation he wended his way acro.s.s 
which he attributes largely to his abstemious the continent to the Pacific coa.st, where he 



habits and regard for the laws of health. His 
entire career has been no less remarkable ; start- 
ing in life without a dollar, he has gradually 



hazarded his fortunes for about a year in the 
golden State of California. In 1876 he returned 
to the east, and began to read law with a cousin, 



ascended the scale of success until now he pos- Hon. Alfred Spring, of Fraiddinville, tl 
sesses all the material wealth that one could \ present surrogate of Cattaraugus coimty, and 



reasonably desire. His life is one worthy of 
study and indicates what can be done by perse- 
verance, courage and energy. 



the next year accepted the principalship of the 
schools at Eittle Valley, Cattaraugus county, 
which position he held a year, and then resumed 
® his law studies. He was admitted to practice 

HON. OEOKGE E. TOWNE is a man who in all the courts of the State of New York at 
has been i)rominently identified with the Rochester in 1879, but began the actual prac- 
public and political affairs of Chautaucpui tice of his profession iu Cattaraugus, New York, 
county, and is also an advocate of recognized In 1880 he removed to Silver Creek, where he 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



continued liis practice until 1888, wlieu he 
became a candidate for, and was elected to, the 
New York Legislature. His course, while at the 
State capital, so (wnipletely met with the apprcj- 
l)ation of his constituents, and was so com- 
mendable in its efforts to secure the political, 
economic, industrial and reciprocal rights secured 
to the citizens of the C'ommonwealth of New 
York under its constitution and a republican 
form of government, that at the termination of 
his first term of service, he was enthusiastically 
returned. While in the Legislature Mr. Towne 
was a mendKi- of the judiciary committee, and 
also chairman of the committee on claims. He 
was recognized as one of the leaders of the 
House on the republican side, and gained an 
enviable reputation as a speaker, a logical and 
persuasive I'easouer and a man of broad and 
thorough acquaintance with public questions. 
Mr. Towne has a pleasing address, is uniformly 
genial and courteous, and as a lawyer, as a 
representative of the ])eople, as a citizen, enjoys 
the confidence and high esteem of his fellow-men. 
On June 18, 1883, he was united in marriage 
to Miss Uertha Smith, of Frauklinville, and 
has three children: Frank, five years of age ; 
Hazel ; and one still in iuiaucy. Mr. Towne is 
half owner of thirty acres of grape land and has 
twenty acres under cultivation. 



/>OVEKNOI{ KEUBKN K. KENTON. 

^^ Among the men of prominence who re- 
ceived their birth and were reared within the 
borders of the Empire State, none liave had a 
more honorable or glorious career than Reuben 
E. Fenton, who was the youngest son of George 
W. and Elsie (Owen) Fenton, and was born in 
the town of Carroll, Chautauqua connty, New 
York, .July 4, 1819. 

His father, George W. Fenton, was a native 
of New Hampshire, and entered the M'orld in 
1773, a son of Roswell Fenton, who shortly 
after the date mentioned removed with his 
family to the State of New York. George W. 



Fenton was full of life and ambition, and in 
1804 he started through the trackless forest, and 
jiushed onward until he reached old Fort 
Du (^uesne, where the city of Pittsburg now 
stands. He engaged in trade with the settlers 
and Lidians along the All(!gheny river, con- 
tinuing the mercantile business until 1806, but 
in the summer of the last named year he went 
tip to Warren, Penna., and during the winter of 
180(}-7, he taught the first school in that now 
thriving and populous borough. He married 
Elsie Owen, who was born in Warren county. 
Pa., in 1790, and with her moved up into 
Chautauqua county, where he followed farming 
until his death, which occurred March 3, 1860. 
He was a very intelligent man, and possessed a 
superior education, a profound mind and excel- 
lent judgment ; all of these qualities seem to 
have been handed down to his youngest .son — 
Reuben E. George W. and Elsie Fenton 
reared a family of five children : Roswell O., 
who married Leanora Atkins ; George W., .Jr., 
married Mctta Howard ; ^\'illiam H. H., mar- 
ried Catherine Ivlmunds ; John I''., nuirried 
Maria Woodward ; and lieuben E. 

Reuben E. l^enton received his early educa- 
tion at a pioneer .school in his native town, and 
when fifteen years of age, was sent to Gary's 
academy, an institution of learning located six 
miles north of Cincinnati, Ohio, but after 
remaining there two years, he returned to 
Chautauqua county, and completed his educa- 
tion at the Fredonia academy. The following 
two years were spent in studying law, Joseph 
Waite, of Jamestown, being his preceptor, but 
suffering from poor health, he was compelled to 
abandon study, and engaged in the huuber 
business along the Ohio and Allegheny rivers, 
meeting with very satisfactory success. Quoting 
from a eulogy delivered by the Hon. Chauncey 
M. Depevv — " It is easier for a man of ability 
to get on in a new country and with fresh sur- 
roundings, than in the neighborhood where he 
was born. Where every one has known him 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



from cliildliood he is often haiidicappeil by tlie 
uuforgottci) frivolities of youth, aiul reaches 
middle life before he has outgrown the feeling 
that he is still a boy, while, as a new settler, he 
starts at onee at the level of his ascertained 
abilities. It is the peculiar distinction of iNIr. 
Fenton that he overcame tiiese prejudices betbre 
he was of age; that he became the choice of his 
fellow-citizens for positions of trust as soon as 
he attained his majority, and passing his life at 
his birth-place, he earned, at a period when 
most young men are unknown, tiie confidence 
of the people among wlioni he had grown up, 
and carried it witii him to liis grave. Tiiis 
proud career was not lielpetl Ijy accident, or 
luck, or wealth, or family, or powerful friends. 
He was, in its best sense, both the architect and 
builder of his own fortunes." For seven years 
(1846-52) he was supervisor of the town of 
Carroll, and from the last niimcil date his long- 
continued jironiotion to places of trust was 
frequent and notic^eable. In 1852, when but 
thirty-three years of age, he was elected to the 
United States Congress ; two years later, being 
a candidate for le-eleetion, he was defeated by 
the candidate of the American party, an organi- 
zation which has passed down into history, and 
is now known as the " Old Kuow-Nothing 
party," at that time in the zenith of its power. 
Reuben E. Fenton was originally a democrat, 
and was elected to Congress as such in 1852, 
but the great question wdiich destroyed the 
Whig, and divided the Democratic party, met 
him at the outset of his Congressional career ; 
when Douglas introduced the Kansas-Nebraska 
bill, which had for its purpose the repealing of 
that section of the Missouri Compromise which 
forever prohibited slavery in the new territories, 
the young Congressman was at once obliged to 
choose between his conscience and his party, but 
without hesitation or faltering he threw his whole 
energies to the support of the former, and his 
first speech was made in support of the inviola- 
ble preservation of that compact so solemnly 



made in 1820. It was the firs,t speech made 
against the impending crime, and emanating 
from a memlter of the party then dominant, its 
clear notes rallied about him a determined band 
of democratic representatives, and from that 
day he was one of the leaders in the formation 
and afterwards in the eondui^t of the liepul)licaii 
[)arty, and Reuben E. Fenton was unanimously 
elected presiding ofticer of the new party at the 
first State convention held in New York. From 
this time on until his death he co-operated witii 
the Rei)ul)lican party, and by them was elected 
to Congress in ]S5i>, and at each succeeding 
election until 18()4. In the latter year he was 
pitted against Horatio Seymour in the guber- 
natorial contest of the Empire State. The 
radical element of the Republican i)ar(y de- 
nounced President Lincoln as being too slow 
and conservative. Iforafio Seymour, in the 
democratic National convention, in one of the 
nio.st able and masterly speeches declared that 
our martyred president's administration had 
been a .series of costly and bloody mistakes, and 
under his guidance the war had been a failure. 
Horatio Seymour was one of the most brilliant 
and attractive of New York's democratic states- 
men ; his life was pure, his character unblem- 
ished, and his personal magnetism made him 
the idol of his party, and a most dangerous 
op))onent. To meet this emergency, Reuben E. 
Fenton was nominated by the republican con- 
vention. The wisdom of the choice was speedily 
apparent. Mr. Fenton's abilities as an organ- 
izer were felt in every election district, and 
when the returns showed the State carried for 
Lincoln, and Fenton leading the presidential 
vote by some thousands, the new governor 
became at once a figure of National importance. 
Within four days after his inauguration he 
raised the last of New York's quota of troops, 
and sent them to the front with the.se stirring 
remarks : " Having resolutely determined to go 
thus far in the .struggle, we shall not falter nor 
hesitate when the Rebellion reels under our 



328 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



heavy blows, when victory, upon all the methoils 
of human caloulation, is so near. Believing 
ourselves to be inspired by the same lofty senti- 
ments of patriotism which animated our fathers 
in founding our free institutions, let us continue 
to imitate their bright example of courage, 
endurance and faithfulness to principle, and in 
maintaining them. Let us be faithful and per- 
severe. Let there be a rally of the people in 
every city, village and town." He was amiable 
and conciliatory, but as unyielding of ])rini:iples 
as the massive boulders to tiie falling raindrops; 
he possessed the tact of satisfying applicants 
and petitioners without granting their re(|uests, 
w'here such would jeopardize or be prejudicial 
to the public service. At the close of his first 
term he was re-elected, and filled a second term. 
So profoundly impres.sed was his party, that 
when it met in Syracuse in LSG8 to elect dele- 
gates for the National Convention at Chicago, 
those elected were unanimously instructed to 
present his name for Vice-President, and for 
five ballots in that memorable contest he stood 
next to Schuyler Colfax in the vote. The fol- 
lowing year the Legislature of the State of 
New York elected liim United States Senator, 
and he held that honorable position for six 
years, his term expiring March 3, 1875. After 
his retirement from the Senate, Governor Fen- 
ton was never again a candidate for office, but 
President Hayes sent him abroad in 1878 as 
chairman of the Commission to the Interna- 
tional Monetary Convention to fix the ratio of 
value between gold and silver, and provide for 
their common use. It was about this time that 
his health had become impaired, and continued 
to grow wor.se until his sudden death while sit- 
ting at his office desk in Jamestown, on August 
25, 1885. The news, when given to the world, 
was met w'ith man}' sorrowing expressions, and 
when the Legislature met in the s[)ring of 188G, 
resolutions of condolence were passed by both 
the Senate and House, and a joint resolution 
was introduced as follows : 



"That a committee of tliree be appointed on 
the ])art of the Senate, and a like committee on 
the part of the Assembly, to select an orator 
and to name a day for the delivery of an ora- 
tion on the life and character of the late Hon- 
orable Reuben Pj. Feuton, and to make all 
needful j)reparation3 therefor." 

The resolution was unanimously agi'ced to, 
and the Honorable Messrs. Vedder, Fassett, 
aud Parker were appointed by the Senate, and 
the Honorable Messrs. Batcheller, Cheney and 
Haggerty were appointed to represent the As- 
sembly. These gentlemen met in joint com- 
mittee, and decided to ask the Honorable 
Chauncey M. Depew to deliver the oration, 
and April 27, 1887, wa.s selected as the date for 
its delivery. The ceremonies were held in the 
Assembly hall, at the State capitol in Albany, 
and with bowed heads and subdued emotions, 
the multitude listened to the words of Mr. 
De])ew, which though grand and ehxjuent, but 
feebly expressed the virtues and greatness of 
Reuben E. Fenton. 

In 18.''>8, Reuben E, Fenton was married to 
Jane Frew, who was born in 1820, and died 
two years after her marriage, leaving one child, 
a daughter. In 1844, Mr. Fenton married 
Elizabeth Scudder, a daughter of Joel Scudder, 
and born at Victor, Ontario county, this State, 
in 1824. Mr. and Mrs. Fenton had three chil- 
dren : Josephine, who was born in the town of 
Carroll, Chautauqua county, April 15, 1845, 
now Mrs. Frank ]%. Clifford, of Jamestown ; 
Jeannette, born November 2, 1848, now Mrs. 
Albert Gilbert, Jr., of Jamestown ; and Reu- 
ben Earle, who was born in Jamestown, June 
12, 18(i5. 

It is univei'.sally conceded that as a political 
organizer Reuben E. Fenton ranked with the 
best and, with the possible exception of Martin 
Van Bureu, excelled them all; as a business 
man he ranked with Folger, and as a statesman 
he was the peer of Seward. His nature was 
gentle, tender and affectionate, and his judgment 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



was tleep and profound. ]\Iany of New York's 
sous have risen to disti notion, but none have 
embodied in tiieir ciiaracter so many qualities 
tiiat lead to success. 



"prOKNE E. 1)E VOK, tiie present efficient 

'~^ and accommodating postmaster at Elling- 
ton, New York, is a sou of Dr. David G. and 
Maiy T. ((jrinnell) De Voe, and was born in 
the town of Napoli, Cattaraugus county. New 
York, September 1 5tli, 1 842. His father, a na- 
tive of Homer, Cortland county, New York, 
migrated into Cattaraugus county in 18.32, and 
in 1849 to Ellington, Chautauqua county, where 
he continued to reside up to his death in 1857, 
at the age of fifty-two years. Dr. De Voe was 
a graduate of the Syracuse Medical College and 
also of the Eclectic Medical College of Cincin- 
nati, Ohio. Being the first practitioner of an 
eclectic school to locate in the town of Ellington, 
he naturally met with considerable opposition. 
His was a new school of medicine to the people 
of Ellington, he was received with a great deal 
of skepticism and was forced to live down the 
opposition and successfully demonstrate the 
scientific wisdom and natural reason of his theory 
and practice. This required hard work and un- 
remitting application, and though complete suc- 
cess followed, yet it was at the expense of his 
health and mainly superinduced his death. Prior 
to his death he enjoyed a large and varied prac- 
tice, was a careful student in the various branches 
of his profession, as well as in collateral subjects, | 
and ranked high in the councils of the medical 
fraternity. He was a man of sterling qualities, 
and, at his death, was mourned by all who 
knew him. The grandfather of our subject was ' 
a sturdy tiller of the soil, a New Englunder by 
birth and a Revolutionary patriot and soldier. 
He was of French descent and died at Homer, 
Cortland county. New York, at the age of eighty- 
two years. Subject's mother was born at Ca- 
naan, Columbia county, New York, and died in 
1889, at the age of eighty years. 



Eugene E. Do Voe passed his early life mainly 
within the county of Chautauqua, received his 
education in the district schools and the academy 
at Ellington, and has all his life been an in- 
structor in instrumental music, piano and organ, 
and conducting music. His field of labor 
has been in western New York and western 
Pennsylvania. In 1862 he was a musician in 
the 64th regiment New York A'olunteers for a 
period of three months and in the 1 Ilth Penn- 
sylvania Volunteers for six months. In 1890 
subject received the appointment as postmaster 
of Ellington, which position he now holds. 
Among the other official positions which have 
been acceptably filled by Mr. De Voe is that of 
town assessor, which office lie held for six years. 
He has served on the board of education quite a 
long time and in other offices of local import- 
ance. 

On October l;]th, 1870, Eugene E. De Voe 
was united in marriage to Miss Ophelia, daugh- 
ter of Hiram Terry, of the town of Ellington. 
To them have been born three children, all 
daughters: Bertha E., Marna M. and Ina Belle. 

E. E. De Voe is a thorough republican, be- 
lieving firmly in having fixed political views as 
the projjer basis for wielding the right of .suf- 
frage. He also belongs to the A. O. U. W. As 
a thorough musician, a skilled performer and 
teacher, IMr. De Voe has a high standing in his 
profession. He is a close student and has given 
much time to thestudy of harmony, instrument- 
ation and general technique of music. 



HON. JOHN S. LAMIJEUT, judge of the 
Siii)reme Court of New York for the 
Eighth Judicial District, is one of that class of 
self-made men who build their own " monuments 
of fortune and reputation." He was born at 
Johnsonville, Rensselaer county, New York 
February 4, 1851, and is a son of Peter and 
Mary (Morey) Lambert. The Lambert family 
as the name would indicate is of English origin. 
Peter Lambert was born and roared in England 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



where he remained until 1841, when he came to 
this State and settled at Johnsonville. He was 
trained to agricultural pursuits in his native 
land and has followed farming ever since he be- 
came a resident of Joiinsonville. He is an ac- 
tive democrat and married Mary IMorcy, w ho is 
a native of Ireland. 

John S. Lambert was reared <>n his fiither's 
farm and like most of farmers' sons prior to 
18C0, enjoyed but limited educational advant- 
ages. After a brief attendance at the common 
schools he entered Greenwich academy, from 
which educational institution he was graduated 
at seventeen years of age. Leaving the latter 
academy he worked on a farm for a few mouths 
and came, in 1870, to Chautauqua county, where 
he spent the ensuing two years as a laborer on a 
farm. At the end of that time he became a 
clerk at Mayville, in the office of Charles G. 
Mapes, then surrogate of Chautauqua county. 
During the two years he was with Mr. Mapes 
he turned his attention to jurisprudence for 
which he always had a decided preference, and 
so far improved his leisure moments as to secure 
considerable knowledge of the elementary prin- 
cijiles of tiie common law. In 1874 he came 
to Fredonia, wiiere he read law with Morris & 
Russel for three years, and was then, in the fall 
of 1877, admitted as a counselor-at-law in the 
courts of the State of New York. In 1878 he 
became a partner with Morris & Russel in the 
practice of law, and three years later was elected 
county judge. At the expiration of his six year 
term, in 1888, he was re-elected as county judge 
and had served two years ujion his second term 
when (1890) he was nominated by his party as 
their candidate for a justice of the Supreme 
Court of New York, for the Eighth Judicial 
District, composed of the counties of Allegany, 
Cattaraugus, Chautauqua, Eric, Genesee, Niag- 
ara, Orleans and Wyoming. 

Judge Lambert took his seat upon the bench 
on January 1st, 1890, for a term of fourteen 
years and to succeed Judge Barker of Fredonia. 



The judges of the Eighth Judicial District were 
ap])ointcd by the governor from 1823 to 1847, 
since which year they have been elected by the 
people, and the judges from Chautauqua county 
who presided over this district have been : John 
Birdsall, aj)p()inted 1826; and Richard P. Mar- 
vin, elected 1849, 1855 and 1865; George 
P.arker, elected 1868, 1875and 188.3; and John 
S. Lambert, elected in 1890. 

Judge Lambert has always been a republican 
in politics, but has many warm personal friends 
iu the ranks of all the other political parties. 
He is sociable but dignified, yet courteous and 
pleasant to all whom he meets. At the bar he 
was recognized as an able and successful lawyer 
and on tlie bench he has presided with ability 
and impartiality. To his own ability, energy 
and efforts he owes his success in life, while his 
fidelity and zeal in behalf of any cause wiiich 
he espoused has won him the respect and confi- 
dence of flic itublic. 



CHAKLKS IJ. STl KDEVAXT officiates 
as sl4Vtion agent for the Erie railway at 
Kennedy, and by his courteous and obliging 
manner has become popular with the traveling 
public and highly esteemed by the company 
wiiich he serves. He was born on the 28th of 
December, 1844, near the city of Erie, Penn- 
sylvania, and is a son of Ascl (). and Sarah 
(Hall) Sturdevant. 

Levi Sturdevant, the paternal grandfither, 
was a native of Connecticut, and was born 
about 1765. He emigrated from his native 
State to Onondaga county. New York, in 1790, 
and about thirty-five years later again moved, 
this time to Erie county, Pennsylvania, where 
he died after having spent his entire life farm- 
ing. He married and reared a family of nine 
children, — five sons and four daughters. John 
C. Hall, who was the maternal grandfiither of 
subject, -was a native of Onondaga county, born 
about 1770, and died in Lafayette, the same 
county, when sixty-five years of age. He fol- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



lowed fanning, and married a Miss Conkliiig 
in 1790; she bore iiiin eight children, — one 
son and seven daughters. He l)el()iiged to the 
Wliig party, and was a member of the Metli- 
odist Episcopal chureh. 

Asel O. Stnrdevant was born at Fabins, 
Onondaga count}', January 6, 1812, and spent 
his childhood and you(h on a farm. Later in 
life he purchased a pro])erty, and conducted 
farming in connection with some mechanical 
work. He married Sarali Hall on January 1, 
1833, who bore him nine children : Chandler 
D., dead ; John W., dead ; Clarissa A., married 
William Briggs, of Union City, Pa.; Henry 
C, killed at White Oak Swamp, Va., June 30, 
1862, a member Company I, Gl.st N. Y. Vols.; 
Guy H., died in Andersonville, Cla., Sept. 4, 
18()4, a corporal Company I, 1,5th N. Y. Cav. ; 
Charles B. ; Orlando J., resides at Jamestown ; 
Harriet A. is the wife (if George Ames, of 
Jamestown, and S. Jeaiinette, who also lives at 
tiie last-named city with her husband, Alonzo 
L. Moore. A.sel O. Stnrdevant voted with the 
Republican party, was a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, and belonged to Clem- 
ent Lodge, I. O. O. F., of Union City, Pa. He 
was of a modest and retiring dis])osition, and 
assiduously attended to his personal affairs, and 
died at Jamestown, N. Y., April Id, 1888, at 
seventy-five years of age. 

Charles B. Stnrdevant, although born in the 
Keystone State, spent his early days at Trux- 
ton and Fabins, New York. He attended the 
public schools, and worked upon his father's 
farm until 18(J2, and then went back to Penn- 
sylvania and worked on a farm until 18()3, 
when he joined Company I, 15th New York 
Cavalry, commanded by Col. R. M. Richard- 
son, and was assigned to service in the Army 
of Northern Virginia. Col. J. J. Coppinger ' 
succeeded Col. Richardson in command of this 
regiment, and it operated in the Sheuandoaii 
and parallel valleys. Mr. Stnrdevant served 
twenty-three months as a private and corporal. 



I The regiment, was attached to the Second Brig- 
: ade, Third Cavalry Division, which was suc- 
cessively under (ienerals Hunter, Sigel, Sheri- 
dan and Custer, and was frequently engaged 
during 1864. Early the following year they 
left Shenandoah valley, and marched to White 
House Landing, where they combined with 
General Grant's army, and moved towards 
Petersburg via City Point. From this time on, 
Mr. Sturdevant was in all the cavalry eno-ace- 
ments up to Lee's surrender in 1865. He did 
special service in the adjutant general's office at 
brigade and division headquarters, and was 
discharged at Louisville, Kentucky, August 9, 
1865. Following his discharge, he came to 
Union City, Pennsylvania, and began railroad- 
ing in 1806-67 as Ixiggage master; then from 
1868 to 1873 as agent at Stamburg, Cattarau- 
gus county, and since the latter date — a jjcriod 
of eighteen years— he has been stationed here 
in Kennedy, where he is station agent tor the 
N. Y., L. E. and W. Railway. 

The day before Christmas, 1867, lie was 
married to Sarah Agnew, a daughter of Andrew 
Agnew, of Union City, Pa., and they have had 
two children. The elder, born in 18(i!), died 
when three years of age, and Clara B., now 
married to Rev. W. A. Heath, a Methodist 
minister stationed at Sugar Grove, Pa. They 
have two children, — Mabel Arline, born De- 
cember 26, 1889, and Charles Vincent, born 
June 14, 1891. Rev. W. A. Heath was born 
at Brockport, N. Y., in 1864, and received his 
theological education at Wesleyan University. 
His first charge was at Russell, Pa., Erie Con- 
ference. 

Charles B. Sturdevant identifies himself with 
the Republican party, and is prominent in the 
Methodist church, taking an active part in its 
affairs. For seven years he sat in the Board 
of Education, and is connected with Kennedy 
Lodge, No. 86, A. O. U. W., the Royal Tem- 
plars of Temperance and H. C. Sturdevant 
Post, No. 282, G. A. R., being especially ac- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



tive in the latter. He is president of Ciiau- 
tanqua County Veteran Union and G. A. R. 
of Western New York and Northwestern Penn- 
svlvania for 1891. 



ux 



\AA\y\ L. SMITH, a leading luer- 
cliant and tlie present postmaster of 
Portland, was Ixirn in Mercer eonnty, Penn- 
sylvania, December 20, 1850, and is a son of 
George and Mary (Henderson) Smith. His 
paternal grandfather, George Smith, Sr., was of 
English descent and removed from his native 
county of Trumbull, Ohio, to Mercer county 
where he died in 18G4, aged eighty-one years. 
He was a farmer and veterinary surgeon, and 
one of the sons born to him in his Mercer 
county home was George Smith, the father of 
William L. Smith. Geo. Smith learned the 
trades of carpenter and cabinet maker, which 
he followed until September, 18G5, when he 
came to the town of Portland and engaged in 
farming. Within the last few years he has re- 
tired from active life and resides at Portland, 
although he still retains the supervision of bis 
farm, on which is a good vineyard and several 
acres of small fruits. Mr. Smith was born in 
1824, and is a republican in politics. He is a 
member of the Congregational church, the 
Knights of Honor, and the Ciiantauqua Mutual 
Insurance Order. He married Mary Hender- 
son, a native of Crawford county, Pennsylva- 
nia, who was a member of the Congregational 
church and died in 1886, when in the sixty- 
fourth year of her age. 

William Ij. Smith was reared in his native 
county until he was fifteen years of age, when 
he came to Chautauqua county with his father. 
He received his education in the common 
schools of Pennsylvania and New York and 
the Fredonia State Normal school. Leaving 
school, he learned blacksmithing and carriage- 
making, which he followed successfully at 
Portland from 1873 to 1883. In the fall of 
the latter ve;ir he formed a general mercantile 



partnership with G. D. Conner, under the firm 
name of Conner & Smith, which firm continued 
eighteen months, when Mr. Conner sold his in- 
terest to Mr. Smith's father and the firm name 
then changed to W. L. Smith tV: Co. On April 
30, 188U, IVIr. Smith purchased his father's in- 
terest and since tliat time lias conducted a very 
successful and remunerative business. His 
genei-al mercantile establishment is on Main 
street and is conveniently arranged for the large 
business which he does. He carries a widely 
varied and carcfidly selected stock of dry -goods, 
groceries, notions, clothing, shoes, hardware and 
lime, feed and everything else to be found in a 
first-class store. His stock, which is the largest 
in Portland, is worth over eight thousand 
dollars, and has been enlarged from year to 
year to meet the demands of a constantly in- 
creasing patronage. 

On Jaimary 24, 1874, Mr. Smith married 
Hattie Springstead, daughter of Benjamin 
Springstead now of Missouri. To their union 
have been born two ciiildren, Julia Leona and 
Herbert G. 

W^. L. Smith is a member of the Knights 
of Pythias Lodge, No. 284, Knigiitsof Honor 
Lodge, No. 461, Knights of Maccabees Lodge, 
No. 38. He has been active in political atfairs, 
as well as in business circles, and has been an 
earnest worker for several years in tiie 
interests of the Republican party of his 
town and county. He has served as constable, 
collector and justice of the peace of the town of 
Portland and on May 21, 1889 was appointed 
by President Harrison, postmaster of the vil- 
lage of Portland, which position he has filled 
faithfully and efficiently ever since. 



CHAKLES BLOOD, now serving his fifth 
consecutive term as coroner of Chautauqua 
county and whose embalming board and fluid 
are used by tlie leading undertakers of the 
United States, was born in the city of Ottawa, 
Province of Ontario, Dominion of Canada, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



October 30, 1 835, and is a son of William and 
Harriet (Burpee) Blood. The Blood family is 
of Irish descent, and one branch of it settled in 
Vermont, where, of its descendants, one was 
William Blood, who was born in 1811. He 
removed in early life to Ottawa, Canada, where 
he resided for some years and afterwards in 
1852 settled at Lockport, New York, which he 
made his place of residence until his death in 
1876 at sixty-five years of ajje. He was a re- 
publican and in early life had met with the sad 
loss of his wife, who died in Ottawa in 1841. 
Mr. Blood was engaged during the greater part 
of his life in the manufacture of chairs in the 
cities of Ottawa, Canada, and Buffalo and Lock- 
port, New York. 

Charles Blood was reared, until he was si.x 
years of age, in Ottawa, when his parents re- 
moved to Buffalo, N. Y., where he resided until 
1852, when he went with the family to Lock- 
port, N. Y. At the latter place he learned the 
trade of upholsterer and in 1858 came to Dun- 
kirk where he embarked in the furniture Inisi- 
ness, to which he added undertaking in 186(5. 
His success as an undertaker and funeral 
director was so complete, that he soon disposed 
of his furniture business and has given his at- 
tention ever since to undertaking. A leading 
paper says : 

" He is not only one of the leading under- 
takers of New York but is a thoroughly repre- 
sentative man of the most generous impulses and 
genial qualities." 

He is one of the nineteen undertakers who 
signed the call to organize the New York State 
Undertakers' Association, which owes much of 
its effectiveness to his efforts. One of the most 
important events of Mr. Blood's life is his in- 
vention and patenting of the " Folding Em- 
balming Board." It is undoubtedly one of the 
most convenient and scientific contrivances for 
handling the dead which has ever been intro- 
duced in the United States and has received the 
commendation of every undertaker who has ex- 
17 



amined it, as attested by the many flattering 
letters in the possession of its manufacturer. In 
addition to the invention of his popular em- 
balming board,, he has compounded an " An- 
tiseptic Embalming Fluid," which has met with 
marked success wherever it has been used. It 
is injected into the arterial circulation. These 
two inventions are not only sold in all parts of 
the United States but also in many foreign 
countries. 

He is a republican in politics; has been 
elected five times as one of the coroners of 
Chautauqua county, and is a member of St. 
John's Protestant Episcopal church. He is a 
Past Master of Irondequoit Lodge, No. 301, 
Free and Accepted IMasons, and a member of 
Dunkirk Chapter, No. 191 Royal Arch Masons, 
Dunkirk Council, No. 26, Royal and Select 
Mastei's and Dunkirk Commandery, No. 40, 
Knight Templars. 

On November 30, 1860, he married Emily 
DeWitt, daughter of Alvin DeWitt of Dun- 
kirk. They have two children : Thompson H. 
and Myrtle. 

In speaking of Mr. Blood, a history of Dun- 
kirk city pays him the following well merited 
tribute as a public official : 

" One of the enterprising and successful cit- 
izens of this place is Charles Blood, who is 
serving on his fourth (now fifth) three years' 
term as coroner, in which position he has made 
a very acceptable officer, his former promptness 
and efficiency causing him to be elected by a 
flattering vote." 

He has been the I'ecipient of many favorable 
press notices, one of which said : 

" For twenty-four years Mr. Blood has been 
a successful undertaker. His experience in this 
line is of great service to him as coroner and 
has enabled him to save an expense to the 
county in many ways. As an embalmer he has 
no superior and when the body of an unknown 
person has come under his charge, he has always 
embalmed the remains free of charge and kept 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



them for several weeks, while he made every 
effort for their identification. Often friends 
from distant States have identified the remains 
from a photograph taken several days after the 
body had been embalmed." 

Charles Blood is a man of energy and busi- 
ness capacity, as is attested by the flourishing 
condition of his undertaking trade. 



"T^LISHA H. FAY, of the town of Portland, 

-'"^ who has been actively and successfully 
engaged for some years in fruit and grape cul- 
ture, is a son of Lincoln and Sophrona (Peck) 
Fay, and was born on the farm on which he 
now resides, in the town of Portland, Chautauqua 
county. New York, June 27th, 1844. Among 
the early settled families of Portland were five 
Fay families, four of whom were founded by 
Elijah, Elisha, Nathaniel and Hollis Fay, sons 
of Nathaniel Fay, Sr., who never cametoChau- 
tauqua county. Elisha Fay, the second sou and 
grandfather of Elislia H. Fay, who was born at 
Farmingham, Massachusetts, June 2d, 1783, 
came in June, 1806, to Portland, where he pur- 
chased lot 25 from the Holland Land Company. 
He served in the war of 1812, was at Buffalo and 
Black Rock while out, and died in 1881, aged 
ninety-eight years and nine months. He was 
an early member of the Methodist Ejiiscopal 
church, and at the time of his death was the 
oldest settler in the town of Portland. In 1806 
he married Sophia Nichols, of Massachusetts, 
who died in 1850. Their children were Lin- 
coln, Eddie, Charles and Otis N. The eldest 
son, Lincoln, (father) was born in 1807 and died 
in INIay, 1881. He followed farming and fruit 
growing. He was one of the pioneer fruit- 
growers of Chautauqua county, and, with a 
Mr. Moss, of Fredonia, NewYork, purchased a 
dozen of Concord grape-vines, from which have 
originated thousands of acres of vines, in the 
town of Portland and Chautauqua County. Lin- 
coln Fay was the originator of " Fay's Prolific 
Currant," which is now well and favorably 



known all over the United States and Canada, 
and many parts of Europe. He was one of the 
first abolitionists in the county, had served for 
many years as a trustee and class-leader in the 
Methodist Episcopal church, and owned one 
iiundrcd and forty acres of well-improved land. 
He married Sophrona Peck, daughter of Ashel 
Peck, a native of Connecticut and an early resi- 
dent of Portland, where he was an industrious 
farmer and an active local preacher of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church. Mrs. Fay is a Metii- 
odist, resides on the home farm, and is now in 
the seventy -fifth year of her age. 

Elisha H. Fay was reared ia.his native town, 
received his education in the common schools, 
and has always followed farming. He now 
owns the old Fay homestead that was pur- 
chased from the Holland Land Company, and 
has one hundred and thirty-three acres of land 
in the edge of the village of Portland, where he 
is engaged in farming and fruit-growing. At 
the present time he is planting out a large vine- 
yard on his Portland farm, where his neat and 
tasteful residence is heated by steam, supplied 
with hot and cold water, provided throughout 
with telephone connections and lighted by natural 
gas from wells on his land. He is a republican 
in politics, has served as supervisor (two years) 
and assessor (one year) of his town, and is a 
pleasant and courteous' gentleman. Mr. Fay 
has been general manager of the Chautauqua 
Grape Growers' Association, and is a member 
of a natural gas company, \vhich is now en- 
gaged in drilling wells at Brocton. 

May 5th, 1868, Mr. Fay married Ada 
Dodge, daughter of Walter Dodge, of this 
county. Mr. and INIrs. Fay have two children : 
M. Birdina and Maxwell L. 



/^APT. JAMES BUTLER, of Brocton, who 
^^ has owned and commanded nearly fifty 
vessels on the " Great Lakes," was born at Then- 
ford, in Northamptonshire, England, November 
25, 1817, and is a son of Joseph and Ann 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



(Batcbelor) Butler. His parents were natives 
of Northamptonshire and united at an early age 
with the Methodist Episcopal church. They 
were an honest, hard-working couple, and came 
in 1832 to Ashtabula county, Ohio, when the 
cholera was raging in that section of country. 
Jo.seph Butler was a shepherd in England, but 
after coming to the United States be followed 
farming until his death, which occurred April 
11, 1855, at the age of seventy-one years and 
three months. Mrs. Butler was a kind Christian 
woman, and jjassed from the scenes of this life 
at Geneva, Ashtabula county, Ohio, in 1878, at 
the ripe old age of ninety-five years. 

James Butler, at fifteen years of age, came 
with his parents to Ohio, and on September 1, 
1833, went to Lake Erie, where he resolved 
upon a sailor's life for himself and embarked 
as a hand on a small schooner called the " Par- 
rot," on which he remained until it was laid up 
for the winter. The next sjjring he was oflered 
a berth on the " Parrot " which some unaccount- 
able impulse caused him to decline, and as the 
vessel sank when three hours out from harbor 
with all on board, he thinks it was a providen- 
tial interposition that caused him not to go on 
board. He then worked his way to Detroit, 
where he spent his last ten cents for a loaf of 
bread and some cheese, upon which he managed 
to live for ten days, while a workshop afforded 
him a sleeping place. At the end of this time 
he went on board a steam-vessel and worked his 
way to Buffalo where he soon obtained the posi- 
tion of chief cook on a schooner at twelve dollars 
per month. In six mouths he obtained a pro- 
motion, and was successively promoted until he 
became captain, which position he held on differ- 
ent vessels for seventeen years. After forty 
years of active service on the lakes, during which 
time he never lost a vessel or a sailor, he came 
in 187(j to Brocton, where he built and now 
occupies one of the finest brick residences of 
that village. Of late years Capt. Butler has 
turned his attention to grape-growing at Brocton, 



where he has a very fine vineyard. He has 
owned twenty-three vessels, including everything 
from a scow to a brig. In 1861 he built the 
bark "A. P. Nichols" (named for his Bufflilo 
attorney), and in the succeeding year the " Red 
White and Blue." They were said to be the 
fastest vessels then on Lake Erie, and the latter- 
named one was pronounced when it was launched 
to be the lai'gest and finest vessel on Lake Erie. 
He was also a sliip merchant for some years in 
Buffalo. He has wrought out for himself the 
success of his life, and the commendable ambi- 
tion of the poor boy has been more than realized 
in the position of the respected and influential 
citizen. 

On June 12, 187G, Captain Butler united in 
marriage with Mrs. Sarah (Skinner) Maloney, 
of Brocton, and they went on a bridal trip to 
the old world, where tliey visited England and 
many other countries of Europe. They have 
one cliild, a daughter named Annie M. 

Captain Butler is a republican politically, has 
been for fourteen years a trustee and steward of 
the JSIethodist Episcopal church, and is one of 
the substantial citizens of Brocton. 



nALPH A. HALL,, a member of the bank- 
ing firm of Dean & Hall, of Brocton, 
was born at Sedgwick, Hancock county, Maine, 
June 5, 1844, and is a son of Dr. James A. and 
Caroline (Hei'rick) Hall. Of the early settlers 
of the town of Portland one was Ahira Hall, 
the paternal grandfather of the subject of this 
sketch, and who came from his native State ot 
Connecticut in 1818. He was a lawyer, served 
as justice of tiie peace for some years and man- 
aged his farm until his death in 1856, at eighty- 
two years of age. He was an ardent methodist 
in religious faith, and all of his thirteen children 
were members of the M. E. church. His son, 
Dr. James A. Hall, was born in Connecticut in 
1815, and died April 8, 1865, at Brocton. He 
was a graduate of Bowdoin college, read medi- 
cine, and located at Brocton in 1844, and shortly 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



afterwards graduated from the medical depart- 
ment of Bovvdoiu college. He served during 
the late civil war as surgeon of the 49ch regiment, 
Maine V^ols., was a methodist and republican. 
He had a large practice, and married Caroline 
Herrick, of Brooklin, Maine, who was born in 
1823, and is a consistent member of the ]Mctho- 
dist Episcopal church. 

Ralph A. Hall was reared principally at 
Brocton. He received his education in the 
public schools and Fredonia academy, and then 
obtained a situation as a clerk in a mercantile 
house at Sherman where he remained for three 
years. He then (1870) engaged in the hardware 
business at Brocton, in which he continued until 
1881, when he became a traveling .salesman for 
a wholesale hardware house in Buffalo. Three 
years later he left the road and became a mem- 
ber of the present banking firm of Dean & Hall, 
of Brocton. They are conservative and safe as 
financiers, and the management of their bank is 
based upon correct and economical financial 
principles. 

In 1870 ]Mr. Hall married Mary J., daughter 
of Mark Haight, of Brocton. They have one 
child, a daughter named Eva H. 

In addition to his investment in the banking- 
business Mr. Hall owns a good grape farm and 
is interested in a land syndicate which is known 
as the " Brocton Land and Improvement Com- 
pany." He is a republican, and a member and 
trustee of the Brocton M. E. church. He is a 
member of Castle Hall, No. '284, Knights of 
Pythias, which was organized February 151, 
18(34 ; Brocton Council, No. 18, Royal Templars 
of Temperance, organized in 1877, and Brocton 
Lodge, No. 8, Ancient Order of United Work- 
men, the oldest order of its kind in the United 
States, having been established at Meadville, 
Pa,, October 28, 1868. 



HI:k:>I<>X J. 1>EAX, M.D., a resident 
physician for the last thirty-four years 
of Brocton, is a son of Rev. Robert and Aman- 



da (Stebbins) Dean, and was born in the town 
of Royalton, Niagara county, New York, July 
8, 1832. The Deans are of English national- 
ity and were resident in eastern New York dur- 
ing the latter part of the eighteenth century. 
Rev. Robert Dean, tlie father of Dr. Dean, was 
born in Putnam county, in 1799, and died in 
Niagara county, in February, 187G. He was 
an ordained minister of the Baptist church, 
following farming for some years in Niagara 
county and was an old-line whig and republi- 
can in politics. His wife, a native of the town 
of Conway, Massachusetts, and a member of 
the Baptist church, died- in Niagara county in 
1872, aged sixty-two years. 

Hermon J. Dean grew to manhood in his 
native town, received his early education in the 
public schools of Niagara county aud com- 
menced the study of medicine in 1854. After 
completing the required course of reading he 
entered Miami Medical college, of Cincinnati, 
Ohio, from which he was graduated in 1857. 
In the same year he came to Brocton, where he 
has had a large and remunerative practice until 
the present time. Dr. Dean is a member of 
the Chautauqua County Medical society, was one 
of the founders of the New York State Medical 
association and takes a deep interest in the 
progress of his profession. 

On October 30, 18(51, Dr. Dean married 
Eda T. Fay, a daughter of Lincoln Fay, a son 
of Elisha Fay, one of the earliest .settlers and 
substantial citizens of the town of Portland. 

Dr. H. J. Deau is a republican politically 
and has held the office of supervisor of the 
town of Portland for five terms in succession. 
He Is a member of Brocton Lodge, No. 8, 
Ancient Order of United Workmen. Dr. 
Deau is also interested in the material develop- 
ment and financial prcsperity of his village. 
He is a stockholder in the Brocton Land and 
Improvement company and has been for several 
years a member of the banking-house of Dean 
ct Hall, which they founded to advance the 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



business interests of their village and section of 
the county. This bank has fully realized the 
expectations of its founders, and has been of 
great benefit to the business interests of the 
town of Portland and surrounding towns. 



/^KOKGi: F. HURLBURT. There is more 

^^ genius necessary to properly and success- 
fully conduct a hotel, than, probably any other 
business, as the work brings the proprietor in 
direct contact with characters and dispositions 
seldom found and not often displayed outside of 
the home or at the hotel. Mine host, Hurl- 
burt, of the popular Dunkirk hotel bearing his 
name, seems to be possessed of this characteris- 
tic in a large degree. George F. Hurlburt was 
born in Forestville, Chautauqua county. New 
York, September 13, 1860, and is a son of 
John F. and Anna Maria (Griswold) Hurlburt. 
John Hurlburt (paternal grandfather) was one 
of the Chautauqua county pioneers. He came 
from New Jersey and settled at Forestville in 
1840. He was a wagon-maker by trade and 
carried on this business in Forestville, at the 
time of his death which occurred in 1858. 
John F. Hurlburt (father) was a native of 
Forestville and for many years carried oo a 
large carriage and wagon factory there. After 
cjuitting this business he opened a hotel in the 
same town, which he conducted until 1870, 
when he moved to the oil district and continued 
the same occupation there until 1882 when he 
died, aged fifty-six years. Mr. Hurlburt was 
a member of the Baptist church, the Masonic 
fraternity and of the Republican party, being 
an active and energetic worker in the latter, and 
very popular among his friends and acquaint- 
ances. He married Anna Maria Griswold, a 
native of Westmoreland, Oneida county, New 
York, in 1854, by whom he had three children. 
She resides with her son, is a member of the 
Baptist church and is actively engaged in the 
church work, although she has reached the age 
of fiftv-nine. 



George F. Hurlburt spent his first ten years 
in Chautauqua county and went with his father 
when he moved to Petroleum Centre, Pennsyl- 
vania, in 1870. His education was acquired at 
the public schools and then he went to Buffalo, 
securing employment in the large cracker works 
of George Mudgridge & Son, which place he 
retained until 1880, when he resigned to join 
his father in the hotel business at Knapp's 
Creek, Pennsylvania, where they remained for 
two years and then went to Farnsworth where 
the father died in 1882. In 1884, G. F. Hurl- 
burt came to Dunkirk and opened the Hurl- 
burt House at the time of the Congressional 
convention of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus 
counties and entertained one hundred and fifty 
guests. He continued proprietor of this house 
until 1886 when he went to Youngstown, Ohio, 
and with G. 11. Baker opened the Todd House, 
a building containing one hundred and fifty 
rooms, and elegant in all its appointments. 
Under the new management it developed into 
a big success and was run for a year when they 
sold out on a good offer. Negotiations were 
then commenced for the Sherman House of 
Jamestown, but the j)roprietors flunked and 
Mr. Hurlburt was in a fair way to secure the 
Brazell House at Buffalo, just at the time of 
the disastrous fire resulting in the loss of life. 
He then went to Kansas City, Missouri, and 
engaged in the real estate business making con- 
siderable money, finally trading some property 
there for a hotel in Chicago, which he ran on 
the European plan for one year. The Arling- 
ton Hotel at Erie, had passed through many 
vicissitudes, many of which were depressing. 
Mr. Hurlburt took charge of it in 1888 and 
])iaced it on a footing equal to the best, but the 
owners sold it and he went to Van Buren Point 
and conducted a summer resort for the season. 
But his greatest triumph is the Hurlburt House 
in Dunkirk, with which he has been connected 
since 1881) and which is now said to be the best 
hotel between Buffalo and Cleveland. The 



338 



BIOGRAPHY ASI) HISTORY 



table is the equal of the best, the service is 
without a superior, every convenience is in use 
for the comfort of the guests and last but far 
from least, is the genial-mannered proprietor 
who circulates amongst his guests and makes 
each feel that he is at home. 

In 1886 he married Etta Vaudevort, one of 
the most charming and noble young ladies of 
Dunkirk. 



TAMES C. WAT.KKK, a son of Clark and 

^^ Esther (Caldwell) Walker, was boru in 
Brocton, Chautauqua county, New York, August 
29, 1842. Deacon Joseph Walker (great-grand- 
father) was born February 10, 1739, and died 
December 15, 1813, in Massachusetts. Samuel 
Walker (grandfather) was a native of Massa- 
chusetts, being born in 1773. In 1828 he came 
to Brocton and engaged in farming, a vocatiim 
which he pursued for man}' years. For many 
years he was a consistent member of the Pres- 
byterian church, and died in 1843 consoled in 
its faith. Clark Walker was born at Hopkin- 
tou, iSIass., in 1813, and came to Chaut^iuqua 
county with his father when fifteen years of age. 
He settled in Portland, which has been his home 
ever since. When a young man he learned the 
carpenter's and joiner's trade and employed him- 
self thereby for some time, but since 1860 farm- 
ing has been his chief vocation. Now in his 
seventy-eighth year, he personally superintends 
the workings of his farm and vineyard. For 
sixty years he has been identified with the 
Brocton Baptist church, in which he is a deacon. 
Since the organization of the llepublican party 
he has affiliated witii it, but he is a strong tem- 
perance man and his sympathies lean towards 
that class of legislation. Mr. Walker has filled 
town offices, but has never entered politics at 
large. In 1837 he married Esther Caldwell, a 
daughter of Samuel Caldwell, and, although of 
Scotch-Irish extraction, has for some generations 
been identified with American history. Her 
mother, Mary Clyde, was a prominent woman 



on account of her mental attainments and skill 
in medicine. Mrs. Walker is a sister of Samuel 
Caldwell, whose sketch appears elsewhere. They 
had .seven children. 

James C. Walker was reared on the farm and 
educated in the public schools and Westfield 
academy. Upon leaving the academy he taught 
school for a iev; years and then returned to the 
farm, where he has resided ever since. His fine 
place, forty acres in extent, has a vineyard upon 
it from which a good yield of luscious fruit is 
secured. 

In 1870 he wedtled Lydia Tiukham, a daugh- 
ter of Jacob Tinkham, who lived in the town of 
Pomfret. They have two children, one .son and 
one daughter: Benjamin, aged seventeen, and 
Jessie N., a child of five. 



/^RANGE A. F.VRGO for many years was 
^^ a leading farmer of Poland town, this 
county, and stood foremost in the ranks of the 
breeders of high grade stock. Strict attention 
to the details of his business enabled him to 
accumulate a competency, and for some years 
past he has been retired from active work and 
is living opulently at Kennedy. Orange A. 
Fargo is a sou of Samuel and Elizabeth B. 
(Ambler) Fargo and he began life in the village 
of Attica, Genesee county. New York on the 
eighth day of May, 1827. His blood is a dif- 
fusion of Frcin'h and Cymric, the father's 
ancestors having been natives of Wales. Both 
grandfathers, Fargo and Ambler, were born, 
reared and died in the State of Vermont, where 
Samuel Fargo, subject's father, was born. 
Samuel Fargo came to Chautauqua county 
about 1829. He was brought up on a farm 
but received an excellent education, through 
the assistance of his parents, coupled with his 
own exertions, and after leaving school as a 
student, he taught for some time, studying 
theoretical medicine and qualifying him.self for 
a physician at the same time. He practiced in 
(Genesee county and then came to this county. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



339 



Gerry town, and made his home and practiced 
in the " Vermont settlement." He followed 
the profession until a few years before his 
death, when advancing age compelled hira to 
relinquish its arduous duties. He married 
Elizabeth B. Ambler and had ten children, six 
of them are living : Ariel W. is a farmer in the 
town of Westfield; Eveline married Leonard 
Barton and lives at Elko, Cattaraugus county ; 
Clarissa is the wife of John Helmick; Maria 
A. lives with her husband, David Ostrander at 
Gerry ; Mary T. married Henry Starr, and 
lives at Gerry ; and Orange A. Samuel Fargo 
was originally a democrat but when the slavery 
question disturbed the country and divided 
households with its bitter intensity, he joined 
his sympathies with the republicans and became 
an ultra-abolitionist. 

During his whole life his energies were 
bent toward bettering the common schools 
of his locality and for a long time he held 
the office of school trustee. It is safe to 
say that never before or since has the office 
been occupied by a more zealous incumbent or 
one more anxious to elevate the standard of liis 
charge. He had a firm belief in the existence 
of a Supreme Ruler of the universe, an adher- 
ent of tiie sect devoted to the study of scientific 
morals, but was not connected with any church. 
His integrity was never questioned and his honor 
never imputed. Mr. Fargo was a widely read 
man antl a devoted student of the Bible. He 
died when fifty-eigiit years of age. 

Orange A. Fargo came with his parents to 
Gerry town when only two years of age and 
spent his childhood and youth on the farm. 
Having secured a good education, he began 
lumbering and followed it for many years, but 
in 1860 he entered agriculture and began to 
breed fine stock. The best strains of blood 
were secured for his stud, although he bred 
for results rather than pedigree. Much of the 
fine stock now scattered throughout Chautauqua 
county were originally from his stables, and to 



Mr. Fargo is much credit due for the improve- 
ment. 

He married ]\Iary L. Tucker, a daughter of 
David Tucker, of the town of Poland, July 24, 
1847. They reared a family of eight children, 
all of whom, excepting two that have died, are 
well-to-do, educated and representative people of 
the localities in which they live. licroy is an 
agriculturist in Cattaraugus county ; Addison 
A. tills the soil in the town of Ellington ; Fred 
A. farms in Poland ; Irwin, same residence and 
occupation ; Victor H. farms in Cattaraugus 
county ; and Elmer E. resides in Brocton, New 
York. 

Orange A. Fargo is a republican of a most 
pronounced character, is a great reader and 
keeps himself informed upon public matters. 
Having been successful in business and laid by 
a snug fortune, he can lay back and contemplate 
the outside world with complacency. 



FERNANDO COKTEZ HASKIN. Among 
the many American citizens who trace 
back their lineage to Celtic Scotland is Fer- 
nando Cortez Haskin, the subject of our sketch. 
He is a son of Enoch and Mary (Wadsworth) 
Haskin and was born in Pittston, New York, 
on July 5, 1817. Elkanah Haskin, from 
whom the American stock by that name sprang, 
was born in Scotland about the year 1700, 
came to Connecticut in early life and settled in 
Norwich. Here he pursued the vocation of 
broadcloth weaver, reared his family and died 
at the age of eighty years. His family in- 
cluded seven children, one of whom, Enoch 
Sr., was the great-grandfather of our subject, 
and was born May 5, 1740, in Norwich, Con- 
necticut. True to his religious training and 
environment, he was a strong adherent of the 
Presbytei'ian church and sought to inculcate its 
doctrines and dogmas by his life and example. 
Enoch Sr., was twice married ; by his first 
wife he had one daughter, Rachel ; by his 
second wife he had several children, among 



BIOGBArHY ANT) HISTORY 



wliom was Enoch Jr., suhjeet's grandfatlier, 
boru July 23, 1765. Animated and fired witli 
enthusiasm for his country's independence in 
its moments of deepest gloom, our boyish 
patriot threw his life, his soul, his all into tiie 
struggle for liberty. He did all that a boy 
could in behalf of his native land, endured tiie 
privations, the sufferings, the dangers and the 
vicissitudes of war. Upon one occasion he was 
stunned by a cannon-shot and thrown into the 
ditch, but abnost miraculously resuscitated and 
lived to see the surrender of Cornwallis at 
Yorktown. Reward was made for his gallant 
services by a pension. Subsequent to the Rev- 
olution he married Miss Lydia Ackley, who 
bore him a family of seven children. He was 
thoroughly democratic in his views of State ; 
conscientious in conduct, and an active member 
of the Presbyterian church. He died in Ohio. 
The father of our subject was born near Breed- 
port, Vermont, in 1788, and in 1818 came to 
the town of Sheridan, Chautauqua county, New 
York, where he lived until his death in 1868. 
He was reared upon a farm and subsequently 
purchased a farm of his own in Sheridan town, 
which he cultivated simultaneously with other 
branches of business. Later he went into the 
hotel business, and as proof of his carefulness 
and integrity in the sale of liquors, has on file 
some thirty-one liceuses granted by the excise 
committee. He is an enthusiastic democrat in 
political creed, but a very notable attestation of 
his popularity irrespective of party is the fact 
that he lacked but twenty-one votes in the race 
for the office of sheriff in a strong republican 
district. His union in marriage was blest with 
eight children, four boys and four girls ; two 
of the former and three of the latter are still 
living. 

Fernando C. Haskin was married to Sarah 
A. Keech, a daughter of Abram Keech of the 
town of Hanover. Three children were born 
to them : George ; Susan who now lives in 
Winona, Minnesota; and Mary, married to 



George Cranston, a postal clerk on the Penn- 
sylvania Railroad. 

Mr. Haskin received the customary common 
school education of this day, and being reared 
on a farm, has followed farming ever since, 
with the exception of eight years spent in the 
lumber business. He has acquired a com- 
fortable home, is regarded as an honest, upright 
citizen and a good neiglibor ; is a democrat in 
politics, both by heredity and principle and is 
fully alive to the National issues of the day. 



TEDKDIAH M. JOHNSON, a very suc- 



u 



cessful farmer and grape-grower of the 



town of Ripley, was born in the town of Nor- 
wich, Chenango county, New York, May 3, 
1845, and is a son of Homer and Roxanna 
(Skinner) Johnson. The Johuson family is of 
English descent and settled at an early day in 
southern New England, from which Dr. Jona- 
than Johnson, the paternal grandfather of the 
subject of this sketch, came to Chenango 
county, New York, shortly after the year 1791. 
He read medicine for four years under a pre- 
ceptor in his native State of Connecticut, re- 
ceived a diploma which is dated April 3, 1791, 
and after removing to Chenango county, his 
pioneer practice soon extended into adjoining 
counties. As his county developed Dr. John- 
sou grew in wealth, medical repute and personal 
influence and at his death owned several mills, 
stores and valuable farms, aggregating a value 
of one hundred thousand dollars. He married 
Hannah Graves, who lived to be ninety-six 
years of age. Tiiey had four sous and one 
daughter. One of the sons was Homer John- 
son (father) who was boru October 31, 1803, in 
Chenango county, where he died May 9, 1872. 
He was a carpenter by trade, a farmer by occu- 
pation, a whig and republican in politics and a 
member and trustee of the Baptist church. He 
married Roxanna Skinner, who was born Feb- 
ruary 14, 1806. Their family consisted of five 
sons and five daughters, of whom six are 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



liviug : John, a farmer of Ripley (see sketch); 
Mary, widow of Orin Warner and wife of 
Thomas W. Hall, of Norwich, N. Y. ; Jona- 
tlian Darwin ; Abie, married to Ashel Holcomb, 
of l^ipley ; Emily, who married a Mr. 
Cartland Hall and afterwards Melvin Slater, of 
Norwich, N. Y. ; and Jedediah M. Those 
deceased are: Hannah M., born March 23, 
1827, died October 10, 186- ; Harriet A., 
born June 25, 1848, died April 19, 18G4 ; 
George H., born July 8, 1834, died May 
7, 1886 — he was a carpenter by trade and for 
many years was boss carpenter of a large gang 
of workmen, laying out the work for the others 
to do; and Charles H., born August 16, 1837, 
died December 3, 1880; he was a Baptist 
preacher of pronounced ability and during his 
itinerancy built two churches of that denomina- 
tion and was the means of the conversion of 
many souls. Mrs. Johnson is a daughter of 
Daniel Skinner (maternal grandfather) who was 
a native of Connecticut and a resident of Che- 
nango county, where he followed farming and 
married Hannah Skinner, by whom he had 
nine children. 

Jedediah M. Johnson grew to manhood in 
his native town, where he attended the common 
schools and Norwich academy. He commenced 
life for himself as a farmer and in 1869 came 
to the productive lake farm in the town of 
Eipley, on which he now resides and on which 
he erected his present substantial residence, 
good barns and first-class out-buildings. He is ' 
a republican in politics, served five years in the 
State Militia, in which he refused a lieutenancy, 
and is a member of the Baptist church. 

September 17, 1867, Mr. Johnson married 
Annie M., daugiiter of Hiram A. Burton, of 
Brocton, and a member of the Baptist church. 
To tiieir union have been born oue son and two 
daughters: Harriet A., born August 6, 1868; 
Hiram B., January 10, 1872 ; and Emily L. 
B., who was born March 8, 1879, and died 
April 18, 1887. 



On his lake shore farm of eighty-two and a 
half acres of land he has a vineyard of twenty- 
five acres, which, during the grape season of 
1890, produced the large yield of twenty-one 
thousand baskets, or one hundred tons of 
grapes. Since 1869 Mr. Johnson has been 
dealing continuously in apples, peaches, plums, 
pears and various other kinds of fruits. He 
handles large quantities of fruit and has been 
very successful in farming and the cultivation 
of the vine. He takes great interest in all agri- 
cultural pursuits and is a member of Ripley 
Grange, No. 68, Patrons of Husbandry. 

He has twenty-five acres of young grapes 
which go on wires next year, which makes 
fifty acres in the ground now. 



HIRAM BUBCH, a substantial farmer of 
Portland and a Union soldier of the late 
civil war, is a son of Oliver W. and Mary S. 
(Tower) Burch, and was born on the farm on 
which he now resides, in the town of Portland, 
Chautauqua county. New York, December 15, 
1831. In the town of Wells, Rutland county, 
Vermont, in the year 1766, was born to Jona- 
than and Eunice Burch, a son, who, in accord- 
ance with a time-honored custom of New Eng- 
land, was given his father's name, Jonathan. 
This Jonathan Burch, Jr., the grandfather of 
Hiram Burch, at twenty years of age (1786) 
married Sally Hosford and settled in Herki- 
mer county, where, after a residence of a few 
years, he removed to Chenango county. He 
served and was a major in the war of 1812. 
In January, 1813, he settled on lot 62, twp. 4, 
in the town of Portland, and his farm is now 
owned by the subject of this sketch. He died 
in 1838 and his wife passed away in 1845, 
aged sixty years. They had five sons and five 
daughters : Eunice, wife of Heman Ely ; Olive, 
who married Zeri Yale; Jonathan, who mar- 
ried Maria Yale; Powell G., who married 
Lovina Palmer; Polly, wife of Jared Taylor; 
Sally, who married Erastus Cole; Oliver W. 



342 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



married Mary S. Tower ; Chaimcy, who married 
Nancy Cole; Stephen S. ; and jNIatilda, who 
died at eighteen years of" age. Of the sons, 
Oliver W. (father) was born in Herkimer 
county, and about 1825 purchased his father's 
farm, on which he resided until his death, in 
1883, at the ripe old age of eighty-twt) years. 
On March 8, 1825, he married* Mary Sprague 
Tower, daughter of John and Lucy (Munson) 
Tower, of Oneida county. The Towers were 
descendants of one who came over in the "May- 
flower." To Oliver W. and Mary S. Burcii 
were born six sous and three daughters: Lucy, 
Olive, Hattie, Walter, who served in the 49th 
New Yoi-k, for ten months, and was discharged 
on account of typhoid fever ; Newell, served 
about two and a half years as a member of the 
154th New York — was captured at Gettysburg 
and held prisoner for twenty-one months at 
Belle Isle and Andersonville ; Rollin, a soldier 
in the 7th Iowa, and a prisoner for two months — 
he then re-enlisted and served fo the close of the 
war ; Hiram, was in Iowa at the breaking out 
of the rebellion ; Horace and Ransom. After Mrs. 
O. W. Burch's death, March 2, 1851, at forty- 
three years of age, Mr. Burch married, on No- 
vember 30, 1884, Arminda Sunderlin, who still 
survives. 

Oliver W. Burch, although young, remem- 
bered well the excitement caused by the British 
burning Buffalo. 

Hiram Burch was reared on the homestead 
farm and received his education in the common 
schools. He has followed farming ever since 
leaving school, and is now engaged to some 
extent in the culture of the vine. He owns 
the homestead farm of ninety-seven acres, 
which is located three miles northeast of West- 
field. In 1861 Mr. Burch enlisted in Co. I, 
9th regiment, Iowa volunteers, but soon caught 
a cold that settled in his eyes and caused his 
discharge from the service, after being in about 
four months. 

On March 17, 1870, he married Louisa, 



daughter of Frederick Miller. They have one 
child, a sou, Clarence G., now in his twenty- 
first year. 

Hiram Burch is a republican in politics and 
a strong advocate of the temperance cause. On 
Thursday, August 22, 1889, there was a re- 
union of the children of O. W. and INIary S. 
Burch at the old homestead farm. All of the 
nine children were present, of whom the eldest 
was sixty-two years of age, and the youngest 
over forty-two years. At this re-union Rev. 
Knight read an interesting history of the Burch 
family from 1700 to 1890, which was carefully 
prepared by one of the children. One of its 
concluding sentences was : '' But as our feet 
diverge from this home of our childhood, as we 
again go forth into the world, let us not forget 
the duties we owe in all charity and love to one 
another." 



T . KWIS B. BIXBY is a son of Horace S. 
''^ and Julia E. (Hanchett) Bixby, and was 

born April 2, 1864, in Hartfield, Chautauqua 
county. New York. The name of Bixby is of 
Danish origin, but the original family lived so 
long in Boxford, Suffolk county, England, and' 
iutermarrietl so much with the inhabitants 
thereabout that the Danish characteristics were 
well nigh lost. The first one of the family to 
emigrate to America, and from whom the 
American Bixbys all descended, was Joseph 
Bixby, who came from England in 1636, and 
settled in Ipswich, near Salem, Massachusetts, 
eleven years later (1647). In 1660 he removed 
to what w-as then Rowley village, now Box- 
ford, being incorporated in the latter place 
through his efforts. In 1647 Joseph Bixby 
was married to Sarah (Wyatt) Heard, who was 
the maternal American ancestor of the Bixbys. 
The fiimily has been remarkable for its jMCty 
and energy, and many of those born in this cen- 
tury have been educated men of high standing. 
The earlier ones had to struggle with the In- 
dians, and became well ac(juaiuted with all the 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



hardships of pioneer life. During the late civil 
war New England alone furnished ten com- 
missioned officers in the Union army from the 
Bixby family. The great-great-great-grand- 
father of Lewis B. Bixby was Samuel Bixby, 
wiio was a son of Benjamin Bixbv, and was 
born in Lopsfield, Massachusetts, January 2, 
1689, and settled in Sutton, Massachusetts, in 
1718. He had a son, Solomon, who was born 
in that part of Sutton now Milbury, Massaciiu- 
setts, and settled in Barre, Massachusetts. His 
wife's name was Esther, but fartiier nothing is 
remembered of her. Solomon Bixby was the 
great-great-grandfatiier of L. B. Bixby. . He 
had three sous and five daughters ; one of the 
sons, Joel, being the great-grandfather of L. B. 
Bixby, and was born in Barre, Massachusetts, 
November 15, 17G8, and had two cliildren, one 
of whom, Solomon, born March 5, 1808, at 
Worcester, Massachusetts, and died in May- 
ville, New York, April 5, 1881, was the grand- 
father of L. B. Bixby. He owned and operated 
a machine-shop and foundry, first at Hartfield, 
this county, and then at Mayviile. In polities 
he was a republican. He had a family of six 
children, two sons and four daughters, the eld- 
est of whom was Horace (father). He was 
born October 20, 1835, at Worcester, Massa- 
chusetts, and was married November 21, 1801, 
to Julia Hanchett, a daughter of Joseph Han- 
chett, by whom he had four children, two sons 
and two daughters : Lewis B., Georgianna, born 
October 20, 1865, at Hartfield (dead); William, 
born at Mayviile, April 16, 1870, died January 
15, 1885; and Millie, born at Mayviile, De- 
cember 26, 1876. 

Lewis B. Bixby was educated in the Union 
school, at Mayviile, and then took a college 
preparatory course, but did not enter college. 
He entered the Brush Electric Works, at Cleve- 
land, Ohio, and learned the trade of electrical 
engineering, remaining with them four months 
in the shops, and tiien went into the field, set- 
ting up their lamps. His next engagement 



was with the Buckeye Mower and Reaper 
Works, at Akron, Ohio, where he had charge 
of the electric lighting. Returning to Mayviile 
in 1883, he engaged in the machine-shop with 
his father, where they do a general repair busi- 
ness, and has remained there since. During 
the summer he furnishes the electric lighting for 
the Chautauqua Association grounds at the 
lake. They also handle pipe and supj>lics, and 
have a factory, twenty-five by fifty feet, two 
stories on Water street. In politics he is a 
republican, and is at present excise conjmis- 
siouer of the town of Chautauqua. In religion 
he is a member of the Baptist Church, of J\Iay- 
vilie. Lodge, 284, I. O. O. F., and of Lodge 
No. 825, K. of H., at Mayviile. 

Lewis B. Bixby was married September 16, 
1884, to Alice M. Belden, a daughter of N. D. 
Belden, of Mayviile, and has two children : 
Emma T., born July 8, 1885, and Harry E., 
born April 8, 189; I. 



O^MITH H, BBOWXELL, of Ellery town, is 

^•^ a son of Peter R. and Rhoda (Putnam) 
Brownell, and was born in the town where he 
now resides, June 4, 1835. The paternal grand- 
parents were Joshua and Elizabeth (Reasoner) 
Brownell. Joshua Brownell was a native of 
the Empire State and was born on Long Island, 
near New York city, and arose to a position of 
prominence. About 1812 he moved to and set- 
tled near Elmira, this State, and engaged in 
cattle dealing, buying and shipping large num- 
bers to the New York and Philadelphia markets. 
Politically he was a whig and devoted admirer 
of DeWitt Clinton, whom he ardently supported 
when he was a candidate for governor. His 
wife, Elizabeth Reasoner, bore him nine chil- 
dren and he died in Chemung county in 1822. 
Peter R. Brownell was born in Dutchess county 
April 20, 1806, and came to Chautauqua county 
during his youth. He began life as a fiirm 
laborer, working by the mouth, until twenty- 
eight years of age, when lie bought a farm in 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



the towu of Ellery, which he lived upon for 
thirty-six jears. In 1870 he moved into James- 
town, and, being wealthy, he has retired from 
business and is quietly enjoying his declining 
years. He married Rhoda Putnam, who bore 
him three children, of whom our subject is the 
eldest ; Mary Ann and Bessie M. For a second 
wife he married Mrs. Mary Van Dusen. Po- 
litically he is a republican and is a member of 
tiie Methodist Episcopal church. 

Smith H. Brownell spent the first seventeen 
years of his life on his father's farm and then 
engaged in the mercantile business in the town 
of Ellery, continuing it with fair success for ten 
years, but ill health compelled him to abandon 
the confining duties of the store and he returned 
to the farm, upon which he has since lived, 
nearly thirty years. His residence is beautifully 
situated on the shore of Lake Chautauqua, and 
is admirably adapted to keeping summer board- 
ers. During the season his house was filled with 
pleasure and health-seekers, they being attracted 
thither by the superior accommodations and 
home-like comforts found there. Many expres- 
sions of regret were heard when Mr. Brownell 
decided last season to discontinue the business. 
His farm consists of one hundred and ninety- 
seven acres kept in a high state of fertilitv. 

On the 4tli of June, 1858, he married Mary 
A. Strong, a daughter of Siley Strong, of Ellery ; 
she became the mother of three children — two 
SODS, George W., born July 4, 1859, and Perry 
R., born August 8, 1871 ; and one daughter — 
Adeline S., born July 29, 1862. Mrs. Brow- 
nell died November 8, 1883, aged forty-three 
years. George W. Brownell married Jennie 
Norton, of Bemus Point, February 6, 1885, 
and is now located in Dakota ; Adeline S. is the 
wife of Charles C. Aniler, and resides in the 
same State; Perry R. is unmarried and lives at 
home. For his second wife Mr. Brownell took 
Minerva Dunn, a daughter of Daniel Dunn, of 
Sugar Grove, Pa., whom he married November 
20. 1884. 



Politically he is a republican and takes an 
active interest in party matters. He is now 
holding the office of justice of the peace for the 
town of Ellery, having first been elected to fill 
an unexpired term, but in the spring of 1891 
he was re-elected. Smith H. Brownell is of a 
modest, retiring disposition, but possesses an 
open frank character that makes friends. He 
is a member of Bemus Point Lodge, No. 585, 
I. O. O. F., and belongs to the Grange Associa- 
tion. While not a member of any religious de- 
nomination he attends and contributes liberally 
to the Methodist Episcopal church and is looked 
upon as one of its warm friends. 



JOSEPH APPLEYARD was born Novem- 
'^^ ber 22, 1834, at a place about one mile 
west of Haworth — the home of the gifted 
Bronte family — Yorkshire, England. On the 
maternal side of his father's family, his ances- 
tors belonged to the sturdy old Cromwell stock, 
whose niece married Archbisliop Tillotson, who 
in his time did so much to frame public opinion, 
lifting up the English clergy, and, by wise 
counsel, influencing Queen Anne to a marked 
degree, during her reign. On his father's side 
he claims connection with the valued craftsmen 
imported into England from the Netherlands, 
on account of their skill in the manipulation of 
wool, now known as worsted goods. For gen- 
erations back these commodities were manufac- 
tured in the homes of the peasants and so satis- 
fied were they with the profession that each 
member of the family was inducted inio its 
mysteries, following the footsteps of their sire 
with a regularity and precision almost without 
exception. When the subject of this history 
entered life, the most conspicuous pieces of fur- 
niture in the home were a number of hand- 
looms, and the first and last notes of his daily 
life were those created by the sonorous noise of 
the flying shuttle, driven by manual force across 
the web and on the dexterit}- of which depeud- 
otl both the comfort and necessaries of life. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNT i'. 



347 



Put to work, first to wind the yarn on the 
spools for the filling, then advanced to the 
loom while yet not in his teens, he became an 
expert, so that when by the introduction of 
steam, weaving became centralized in factories, 
a practical knowledge had been obtained which 
made it easy to adapt himself to the new con- 
dition of things. From the position of weaver 
to that of overseer was a laudable desire which 
his ambition soon made possible, and by the 
realization of which, he acquired a qualification 
to maintain a distinguished relation to some of 
tiie leading maniil'acturers of the Bradford 
trade. 

In 1872, through iiis brother, he concluded 
an engagement with Hall, Broadhead & Turner 
to take the management of the weaving depart- 
ment in the enterprise to be established in 
Jamestown, New York, and in the summer of 
the following year took up his residence in that 
city, and set up the requisite machinery, produc- 
ing the first piece of alpaca ever made in that 
new industry, and which has given to James- 
town such a world-wide re])utatiou. After 
three years of hard service he severed his con- 
nection with the firm — they iiaving discarded 
their obligation made by ilr. Turner — and en- 
gaged with the firm of William Broadhead & 
Sons, the senior member of which only a short 
time before, having also withdrawn from the 
first mentioned firm. In 1876 he began the 
Broadhead Mills, wiiich stand as a monument 
of persevering energy and practical skill. With 
an indomitable will and an assiduous applica- 
tion, an integrity and devotion rarely paral- 
leled, for sixteen years he has faithfully striven 
to keep up to the times and still merits the con- 
fidence of ail who know him. Politically he is 
a republican, though an unswerving advocate 
of temperance ; in religious sentiment he is a 
Methodist and is sustaining the position of trus- 
tee to the First Methodist Episcopal church in 
Jamestown. Previous to coming to America 
he joined tlie Odd Fellows and now is a mem- 



ber of the Sous of St. George — a .secret society 
organized for beneficial purposes to its metnber- 
ship — and has served as its treasurer' for nine 
years ; Mr. Appleyard is also a proryinent mem- 
ber of the Jamestown Permanent Loan and In- 
vestment Association. 

In 1800 he married Mary, the eldest daugli- 
ter of John and Jane Ogdeu of Keighley, York- 
shire, England, and to them have been born one 
.son and three daughters : the sou and one daugh- 
ter died previous to their coming to the United 
States; of the others, Sara, a noted vocalist, 
and Ada M., a distinguished artist and decora- 
tor of china, now live with their parents at No. 
39 Center street, Jamestown, New York. 



nKV. CHALON BURGKSS, pastor of the 
Presl)yterian church of Silver Creek, is a 
son of Dr. Jacob and Mary (Tyler) Burgess, 
and was born at Silver Creek, in the town of 
Hanover, Chautauqua county, New York, June 
24, 1817. Tiie Burgess family of America, 
trace their lineage through Thomas Burgess, 
who was one of the Pilgrim fathers, who came 
over in 1630 and settled at Sandwich or Cape 
Cod. One of his descendants was Dr. Jacob 
Burgess, who was a native of Lanesboro, Berk- 
shire county, Massachusetts, where he read 
medicine, and from which county he came to 
Silver Creek, in 1811. He was the fir-st phy- 
sician of Silver Creek and his field of practice 
was not confined within the limits of the coun- 
ty, while in many instances he had no road and 
travelled tiirough the woods by blazed trees. 
He also practiced among the Indians and after 
forty years of continuous practice, died at Sil- 
ver Creek, April 1.5, 1855, aged eighty year.s. 
He was a liberal democrat and a well informed 
man, who kept acquainted with all scientific 
matters and pursuits. 

Chalon Burgess received his early education 
in the common schools of Silver Creek, after 
which he attended Fredonia academy and then 
entered Hamilton college, from which he was 



348 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



graduated in 1844. After graduation, he was 
employed for nine months in teaching one 
of the public schools of Buffalo, New York, 
and at the end of that time became principal of 
the schools of Nunda, in Livingston county, 
which position he held for eighteen months. 
He then entered the Theological seminary of 
Auburn, New York, from which he was gradu- 
ated in 1849 and immediately commenced his 
ministerial labors. On account of ill health he 
declined some important work oifei-ed him and 
assumed charge of the Cougi'egational church 
at Little Valley, Cattaraugus county, where his 
ministry extended over a period of eleven years. 
From Little Valley he was called to the Pres- 
byterian church of Panama, over which his 
pastorate extended for iifteen years, lacking 
three months. While there he also had charge 
of the Congregational church of Ashville for 
five years. In November, 1875, he became 
pastor of the Presbyterian church of Silver 
Creek, with which he has faithfully labored 
ever since until his recent resignation. May 1, 
1891. During his efficient pastorate the church 
has increased from a membership of one hun- 
dred and forty-four to two hundred and thirty- 
seven. 

June 2, 1853, Rev. Mr. Burgess married 
Emma J., daughter of Rev. Charles Johnston, 
of Ovid, Seneca county. New Y^ork. They had 
three children : Edward S.. professor of Botany 
and Natural Sciences in the Washington City 
high school ; Theodore C, professor of Greek 
and Latin in Fredonia Normal school ; and 
Sarah Julia, now attending Wellesley college. 

Rev. Chalon Burgess is a logical and pleas- 
ing speaker, a courteous gentleman and a deci- 
ded prohibitionist in political opinion. He is 
the author of several published sermons, one of 
which was delivered on the death of Abraham 
Lincoln and told with power and pathos the 
story of the martyr, whose achievements and 
tragic death have made a figure, the like of 
which has never been equaled in history. 



From the New York Evangelist we quote ; 
" Buffalo Presbytery has furnished two striking 
exceptions to the proverb ' A prophet is not 
without honor, save in his own country and in 
his own house.' The exceptions are the late 
Rev. Dr. Grosvenor W. Heacock, who, born 
and reared in Buffalo, became one of the most 
honored and beloved ministers the city ever 
had, and the Rev. Chalon Burgess, who, born 
and reared in Silver Creek, has just closed in 
that village a most useful and honorable pas- 
torate." 

From the local paper : " After forty years of 
service in the Lord's vineyard, he seeks retire- 
ment in a community which honors and respects 
him as a profound scholar, a keen thinker, an 
upright Christian, a citizen of whom all are 
proud." 

s> 

T^LIAS H. JEXXIER was a farmer of the 
-*"^ town of Busti, prominent on account of 
his intellectual power and long connection with 
educational work. He was a son of Stephen 
and Betsey Jenuier, and was born in Essex 
county. New Y'^ork, in 1826, and came to Chau- 
tauqua county with his father when only eight 
years of age, and lived in the town of Har- 
mony, where they stayed a short time, and then 
went to Belvidere, Illinois, where the ensuing 
seven years were spent. In 1841, when only 
fifteen years of age, ]Mr. Jennier, who had de- 
veloped marked aptitude for study, returned to 
this county and adopted the profession of school 
teaching, and in the years following taught in 
nearly all the principal schools of the county. 
Some of this county's men, whose names are 
written highest on the scroll of fame, received 
their instruction from him. He was the clerk 
of the board of supervisors for twenty-six 
years, and served upon the board for a long 
time. Politically he was a republican, took a 
great interest and kept well posted in political 
matters, as well as the general news of the day. 
In 1844 he married Louisa Pier, a daughter 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



of Abram Pier, a resident of Busti, now de- 
ceased. By their union four children were born 
to them. Mr. Jennier was a gentle husband 
and a kind father, and was happiest when enter- 
taining a company of his friends. In connec- 
tion with his other work he operated a farm, 
and belonged to the Grange and the Knights 
of Honor. 

Elias H. Jennier died in 1883, leaving a sor- 
rowing family to mourn his loss. His wife now 
resides on the old homestead, two miles from 
Jamestown, and has re-married to Smith 
Homer, whom she knew in.youth. Mr. Homer 
spent thirty-eight years on the Pacific coast, and 
saw much of the life of the '49ers and others of 
the early adventurers, who were drawn thither 
by the visions of Golconda's wealth. He is 
now happily located with his wife at their 
pleasant home. 

^KORGK L. SKIXNER is one of the most 

^^ substantial and prosperous farmers in the 
town of Portland, and has reached this condi- 
tion of affluence by his own exertions, industry 
and good management. He is a son of David 
and Mary (Williams) Skinner, and was born in 
the town of Portland, Chautauqua county, New 
York, September 30, 1840. Being now in his 
fifty-first year and having lived temperately, 
he is in the prime of life. David Skinner 
came to Chautauqua county from Chenango, 
where he was born in 1802, and settled in the 
town of Portland. During the past seventy 
years he has been a farmer, and still lives upon 
the beautiful place which he cut out from the 
virgin forest, and although past eighty-seven 
years of age, he is enjoying health that is re- 
markable. At one time he was the largest 
jjroperty owner in the town, but a great deal of ' 
it has been sold to different parties, although he 
is still the possessor of a large acreage. David 
Skinner is a democrat, and was highly pleased 
when his party succeeded in electing a president i 
in the campaign struggle of 1884. Mr. Skin- 



ner traces his origin to the Emerald Isle, but 
the family was transplanted to American soil 
nearly a century ago. He married Mary Wil- 
liams, who was of Scotch parentage, and who 
bore him several children, Elial W. Skinner, 
whose sketcii appears elsewhere, is a brother of 
G. L., and is just two years his elder. 

George L. Skinner was reared on a farm to 
which he has ever since been attached, and his 
education was acquired at the pul)lic schools, 
which by 1855 and 1860 had reached a good 
degree of excellence in western New York. 
He now owns a farm of forty-eight acres, two 
and one-half miles west of Brocton, and other 
land in various localities of the town, twenty- 
five acres being a vineyard. 

On July 7, 1866, he married Susan J. Tay- 
lor, a daughter of Gurdon Taylor, of this 
town. Their union has been blessed with one 
child : Gurdon D., now a promising young man, 
aged nineteen. Mr. and Mrs. Skinner have a 
happy home, and with their pleasant surround- 
ings are handsomely located to entertain their 
friends of whom there are many. 

G. L. Skinner is a democrat of a stanch 
and tried character, and is a member, trustee, 
secretary and treasurer of the church, to which 
he and his wife have belonged for a num- 
ber of years. The fraternal and beneficial so- 
cieties, too, number him on their books, he 
being active in both the Equitable Aid Union 
and the Grange. There is no man in the 
county whose reputation for integrity, honesty 
and uprightness is brighter, and he has the con- 
fidence of alb 



"PUGKNE E. DUDLEY was born in Che- 
"*"^ nango county. New York, September 6, 
1850, and is a son of John and Maria (Hotch- 
kiss) Dudley, both natives of the county men- 
tioned. The paternal grandfather, Lyman 
Dudley, came from Berkshire county, Massa- 
chusetts, and settled as a farmer in Chenango 
county in 1786. He died there about 1858, 



350 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



aged seventy-two years. John Dudley was 
born in Chenango county in 1814, and wafe 
reared on his father's farm, which he assisted 
in ruiniing until 1843, wiien he came to Broc- 
ton and located. He still resides there a re- 
tired farmer. Farming and dairying was his 
life-long occupation, and by them a compe- 
tence was amassed. John Dudley is now sev- 
enty-seven years old, — a universalist and a 
democrat. He mafried Maria Hotchkiss, of 
Chenango county, in 1843, and by her had six 
children. She died in 18(31. 

Eugene E. Dudley spent his early life on 
his fatiier's farm, and received such education 
as the district schools could furnish. When 
seventeen years of age, he received a position 
as brakeman on the L. S. and M. S. R. R., 
running between Cleveland and Erie, and fol- 
lowed that occupation for four yeai-s. 

On November 19, 1873, he married Ellen 
S. Derby, a daughter of Blanchard Derby, of 
Cassadaga, this county, and moved on his 
farm, which consists of forty-five acres, located 
three-quarters of a mile out of Portland vil- 
lage. He has a fine grape orchard, and gives 
much attention to growing that fruit. Mr. 
and Mrs. Dudley have three children, two sons 
and one daughter : Walter E., Frank H. and 
Clara F. Mrs. Dudley was a pleasant and 
Christian lady, devoted to her husband and 
family, and numbering a large circle of friends. 
She died May 19, 1888, aged thirty-five years. 

E. E. Dudley is a member of Summit 
Lodge, No. 219, Free and Accepted Masons, 
which meets at Westfield ; is a democrat, a 
genial gentleman, and one of the most enter- 
prising and substantial residents of the town. 



Tll'INSLOW SHER3IAX is a quiet, unas- 

-*"'- suming gentleman, but nevertheless one 
of the solid and substantial farmers of the 
town of Busti, in which he lives. He is the 
son of Nicliolas and Hannah (Winslow) Sher- 
man, and was born in the town moutioned, 



January 9, 1824. The father, Nicholas Sher- 
man, was a native of Washington county, this 
State, and was one of the earliest actual settlers 
who came to Chautauqua. He located in the 
town of Busti shortly after the beginning of 
the present century, having secured a large 
tract of land from the Holland Land Com- 
pany. His property was more than five hun- 
dred acres in extent, and upon his arrival was 
a virgin forest. With the keen blade of his 
axe he felled the trees, which at that time were 
too plentiful to be valuable, and, as the easiest 
means to get rid of them, they were burned. 
He was a Quaker by faitii, and in politics a 
republican, and was elected to some of the 
town offices. Mr. Sherman died in 1868, aged 
seventy-nine years ; he was a kind, good man, 
and entirely devoted to his family, upon whose 
comfort and welfare he spared no pains. He 
married Hannah Winslow, who was born in 
Cayuga county, New York. She was a de- 
scendant of Gov. Winslow, of Massachusetts, 
and died in 1877, having attained the age of 
eighty-four years. She too passed away, con- 
soled bv her trust and faith in the Quaker 
religion. 

Winslow Sherman was early taught to toil, 
and passing his life upon his father's farm, he 
was educated at the common schools, whose 
course of instruction at that time was nominal. 
His life's work has been farmings and he is 
now the owner of the property upon which he 
resides. 

Januarv 1, 1848, he married Laura A. 
White, a daughter of David White, who lived 
at Nortii Collins, Erie County, New York. 
The fruit of their nnion was seven children, 
three sons and four daughters: Cynthia A. is 
the wife of Clinton Davis, and resides at Tidi- 
oute, Pa. ; Jennie P. married Fred William- 
son, and she has her residence on the old 
homestead ; Annie W. and her husband. Will 
E. Dennison, are residents of Council Grove, 
Kansas ; Dora 0. is married to Frank P. Stod- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



dard, a Baptist minister located at Amsterdam, 
New York ; Byron W. is a farmer in the town 
of Busti, and married Annie B. Sterns; Erie 
is married to Emma A. Hudson, and lives in 
Livingston, Montana, where he and his brother 
Merle, who is single, have a large cattle ranch. 
Wiuslow Sherman is a stalwart republican, but 
is modest and unassuming, and he stands with 
the foremost substantial citizens of the town of 
Busti. 



"lliriLO HITCHCOCK is a prominent and 

4 progressive agriculturist of Kennedy, this 
county, who has become a representative citizen 
through his own strong personality and vigor- 
ous industry. He is a son of Otis and Sarah 
(Delano) Hitchcock and was born September 
30th, 1832, in the town of Randolph. The 
paternal grandfather, Bethnel Hitchcock, came 
from Massachusetts when quite a young man 
and settled near Bloomfield but afterwards 
moved to Henrietta, ^Monroe county. He was 
a soldier in the war of 1812 and at its close 
came home and died. His mother's family 
came from Cayuga county, New York and was 
of Scotch extraction. Otis Hitchcock was born 
in the Empire State, May 9th, 1795, and spent 
his childhood and youth on a farm. His par- 
ents were not wealthy, and, although the young 
man went to school in early youth, as soon as 
his services became of some value, he was put 
to work, first at farm laboring but arose to the 
dignity of a landed proprietor at Henrietta, 
Monroe county, while yet young. He removed 
to Randolph about the year 1824, where, fol- 
lowing farming, he stayed the remainder of his 
life, with the exception of two years that he 
lived in Niagara county. New York. He died 
June 19th, 1873, at the age of seventy-eight 
years. He married Sarah Delano and became 
the father of twelve children, ten of whom 
reached maturity : Truman, Jeflerson, Harriett, 
Adaline, Eliza, Edwin, Milo, Sarah, Mary and 
Alvin. Alvin died in July 1864, and Adaline 
18 



and Sarah both are dead. Otis Hitchcock was 
a whig and, during the slavery agitation, 
became an abolitionist. He held a number of 
load offices which he filled with fidelity. The 
Baptist church occupied a warm place in his 
heart and he served it as a deacon for many 
years. He was but a boy at the breaking out 
of hostilities in our second war with the mother 
country but he enlisted and did gallant service 
on the Canadian frontier. Early in life he saw 
that tiie chief requisite to make a man successful 
in life was tact and a good education and he 
began to devise plans for the improvement and 
popularizing of our educational system. He 
held a position on the school commission and 
was one of the projectors and supporters of 
Chamberlain Institute. Being a careful and 
hard-working farmer, he accumulated consider- 
able property, which he handled witli skill. Mr. 
Hitchcock took a deep interest in public affairs 
and although conservative in his views, was 
thoughtful and philanthropic in disposition. 

JNIilo Hitchcock secured his early training on 
his father's farm ; his elementary education was 
received at the common schools and was supple- 
mented by a course at Randolph academy. 
When he stepped forth to battle with the world, 
his first work was lurr.bering but he finally 
settled back to farming, to which he found him- 
self best adapted. In the latter '50s he went 
west but returned to Cattaraugus county in 1861 
and bought the old homestead and lived upon 
it for two years. The ensuing twenty years 
were passed in buying and selling farms, several 
exchanges being made where he saw it was profit- 
able, and in 1884 he came to Poland town, 
Chautauqua county, where he now resides. 

On :March 23d, 1862, he married Louise Hill, 
a daughter of Julius Hill, a prominent farmer 
of Cattaraugus county and Mr. and Mrs. 
Hitchcock became the parents of six children ; 
Harriet E., born Christmas day, 1862; Ger- 
trude M. ; Frank G. ; Fred; Melva and Flor- 
ence M. Melva died in infancy, Harriet E. 



352 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



became the wife of George M. Wilhelm, of 
Raudolpli, Gertrude married E. M. Bush of 
Kennedy, and Frank married Nellie Harris; 
she died September 17th, 1890. 

Milo Hitchcock is identified with the Repub- 
lican party and was assessor of tlie town of 
Randolph. He is a member of the Patrons of 
Husbandry, was a director of the County Agri- 
cultural Society and has served on the school 
board and excise committee. He keeps himself 
well posted on current events and is one of the 
most intellicrent and well-read men in his town. 



"T4^IL.L,I.\3r HUXT was an intelligent and 

•** progressive farmer of Ripley town, whose 
aim in early life was to attain a superior educa- 
tion and prepare for a professional career, but 
poor health diverted his course when he mastered 
common English and the rudiments of science, 
and prevented his entering college. William 
Hunt was a son of Samuel and Mary (Prender- 
gast) Hunt, was born in the town of Ripley, 
Chautauqua .county, New York, January 29, 
1822, and died there on the first day of Decem- 
ber, 1869, honored and respected by all who 
knew him. The paternal grandfather, William 
Hunt, was a native of Washington county, this 
State, and came from there to Chautauqua town 
and county, and settled on lot 29, twp. 3, which 
lay contiguous to Chautauqua lake, where he 
lived until his death in 1845, aged seventy-seven 
years. He had nine childi'en who reached 
mature ages and had families. Thomas Pren- 
dergast (maternal grandfather), the second son 
of William Prendergast, Sr., was born in Pawl- 
ing, N. Y., September 15, 1758, and married 
Deborah Hunt, who was born August 25, 1774. 
They came to Ripley in the fall of 1805, having 
made the long trip to Tennessee and back in 
wagons. Thomas Prendergast purchased three 
hundred acres of laud in the town and lived 
upon it until he died June 3, 1842, aged eighty- 
four years. His wife died August 9, 1846. 
They had two children : Stephen, who became 



very prominent in the county, and died January 
31, 1852; and Mary (mother of subject), who, 
with her husband, Samuel Hunt, lived upon a 
part of the Prendergast farm after her father's 
death. Samuel Hunt was born in Washington 
county about 1776, but came to Ripley with his 
father and married Mary Prendergast in 1821. 
They had three children : William, Maria and 
Eliza, the latter two being successively the wife 
of Dr. Simeon Collins, now dead. 

William Hunt was reared on his father's farm, 
and early developing a fondness for knowledge, 
he was given eveLy opportunity for acquiring it. 
After learning the lessons of the district schools 
he M'as sent to the Westfield academy, where he 
was prepared for college, but before his ambition 
could be realized it was discovered that the state 
of his health would not allow him to give study 
the application which he desired and the idea 
was abandoned. He then returned to the flirm, 
from which so many American scholars, states- 
men and warriors have sprung. 

On September 2, 1844, he married Augusta 
Mann, a daughter of Jeremiah Mann, of Ripley. 
Mr. Hunt continued farming until the grave 
reaper summoned him, December 1, 1869, when 
but forty-seven years of age. Jeremiah Mann 
was a native of Milton, Saratoga county, N. Y., 
where he was born July 5, 1800, and twenty- 
five years later he came to Ripley. The next 
year he moved to North East, Pa., and remained 
eleven years, and then returned to Ripley, and 
lived until September 11, 1868, when he died. 
He was universally esteemed as a citizen, and 
had a strong hold upon the public confidence. 
He was a republican, active in the politics or 
the county, and was elected to the State assem- 
bly in 1844. Progression and public improve- 
ments had his attention to a large degree, and 
when the Buffalo and Erie railroad was con- 
structed he was one of its first directors. ]\Ir. 
Mann was six feet tall, broad-shouldered and 
straight, and being finely proportioned was ot 
striking appearance. He married Clarissa 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



353 



Brockway, a daughter of Burban Brockway, of 
the same town, who was a prominent citizen and 
a Christian gentleman ; was born at Lyme, 
Connecticut, March 1, 1767, and died in Ripley, 
September 2, ISGl. Mr. Mann became the 
father of three daughters : . Augusta, Caroline, 
married William Bell, Jr., of Erie, Pa., died 
March 12, 1875; and Lydia, who became Mrs. 
Lucius G. Hamilton. Her husband died March 
IG, 1874, leaving one child, Charles Mann, born 
January 23, 1874. 

Mrs. William Hunt is now living in Ripley, 
a woman highly esteemed in social and church 
circles, wlio is prominent in all good work that 
is proposed. She is now in her sixty-fifth year, 
and is enjoying excellent health. 



T ^YIVIAX F. WEEDEN. The leading drug- 
■■■^ gist and stationer of the village ot Ken- 
nedy was born at Randolph, Cattaraugus county, 
September 19, 1837, and is a son of Joseph E. 
and Margaret (Waite) Weeden. The State of 
Connecticut gave to the world subject's paternal 
grandparents, while the Waites were natives of 
Vermont. Caleb Weeden came from his early 
home and settled at Pike, Wyoming county. 
New York, about the year 1816, where he 
followed farming until his death. He took 
an enthusiastic interest in the local militia, 
and was captain of a comjiany. The Baptist 
church numbered him among its most valued 
members, for his example of Christian devotion 
and generous liberality were worthy of emula- 
tion. He was twice married and reared a family 
of six children. Gresham Waite was a member 
of the family of that name which has become 
distinguished for legal learning. He was born 
about 1777 and married Miriam Lakin in 1803, 
soon after coming to Livingston county, this 
State. His wife bore him a family of six chil- 
dren, all of whom grew to man and womanhood. 
He was a farmer. Joseph E. Weeden was born 
in the old town of Norwich, Connecticut, July 
27, 1809, and from there his parents went to 



Chelsea, Vermont, where they stayed four years, 
and again loading their personal eifects into the 
cumbersome wagons, they drove across the 
country to western New York and settled at 
Pike, Wyoming county, New York. He studied 
law with Luther Peck, of that village, and was 
admitted to practice in the courts of that district 
in ^lay, 1836, when he established a law office 
at Randolph, and is still living there, aged 
eighty-two years. Mr. Weeden was a member of 
the assembly during the term of 1846-47, having 
been elected upon the whig ticket, and has been 
ju.stice of the peace aud held other local offices. 
September 27, 1836, he married Margaret Waite, 
who bore him five children, four .sons and one 
daughter. Joseph E. Weeden was one of the 
])rojectors and first tru.stees of Randolph acad- 
emy, an in.stitution that has gained prominence 
and jiopularity from its excellent and thorough 
course of in.struction, and some of the most 
eminent men of the section call it their alma 
mater with pride. Mr. Weeden was a candidate 
for judge of Cattaraugus county, is temperate iu 
his habits, philanthropic in his nature, and a 
broad, liberal-minded man. 

Lyman F. Weeden spent his early days iu 
Randolph and was educated in the academy. 
He began business life as a druggist and phar- 
macist in 1862, and conducted the business until 
1867, and then for a number of succeeding 
years farmed and taught school in the winter. 
At jtresent he is engaged iu the drug and station- 
ery business in Kennedy, Chautauqua county, 
N. Y., and through using the best and freshest 
goods in filling them, has .secured a large pre- 
scription trade. Mr. Weeden is a democrat, 
and his popularity is best shown by the fact ot 
his having been elected constable, road commis- 
sioner and a.s.sessor in the republican town of 
Randolph. He is now the supervisor of Poland 
town, which is also a republican district. 

On the 6th day of May, 1863, he married 
Mary C. Benson, a daughter of David and 
Catherine (Pier) Benson, and they have a son 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



and a daughter : the former, Austin E., was 
born January 14, 1869, and the latter, Louise 
A., was born March 12, 1871. Austin E. 
Weeden was educated at the public schools of 
Kennedy and the Jamestown business college, 
from which he graduated in June, 1889, and is 
now in the drug business with his father. Miss 
Louise attended the public schools and then 
entered the Jamestown high school. She is now 
a student of stenography and typewriting. Con- 
siderable attention has been given to her musical 
education. 

Lyman F. Weedeu was postmaster of Ken- 
nedy during the Cleveland administration, but 
partisanship caused his i-emoval when the new 
President assumed control. He is an active 
democrat, and a potent factor in all political 
campaigns. 



mILH.43I O. STROXG. On November 
3, 1809, in Columbia county, New 
York, was born William O. Strong, son of Asa 
and Loranie (Griswold) Strong. His childhood 
and youth were characterized by the same ex- 
periences and changes that are incident to 
human nature generally ; the same cloud and 
sunshine, the same enthusiasm and depression, 
the same hope and disappointment which are a 
part of every life. He was not educated in the 
broad curriculum of our present day system of 
schools but gathered his knowledge from the 
feeble torch of the pioneer school and under the 
guidance of the hard, slow master of exper- 
ience. Nor did he take up the occupation of 
his father as many do, but turned his attention 
to farming, to which business he has since 
devoted his life. By his own industry and un- 
tiring efforts he has acquired a good farm and a 
comfortable income ; but better than all, he has 
the confidence, the respect and the good will of 
all who know him. His political creed has 
always been that of a democrat and his party 
have shown their true appreciation of his worth 
by electing him to every office within the gift 



of the town. He has served two terms as 
supervisor and was twice elected justice of the 
peace. At the age of about twenty he became 
a member of the Congregational church and re- 
mained such until its dissolution, since which time 
he has not been connected with any church. 
He has always been a liberal and hearty sup- 
porter of the church in its various fields of 
work. 

William O. Strong married Jane A. Howe, 
formerly a resident of Otsego county, New 
York, but for a number of years past a citizen 
of the town of Sheridan, Chautauqua county. 
To them were born three children : Henry, 
who died at the age of nineteen years ; Celestia, 
married Albert J. Honnui of the town of Han- 
over, Chautauqua county, to whom she bore 
five children — Jennie married to Mr. Patterson ; 
Emma, married to Orville Osborn ; Henry ; 
Edgar; — and Albert. ^Irs. Homan died at the 
age of forty-seven ; and Loriuda, now dead, 
married to Abram S. Johnson, by whom she 
had one child. May Celestia. 

The maternal grandfather of our subject, 
Jonathan Griswold, belonged to one of the 
earliest families of New England and was born 
iu the State of Connecticut, but came to Sheri- 
dan in 1891 where he died at an advanced age. 
The father, Asa Strong, was also a native of 
Connecticut, but removed to the town of 
Sheridan, Chautauqua county. New York, in 
the year 1811, locating near the centre of the 
town. By occupation he was a carpenter and 
joiner; in polities a democrat and in religion a 
non-professor. He was married to Loranie 
Griswold and had eight children, of whom 
William O. was the oldest. Asa Strong was a 
good father and husband, strictly honest in his 
dealings with his fellow-men, and took the 
highest interest in the well being of the family. 
He was generous, warm-hearted and liberal- 
minded ; his predominating qualities being of 
the heart rather than of the intellect. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



TAMES LYMAX VAX BUREJST, the leacU 
^^ ing insurance ageut of Dunkirk, who 
comes from one of Chautauqua's old families, is 
a son of James Henry and Lydia (Coleman) 
Van Buren. He was born in that city, Chau- 
tauqua county, New York, April 8, 18G7, and 
now, although thoroughly identified with the 
leading insurance companies of the country, is 
but twenty-four years of age. The Van 
Burens originally came from Holland our sub- 
ject representing the fourth American genera- 
tion. Henry Broadhead Van Buren (paternal 
grandfather) \yas a native of Pompey, N. Y., 
and came to Dunkirk in 1825, beginning as a 
merchant. He was one of the pioneers in the 
mercantile business and opened probably the 
first insurance agency in the town. He died in 
1872, aged sixty-nine years, consoled by his 
faith in the Presbyterian religion. James 
Henry Van Buren was born in Dunkirk in 
1831. He entered the insurance business 
when quite young and soon became general 
agent for one of the leading companies of New 
York and at the time of his death, August 9, 
1889, was general agent for the Connecticut 
Fire Insurance Co., of Hartford, for New York 
State. He was one of the oldest general agents 
in the State having held such a position nearly 
twenty-six consecutive years. In connection 
with the general agency busine.ss he conducted 
a local agency at Dunkirk, which is now car- 
ried on by James Lyman Van Buren. Mr. 
Van Buren was an elder in the Presbyterian 
church and a republican. He married Lydia 
Coleman, a daughter of Truman R. Coleman, 
of Ellicottsviile, Cattaraugus county, in 1856, 
and had six children. Mrs. Van Buren was a 
member of the Episcopal church and died in 
1871, aged 35 years. 

James Lyman Van Buren was reared in 
Dunkirk and educated in the academy. When 
nineteen years of age he entered his father's of- 
fice as a clerk and in 1888 was admitted to 
partnership in the firm. This training gave 



him an acquaintance with the business so that 
when his father died he was enabled to continue 
it without confusion. He has a fine business 
representing eighteen companies: American 
Fire, Pennsylvania ; Commercial Union, Eng- 
land ; Springfield Fire and Marine, Springfield, 
Massachusetts; Franklin Fire, Pennsylvania; 
Germania Fire, New York ; Hanover Fire, 
New York ; Connecticut Fire, Hartford ; In- 
surance Company of North America, Pennsyl- 
vania ; Home, New York ; PhcBuix, Brooklyn ; 
Phoenix Assurance Company, liondon, Eng- 
land ; Queen, England ; North British and 
Mercantile, England ; Hartford Fire, Hart- 
ford, Connecticut; Guardian Assurance Com- 
pany, London, England ; Niagara Fire, New- 
York ; and Imperial Fire, England. 

On June 11, 1890, J. Lyman ^'au Bin-en 
married Julia Nelson, a daughter of Jo.seph 
Nelson, who is an old resident of this city. 



f^R. OKRIX C. SHAW was born in 
Groton, Tompkins county. New York, 
May 2, 1848. He has two brothers living, 
viz. ; Dr. M. B. Shaw, of Eden, Erie county, 
N. Y., and L. B. Shaw, formerly a druggist of 
Ripley, this county, now residing in Chicago. 
He had one brother, Hestou O., who died in 
1867, and one sister, Helen Jane, who married 
William B. Perry, of Ripley; she died in 1879. 
Dr. O. C. Shaw followed the peregrinations 
of his father in his youth, received his educa- 
tion in the public and High schools of Ripley, 
followed teaching one or two terras and during 
vacations read medicine in his brother's office at 
Eden. He entered Buffalo Medical college in 
the latter part of 1870, from which he grad- 
uated in 1873. The latter part of 1873 was 
spent in practice with his brotlier. Dr. M. B. 
Shaw, and in 1874 he commenced independent 
practice at Hamburg. He went to Cherry 
Creek, stayed there a year and then came to 
Kennedy where he has since resided. He is a 
skillful physician and has met with sucii re- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



markable success with difficult cases that his 
reputation is more than local. Politically he is 
a republican, has served on the county commit- 
tee and has taken a deep interest in promoting 
the success of the party. He belongs to the 
Baptist church and is connected witli the 
Masons, Odd Fellows, United Workmen and 
Royal Templars of Temperance. 

On September 2, 1875, he married Annie C. 
Dieffenbeck, a daughter of .John Dieifenbeck. 
Two children have been born to Dr. and Mrs. 
Shaw : Ocie M. and Beula M., aged respectively 
eleven and nine years. Mrs. Shaw was edu- 
cated at Eden and Hamburg and before her 
marriage to Dr. Shaw was a teacher in the 
public schools and was considered possessed of 
superior skill and tact. Siie was secretary of 
the Political Equality club and has been active 
in organizing branches of that society through- 
out the county. 

Dr. O. C. Shaw is a son of Dr. S. H. and 
Eleanora (Woodruff) Shaw, the former a native 
of Groton, Tompkins county, N. Y., born 
November 29, 1817. Dr. S. H. Shaw was 
educated in the common schools and academy 
at Groton and finished at the Oneida institute 
in the county of the same name. He followed 
teaching some eighteen years, commencing when 
sixteen years of age. During these years, in 
his vacations, he studied medicine with an older 
brother. Dr. Isaac Shaw, of Cayuga, and later 
with Dr. John H. Thorp of Whitesville, 
Allegany county, this State, where he began 
practice; since then he has been in practice in 
Ripley, this county, and North Collins, Erie 
county, until December, 1889, when from the ' 
infirmities of age, he abandoned active practice ' 
and removed to Kennedy with his youngest 
son, Dr. O. C, where he now resides, having 
been in active practice some forty years. He is 
a member of the Congregational church and 
has actively identified himself with its work. 
He was a [)ioneer teacher in Chautauqua county 
and served on the board of examiners and has 



been elected to several local offices, now serving 
as justice of the peace for the village of Ken- 
nedy. Politically he is a republican, having 
cast his first presidential vote for " Tippecanoe 
and Tyler too." Grandfather, George Shaw, 
(fjither of S. H. Shaw), was born in Ware, 
Mass., the year that the American Colonies 
proclaimed their independence, and died in 
Steuben county in 1860. He married Jane 
Hopkins, daughter of Isaac Hopkins, a native 
of Salem, N. Y., and had ten children — but 
two now living: Dr. S. H. Siiaw and Dr. 
George R. Shaw, of Antigo, Wisconsin. He 
served in the war of 1812 as a private in Col. 
Mahan's regiment and witnessed the burning^ 
of Buffiilo. 

Politically he was a whig. He was a man 
of strong, healthy constitution, never having 
been sick a day of his life, and the sum- 
mer he was eighty-two he mowed fifty acres 
with a scythe. That fall he broke both bones of 
his leg below the knee and was told by his son. 
Dr. S. H. Shaw, who dressed it, that he prob- 
ably would never be able to walk on that limb 
again but here the prognosis was a failure for 
the next summer he walked twelve miles one 
day and back the next. 



HKXKY J. MAGIXXIS is a wide-awake 
Irish-American farmer living in the town 
of Ripley, where he has made his home since 
1848. Henry J. ]\Iaginnis is a son of John 
and Mary (Henry) Maginnis, and was born in 
County Down, Ireland, April 12, 1847. The 
grandparents on both sides were born, bred and 
died on the Emerald Isle and lived there when 
she was suffering the affliction of the world- 
renowned famine. John Maginnis was born in 
County Down, where he married Mary Henry, 
but soon after left her a widow, and having 
been a farmer there was not much left for the 
family. In 1848 she came to America, bring- 
ing with her six children, four sous and two 
daughters, and went at once to Ripley. Soon 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY. 



after she met Alexander McHenry and married 
him (fur extended notice see below). 

Henry J. Maginnis was educated in the com- 
mon schools of this town, and as soon as lie 
could hold a hoe was taught to work. Tilling 
the soil being congenial to his disposition he 
has followed it and now has ninetv-two acres of 
land. 

On March 1, 1876, he married Ella Wood- 
ruff', a daughter of Herman ^yoodrutf, of this 
town. Mr. and ^Mrs. Maginnis have three 
children: Alexander, Herbert and Lottie. 

In politics he affiliates with the Republican 
party. He is a good business man and an 
intelligent farmer who knows how to handle 
his fields to the best advantage. 

Alexander INIcHenry, who was the stej)- 
father of Henry J. INIaginnis, was born in 
Northumberland county. Pa., in 1796. His 
father, Edward McHenry, with Col. McMahan 
were the acknowledged first settlers in Chau- 
tauqua county. They located on adjoining 
tracts within the present limits of Westlield. 
They began to subdue the forests in 1802, near 
where the village of Westfield now stands. 
Edward McHenry built a house in which he 
kept an inn for the accommodation of emigrants 
going to the settlements in Ohio. A few 
months after this his son John was born, the 
first white child to see the light in Chautauqua 
county. After Col. McMahan and Edward 
McHenry made their settlement others flocked 
rapidly in and before this child was ten years 
old Westfield town and Chautauqua county had 
a considerable population. Mrs. McHenry 
died October 21, 1864. 



Ff -^I08 PAKKER was born near Triangle, 
■**■ Broome county, New York, June 13, 
1833. He is a sou of Chester and Mary A. 
(Clinton) Parker. The Parker flunily dates its 
arrival upon the soil of the new world in 1640, 
when William Parker came to New Haven, 
Connecticut. He had three children, of whom, 



the youngest, John, married and had two sons 
and two daughters. One of these called John, 
was born in Wallingford in 1648. He had a 
son John, who was followed by one Isaac. Isaac 
Parker (great-grandfather) was born in 1720, 
and his son, John Parker (grandfather), was 
born in Connecticut, in 1762, and, although a 
stripling of a boy, he joined a company com- 
posed of lads about his own age and fought the 
British in the Revolutionary war. His wife 
was Merab Parker, a distant cousin, who bore 
him eleven children. Chester Parker (fiither) 
was born in Broome county, in 1804, and upon 
reaching manhood married Mary A. Clinton, a 
daughter of John Clinton, who came from Ver- 
mont to Broome county. Chester Parker spent 
his short life farming in the northern part of 
the county mentioned and died when thirty-two 
years of age. He had a family of seven chil- 
dren. Mrs. Parker died in 1888, when in her 
eighty-third year. 

Amos Parker was educated in the public 
schools, and while securing a higher education 
and preparing for college at the Lockport Uuioa 
school, the Rebellion swept like a dark cloud 
over the land. He lef^t school and enlisted iu 
the 23d N. Y. Independent Battery, August, 
1862, and served to the clo.se of the war. His 
battery was stationed in North Carolina and he 
took part in all of its engagements, his discharge 
being accompaned with a lieutenant's commis- 
sion dated March 5, 1865, and bearing the sig- 
nature of Gov. R. E. Fenton. Upon returning 
from the army he located in Niagara county 
and worked at carpentering until 1871 and then 
came to Ripley, where he engaged in farming. 
Amos Parker, on November 21, 1865, mar- 
ried Weltha E. Pierce, a daughter of Horace 
and Lydia A. (Palmer) Pierce. Mr. Pierce was 
a native of Ot.sego county, from whence he came 
to Niagara county and died. He was a me- 
chanic and farmer, and voted with the Republi- 
can party. Amos and Mrs. Parker were made 
happy by the birth of two children : Horace 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



married Gertie Eddy, and is a farmer and grape 
cuiturist in Ripley. He has two daughters — 
Bessie L. and Lula ; and Lydia E. still remains 
with her parents. 

Amos Parker has been the incumbent of the 
office of justice of the peace from 1876 to 1888. 
He is also interested in fraternal and beneficial 
affairs, belonging to the Farmers' Alliance, 
Grange and formerly the Masons, He is a 
Christian gentleman, actively engaged in relig- 
ious work and takes especial pleasure in the 
Sunday-school in his district of which he has 
been superintendent for several years. 

Amos Parker, an uncle of the subject's, was a 
soldier in the Revolutionary war and was the 
tallest man in his regiment. He served with 
La Fayette, whose life he was instrumental in 
saving. When the latter made his triumphal 
tour and visit to America in 1824, he had not 
forgotten the incident and publicly thanked the 
gentleman. 



RLEXANDER 3IORIAX, a gentleman of 
varied experience, who by indefatigable 
efforts has risen from a modest early condition to 
a comfortable competence in his declining years, 
is a son of Jacob and Lydie (Van Scoter) Moriau, 
and was born in Steuben county, New York, on 
April 10, 1816. The family was of German 
origin; subject's paternal grandf\Uher having 
been born under the banner of King Wilhelm, 
the river Rhine being daily within his vision. 
The maternal ancestor, Anthony Van Scoter, 
was a native of Delaware, but of German de- 
scent. Mr. Van Scoter removed from the " Dia- 
mond State" to a point near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., 
and thence, in 1808, to Steuben county. New 
York, where his son-in-law, suliject's father, had 
preceded him the year previous. He bought a 
farm and tilled its soil throughout his life, being 
renowned in his immediate locality for industry 
and thrift. His business ability ranked nmch 
above the average farmer and he died the pos- 
sessor of a good property. He lived a quiet 



home-life, the fireside being his greatest source 
of pleasure, where, from his genial disposition, 
manv friends were attracted. He married a Miss 
Decker and had twelve children, seven of whom 
reached maturity. Solomon, Eiias, Cornelius, 
Thomas, Betsy (Mrs. Hallister), Mary (Mrs. 
Day), Valentine and Lydia (Mrs. Morian). 
Mr. Van Scoter died in 1824 aged about seventy 
years, and was followed by his wife, who had 
reached eighty years, in 1830. Jacob Morian 
was born in Germany March 22, 1782, and 
served in the army of his country in the war 
against Napoleon, suffering defeat. He then 
fought under the Bonaparte banner in the Ital- 
ian campaign, finally, with fourteen others, de- 
serting, and at a favorable opportunity fled to 
America, where he arrived in ISOl or 1802. 
The first year was spent in Philadelphia and 
then he removed |to the Lackawanna valley, 
Pa., where, in 1803, he was married to Lydia 
Van Scoter. In 1807, with his wife and his 
two children, he came to Dansville, New York, 
and for a number of years conducted the village 
butcher-shop. It was during his residence here 
that America had her second struggle with Eng- 
land, and he proved his devotion to the land of 
his adoption by shouldering a musket and giv- 
ing two years time in her defense, being engaged 
in the battles of Lundy's Lane and Put-in-Bay. 
A part of the service was rendered as cpiarter- 
master. At the close of the war he was the re- 
cipient of one hundred and sixty acres of land, 
which he sold for one hundred and thirty dol- 
lars. In 1826 Mr. Morian came to Chautau- 
qua, living successively in Hanover, Sheridan 
and Dunkirk, and finally, in 1831, he bought a 
farm in the northwest portion of Pomfret town, 
which is still owned by his son Alexander. 
Jacob Morian had nine children — six sons and 
three daughters ; William, died aged five years; 
Catharine, born in 1807 and never married; 
Margaret, also unmarried; Anthony, born in 
1809, first married Julia Ann Becker and had 
eleven children, and afterwards wedded Mar- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



garet H. Ketcluim, and died ou January 13, 
1888. He was a farmer, living at Cherry 
Creeic ; John, for twenty years a sailor, is now 
a carpenter, living in Fredonia. He too was 
twice married, first to Nancy McGrath and later 
to Jane Pier, both Ohio ladies ; Alexander ; 
Thomas V. S., a merchant and oil producer, 
living at Enterprise, Pa., married Clariuda 
Wood, and had six living children ; Lydia be- 
came tiie wife of Asa Whitney, died in 1887 — 
she lived in Yates Center, Woodson county, 
Kansas; and Jacob, Jr., died unmarried in 
March, 1849, aged twnty-two years. Jacob 
Morian was a member of the Dansville Lodge 
of Masons. He died December 7, 1862, and 
with his wife who followed iiim April 4, 1869, 
is buried in the cemetery at Fredonia. 

Alexander Morian was the son upon whom 
the father relied. He remained at home until 
eighteen years of age, attending the few months 
of winter school, when the fiirm-work would 
permit. The next four years were passed in 
farm labor during the summer and such em- 
ployment as could be secured in winter. After 
much delifteration it was decided tliat more op- 
portunities for advancement would be found 
away from home, so in 1838, with twenty-five 
cents in his pocket, he started for Toledo, where 
a job of firing a locomotive was soon secured. 
The next spring he received the position of mail- 
carrier on the Erie and Kalamazoo, now the L. 
S. and M. S. R. R., and everything looked en- 
couraging for future advancement, but he gave 
up the prospects of a bright life and returned 
to the farm. This changed iiis life's work and 
caused him to abandon the idea of going out 
into the world. The next forty years, as the 
seasons came round, he cultivated the farm, 
saved money, and in 1880 he bought a house 
and lot, and in the fall of 1881 moved into the 
village of Fredonia. 

Ou February 24, 1841, he married Marietta 
Mclntyre, a daughter of Nathaniel Mclntyre, 
who was a farmer and shoemaker in Delaware 



county, this State. They had seven children : 
Dana A., a conductor on the L. S. and M. S. R. 
R. married Lena Simons, and was killed in the 
j Buffalo yards September 15, 1886; James died 
aged five; Miranda married F. H. Koch, a cigar 
manufacturer of Bradford, Pa.; Ben W. is a 
conductor in the passenger service on the L. S. 
and M. S. R. R., and married Adalaide Wid- 
ner ; Alexander T. married Hattie Dodge, and 
is a baggage-master on a branch of the Northern 
Pacific R. R. in Oregon ; Catherine is the wife 
of Thomas Goodwin, a merchant in Kansas 
City, Missouri ; Caroline C. died an infant. 
Mr. Morian suffered the loss of his wife, who 
died September 29, 1869, and two years later, 
October 18, 1871 , he married Rachel E. Wooden, 
a widow, and daughter of James and Eliza 
Gates. James Wooden was a farmer in the 
town of Chili, Monroe county. New York, and 
died on the farm, which he cut out of the virgin 
forest, at the ripe old age of eighty-nine years. 
His father was among the earliest settlers of 
that county. 

Mrs. Morian is a direct descendant from Gen- 
eral Bra<lford, on her mother's side, who came 
from England in the "Mayflower," and was 
governor of the Plymouth Colony until his 
death. Alexander Morian is a democrat and 
has served his district by filling the local offices. 
He is also a member of the Baptist church, 
being one of its trustees. 



^ENJA3IIX S. SWETLAXD, M.D., a 

'*"' well-established and successful physician 
of Brocton, is a son of Sanford and Rhoda 
(Moore) Swetland, and was born at Middlefield, 
Otsego county, New York, March 15, 1854. 
The Swetlands are of Welsh descent, and are one 
of the old families of Massachusetts. Sanford 
Swetland, the father of Dr. Swetland, was born 
in East Longmeadow, Hampton county, Mas- 
sachusetts, and moved with his father, when a 
small boy, to Otsego county. New York, but 
left there wiieu thirty-five years of age, and came 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



to the village of Portland in 1858, where he 
died in 1884 when in the sixty-second year of 
his age. He was a mason by trade, au aboli- 
tionist and republican in politics, and a Meth- 
odist in religious belief. During the late civil 
war he enlisted twice in a Federal company, 
but was rejected both times on account of jihy- 
sical disability. He married Rlioda Moore, 
of Scotch-Hollaud-Dutch descent, and a native 
of Otsego county, who was born in 1821, and is 
a consistent member of the Methodist church of 
Portland, where she now resides. 

Benjamin S. Swetland was reared principally 
in the town of Portland, where he received his 
early education in the public schools, and then 
attended tiie Westtield High School. Leaving 
school, he read medicine, and then entered the 
medical department of the University of Buffalo, 
from which he was graduated February 26th, 
1878. In the same year he opened an of- 
fice at Portland, where he practiced until the 
spring of 1883, when he went to Boston, Mass., 
and became a traveling solicitor and corres- 
pondent for the Boston Journal of Commerce. 
During his four years successful experience in 
that capacity he learned much valuable know- 
ledge of human nature. In the spring of 1887 
he returned to the practice of his profession and 
came to Broctou, where he has been in active 
and successful practice ever since. 

On May 14th of the Centennial year Dr. 
Swetland united in marriage with Eva C, 
daughter of Milton Munson, of Portland. To 
their union have been born three children, two 
sons and one daughter : Mabel E., J. Minor and 
Herbert. 

Dr. Swetland is pleasant and courteous, gives 
close attention to the practice of his profession, 
and has been for some years a member of the 
Chautauqua County Medical Society. He is a 
republican in politics. He is a member of 
Brocton Castle, No. 284 Knights of Pythias. 



/CHARLES E. SHELDON, editor and pro- 
^^ prietor of the Chautauqua Neies, at the 
village of Sherman, was born in the town of 
Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, 
June 7, 1844. The ancestry of the Sheldon 
family will be found in the sketch of Hon. A. 
B. Sheldon which appears in this volume. 

Charles E. Sheldon after obtaining a good 
English education came, in 1869, to Sherman 
where he embarked in the grocery business 
which he continued for three years when he 
opened a iiardware store. Three years later he 
lost his entire stock (jf hardware by fire and in 
1879 became editor and proprietor of his pres- 
ent paper, the Chautauqua News, which was 
founded in March, 1877, by E. W. Hoag. 

On October 28, 1868, ]Mr. Sheldon united in 
marriage with Emily M. Wood. They have 
three children, one son and two daughters ; 
Lui'a A., Nellie A. and Frank C. 

Under Mr. Sheldon's management the Cliau- 
tauqua News has attained a circulation of nine 
hundred copies. It is stanchly republican in 
politics, printed in clear type and its different 
departments are so carefully edited as to interest 
every member of the tiimily. 



■J2REWER L>. PHILLIPS, one of the solid 

^^ business men of Brocton and prominent 
in the Republican party at that city is a son of 
William W. and Celestine (Ely) Phillips, and 
was born at Cassadaga, Chautauqua county. 
New York, December 5, 1859. Sawyer Piiil- 
lips (grandfather) was a native of Connecticut 
but came to and settled in Stockton, in May, 
1816, taking section No. 15, Town 4, Range 12. 
He followed farming and was also a cooper. He 
married and had children. William W. Phil- 
lips was born at Cassadaga where he ncjw 
resides. He is a prosperous farmer and a lead- 
ing citizen in his community. He married 
Celestine Ely and had a family of children. He 
is a republican and takes an active interest in 
the welfare of his party and the just and 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY. 



economical administration of the county's 
affairs. He is sixty-two years of age and still 
enjoys good health. His wife is a native of 
Stockton town. 

Brewer D. Phillips stayed on his fothcr's 
farm until seventeen years of age, attending the 
winter schools as the work would permit. In 
187G his uncle, who was a general merchant in 
Cassadaga, offered him a clerkship which was 
accepted and filled for three years. It was here 
that he laid tiie foundation of iiis husincss 
knowledge. He went to Buffalo in 1870 and 
spent a season as clerk in a dry goods house. 
From there he went to Sinclairsville for a year 
working for A. Putman & Son, general mer- 
chants, and then they transferred and promoted 
him to manage a branch store in Stockton, 
staying there three years and giving excellent 
satisfaction on account of his ability and integ- 
rity. In the spring of 1885, Mr. Phillips 
came to Brocton and bought his fatiier-in-law's 
interest in an old established store and entered 
business with his brother-in-law, T. C. Moss, 
the style of the firm being Moss & Philli2)s. 
They have an immense trade and carry a big 
stock of general merchandise, with a branch 
store in Portland. They also handle 
season and real estate. 

In 1883, Mr. Phillips married Ida M. Moss, 
a daughter of T. S. Moss, of Brocton, and they 
have one child : Jessie W. 

He is a strong member of the Republican 
party and by it was twice elected supervisor — in 
1889 and 1890, and belongs to the Knights of 
Pythias. Socially, Mr. Phillips is a pleasant 
and companionable gentleman and in business 
he is recognized as among the best in Brocton. 



ipes 



'T'HOMAS It. COVEXEY, one of the older 
^ business men of Chautauqua county and 
the present postmaster of Sherman, was born 
in County Kent, England, June 12, 1824, and 
is a son of Tiiomas and Sarah (Relf) Coveney. 
His father, Thomas Coveney and maternal 



grandfather William Relf, were natives of 
England where the former, who was an Epis- 
copalian in religious belief, married Sarah Relf, 
by whom he had four sons and two daughters, 
and followed farming; while the latter, who 
was a farmer and surveyor, came in 1830 from 
the Mother Country to the town of Miiia where 
he arfd his wife, who.se maiden name was Fran- 
cis Ballard, both died and left four sons and 
three daughters, who survive tiiem. Thomas 
Coveney, the father of Thomas R. Coveney, 
came in 1841, from England to the town of 
Mina, but afterwards removed to the north- 
western part of Pennsylvania, where he died. 
He was a democrat and married Sarah Relf in 
England, who died at that place in 1839. 
Three sons and one daughter came with him to 
America, where he married for his second 
wife, Sarah Chambers, who bore him two 
children. 

■ Thomas R. Coveney received his education 
in England, from which he came with his 
f\ither, in 1841, to the town of Mina, where he 
became a clerk in a store of the village of Mina. 
He afterwards left Mina and went to Barcelona 
Harbor, where he was in the forwarding and 
commission business for .several years. He then 
returned to Mina where he was engaged for six 
years in the general mercantile business, during 
wiiich time he bougiit butter and cheese 
throughout tiie county, on joir,t account and 
commission. He came, in 1871, to Sherman 
where he has followed the produce and com- 
mission business ever since. 

On January 27, 1850, Mr. Coveney married 
Rhoda A. Taylor, who died in February, 1891, 
aged sixty-one years. To their union were 
born eight children, three sons and five daugh- 
ters : William R., married Ro.salia Bly and is 
engaged in farming; John T., married Sadie 
Slukins and is an oil operator of Washington, 
Penn.sylvania; Sarah A., wife of Edwin Ripley, 
of Sherman ; James Alfred, a telegraph con- 
structoi-, of Tacoma, Washington; Fannie; 



362 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Louetta ; Clara P.,unn3aiTied ; and Delia Ann, 
married to Dr. C. H. Watei'honse. 

Politically Thomas R. Coveney is a republi- 
can and served for quite a number of years as 
supervisor of the town and postmaster of the 
village of jNIina. He was active duriug the 
late war in securing recruits for the Union ar- 
mies. He is a member of Olive Lodge, No. 
575, Free and Accepted Masons, and the Meth- 
odist Episcojxd church of Sherman, of which he 
is steward and treasurer, and has been class- 
leader. In 1889 Mr. Coveney was appointed 
by President Harrison, as postmaster of Sher- 
man, which is now a third-class post-office, with 
a salary of twelve hundred dollars per year. 
He has acceptably discharged the duties of the 
office to all interested in postal matters at 
Sherman. 



■pOWAKD .'\3IES, M.D., a well-read and 
-*"^ successful physician of Sherman, was 
born in West Rutland, Vermont, January 28, 
1851, and is a son of Charles and Adelia D. 
(Ward) Ames. The Ames are of English ori- 
gin while the Wards are of Scotch descent. 
Charles Ames, the father of Dr. Edward Ames, 
was born in Vermont where he married Adelia 
D. Ward, who is a native of the same State, 
and removed in 1855 to Kane county, Illinois, 
where he still resides and is engaged in farm- 
ing. Mr. and Mrs. Ames have five children, 
four sons and one daughter. 

Edward Ames received liis early education 
in common and select schools, attending Jen- 
nings seminary at Aurora, Illinois, for one 
year and then entered Wheaton college of the 
same State, where he studied for one year. 
From Wheaton college he came, in 1871, to 
Sherman, where he prosecuted his classical 
studies with Rev. W. L. Hyde and also read 
medicine with Dr. H. B. Osborne, now of Kal- 
amazoo, Michigan. He theu entered the medi- 
cal department of Yale college from which he 
was graduated in 1S74, after which he iniined- 



iately opened an office at Sherman. Six years 
later he left a large practice temporarily to take 
a special course in the medical department of 
the University of New York, from which he 
was graduated in 1881. He then returned to 
Sherman and resumed his practice which has 
steadily increased ever since. 

On October 25th, of the Centennial year, Dr. 
Ames united in marriage with Annette Hoyt, 
of Kaneville, Illinois, and their union has been 
blest with two children : Jessie H. and Thad- 
deus H. 

In his medical courses Dr. Ames had special 
opportunities for the study of diseases and has 
a very fine office practice in addition to his 
general practice. He is a member of the Chau- 
tauqua Count}' Medical society of which he was 
president for three terms, and is one of the 
founders of the New York State Medical asso- 
ciation in whose proceedings he takes a deep 
interest. 



O-^Il'KI-' P- WILLIA3IS, one of the lead- 
*^ ing and industrious farmers of Sheridan, 
New York, was born April 29, 1819, in Butler 
county, Pennsylvania, and is a son of Stepheu 
and Polly (Horton) Williams. He is a de- 
scendant of the famous Roger Williams, who 
has passed into both the secular and ecclesiasti- 
cal history of our country, as the founder of 
the State of Rhode Island, and as tlie first ad- 
vocate of heterodoxy in America, Subject's 
grandfather was also named Roger Williams, 
and claimed Vermont as his native State, 
though he emigrated to the Black river country 
ill the State of New York, where he spent the 
greater portion of his life and died. Stephen 
AVilliams (fatherj was also a native of Ver- 
mont, born near Daubury, and came with his 
father to northern New York. Later he re- 
moved to Hanover town, Chautauqua county, 
taking up four htmdred acres of laud known as 
" Oak Hill." He entered the army during the 
war of 1812, served till its close as a private. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



363 



aud died in the town of Hanover in 1838. In 
education he ranked consideraljly above tlie 
avei'age of liis day, and in addition to liis occu- 
pation of farming, he added that of teaching 
school. His qualifications as a successful peda- 
gogue gave him a well deserved prestige in the 
neighborhood in which he lived. Though 
strongly republican in his political views, yet 
he was devoid of all political aspirations, and 
firmly believed in fidelity to party for the sake 
of the i)arty and not for mere official aggrand- 
izement. As a result of his marriage he had 
ten children, nine of whom grew to maturity, 
two boys and seven girls. 

Samuel P. Williams was united in marriage 
to Charity Slocum, a daughter of Jonathan 
Slocum, by whom he had four children : Geor- 
gianna, died in childhood ; Newton 8., a farm- 
er by occupation, married to Cornelia Cock- 
burn, and now living with subject ; Rhoda, 
dead ; Elizabeth L., married to J. C. Russell, a 
machinist employed at the Dunkirk Locomo- 
tive Works. 

Samuel P. Williams received a very limited 
education in the schools of his day, but made 
the best of his poor advantages. He com- 
menced life as a farmer, purchased a farm of 
some two hundred and thirty acres near the 
centre of Sheridan town, and devoted himself 
to its improvement and cultivation. He now 
has one of the most highly improved and well 
kept farms in Chautaucpia county. In addition 
to operating his farm, he has also dealt largely 
in real estate, and has been quite successful in 
his ventures, always conducting his enterprises 
with tact and business skill. He has always 
zealously advocated the principles of the Dem- 
ocratic party, and has been frequently impor- 
tuned to let his name go before his party as a 
candidate for official preferment, but has always 
steadily refused. Upon the great issues of the 
day Mr. Williams is thoroughly conversant, 
and keeps fully abreast of the best political and 
literary thought. ]\Ir. Williams is also the pos- 



sessor of a cabinet of mueli prized relics, among 
which is a rolling-j)in made from the famous 
black walnut tree that grew near the present 
site of Silver Ci'eek, and was transferred to the 
national museum at London, England, where it 
was destroyed by fire when the famous Crystal 
Palace burned. 



TTLBKRTE BIKI> is an enterprising and 

^^ prosperous farmer of Poland Centre, this 
county, and was born in Poland Centre, Chau- 
tauqua county, New York, to his parents. Nel- 
son and Clarissa (Griffith) Bird, on August 28, 
18-53. One hundred and thirty years ago, in 
1761, Col. Nathaniel Bird, the great-grand- 
father, was born in Salisbury, Connecticut, and 
when sixteen years of age entered the colonial 
army, and served through the war with great 
distinction, being advanced to the rank of colo- 
nel. He married, after the close of the war, 
Hannah Ballard, at New Marlborough, Massa- 
chusetts, where he resided until 1815, and then 
moved to the town of Westfield, this county, 
where he died January 12, 1847. Prior to his 
coming to Chautauqua county, he was engaged 
in the boot, shoe and general merchandise busi- 
ness. The same year in which he arrived here 
he took up a tract of land, upon which Amos 
Bird settled. 

Amos Bird, grandfather of subject, was born 
in New Marlborough, Mass., in 3 789, and 
after coming to Chautauqua county, settled 
near Jamestown upon a tract of land purchased 
by his father. He followed farming, and died 
in 1824. John Griffith was the father of our 
subject's mother. He was a native of Con- 
necticut, where he was born June 2, 1785, and 
came to Madison county. New York, in 1800. 
Five years later he removed to this county, 
and, in connection with the well-known Bemus 
family, was one of the pioneer settlers of the 
county. John Griffith was a son of Jeremiah 
Griffith, who was born in Norwich, Connecti- 
cut, July 28, 1758, and married Mary Crop- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



sey, who was born Febi-uary 8, 1764. He left | 
Norwich, and moved to Rensselaer county, 
New York, thence to Madison county in 1800, 
and in February, 1805, he started with his j 
wife and six children, an ox team and a wood- I 
shod sled, a few cows and sheep driven by the 
boys, to go to Ohio. At Batavia he met some 
acquaintances, who persuaded him to go to | 
Chautauqua lake instead. When they arrived 
at the head of the latter place, the family were 
left while Mr. Griffith and his oldest son 
started out to find a location, finally deciding 
upon what is now known as Griffith Point. 
Their first year was one of continual privations 
and hardship. Provisions were scarce, and the 
winter Afas cold. A pen cannot paint the pic- 
ture of their suffering, the imagination even of 
one without the experience being unable to 
depict the extremity to which they were re- 
duced. And yet, stout-hearted, they pulled 
through, and to-day their children are enjoying 
the comforts — yes, the luxuries — they suffered 
to secure. John Griffith married Trypliena 
Bemus on February 9, 1809, and had twelve 
children. Mrs. Griffith died February 19, 
1851, and was followed by her husband, Sep- 
tember 23, 1868, when he was eighty-four 
years old. 

Nelson Bird first saw the light within the 
boundaries of Busti town on July 17, 1814, 
and spent his childhood and youth on the 
farm. He went to the public school, and ac- 
quired an education superior to the average of 
that day. Succeeding this, he learned carpenter 
working, and followed it for a few years. He 
then began to farm in the town of Poland, and 
pursued that occupation until he died, July, 
1888. January 29, 1843, he married Clarissa 
Griffith, and she bore him nine children. Six 
are dead: Amos J., George W., Adelaide, John 
B., Charles and Emma A. Three are living : 
AVillard F., Dora and Alberte. Nelson Bird 
■was a republican, and held a number of the 
minor town offices. He belonged to the Uni- 



versalist church, and was a devout attendant 
upon its services. Iii business he was atten- 
tive, honest to the penny, and succeeded in 
accumulating considerable property. 

Alberte Bird was born and reared on a farm 
in the town of Poland; attended the village 
schools and the Jamestown academy, securing 
a liberal education, after which he began and 
has since been engaged in farming. 

On February 6, 1889, he married Nettie 
Jenks, a daughter of Monroe Jeuks, of Elling- 
ton. His wife was given an advanced educa- 
tion, by her father, at the Randolph academy. 

Mr. Bird is a republican and a member of 
the Patrons of Husbandry, and in addition to 
his farming he is a large stock-raiser, paying 
attention to the better grades. 



CAPT. JOSKPH S. AKNOLD, of the city 
of Jamestown, who commanded the First 
Battalion of New York Sharp-shooters in the 
Army of the Potomac, is a son of David and 
Rhoda (Rush) Arnold, and was born in the 
town of Ellery, Chautauqua county, New York, 
October 6, 1822. His paternal grandfiUher 
was a native of England and came to New 
England where he afterwards died. Of the 
sous born to him at Woonsocket, Rhode Island, 
one was David Arnold, the father of Joseph S. 
Arnold, and who removed to Saratoga Springs, 
New York, from which place he came in 1812 
to Chautauqua county and settled near the line 
between the towns of Ellery and Ellicott. He 
afterwards removed to the lake shore, near 
Bemus Point, where he purchased four hundred 
acres of land from the Holland Laud company. 
He was a farmer by occupation, and a whig and 
republican in politics. He died in 1862, aged 
eighty-three years. He married Dorcas Waters 
who died and left him six children. For his 
second wife he married Rhoda Rush, by whom 
he had four sous: David, Alexander, Lewis 
and Joseph, all of whom are dead but Joseph. 
I Joseph S. Arnold attended the Jamestown 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



academy and Quaker seminary and then com- 
menced farming in tlie town of Ellery where 
lie remained until 1852 when he went by the 
"Overland Eoute" to California. The trip 
took one hundred days and after arriving at the 
gold mines he mined for a time, but soon went 
to Sacramento, where he was engaged in busi- 
ness until 1855. In that year he returned to 
this county and purchased his present farm of 
thirty-four acres in the town of Ellicott, where 
he has followed farming until the present time. 
On May 21, 1843, he married Mary, 
daughter of Arthur Phillips, a native of Con- 
necticut and a shoemaker by trade, who came 
in 1825 to the town of Busti, but afterwards 
removed to the town of Ellicott where he died. 
Capt. and Mrs. Arnold had one child, George 
C, who enlisted as a private in the first Bat- 
talion of New York sharp-shooters in the 
autumn of 1862, and died of fever in the City 
Point hospital July 27, 1864. 

Capt. Arnold is a democrat in politics. He 
entered the Union service in 1862 as captain of 
the 7th company of New York kSharp-shooters, 
took his company to Suffolk, Ya., where they | 
were joined by the 6th, 8th and 9th companies 
of New York Sharp-shooters, and the four J 
companies united into the First Battalion New 
York Sharp-shooters. Capt. Arnold com- 
manded this battalion until 1864. He was sun- 
struck on the Rappahannock river on August 
1, 1863, and failing to recover entirely from its 
effects was by recommendation of the surgeon- I 
in-chief of the Fifth Army Corps, discharged 
on April 21, 1864, on account of physical dis- 
ability. He is a member of James M. Brown 
Post, No. 285, Grand Army of the Republic, ; 
at Jamestown. 



TA>-ILLI.\j>I MACE, one of the enterprising 
•** and prosperous boot and shoe dealers of 
Jamestown, was born in C^oveney, Cambridge- 
shire, England, July 29, 1816, and is a son of 
William Jr., and Mary (Cox) :\Iace. The I 



Maces for three generations back have been 
J largely residents of Cambridgeshire, where tiiey 
have been engaged principally in farming. 
, William Mace, Sr., the paternal grandfiither of 
William Mace, was born in Cambridgeshire 
where he followed farming, married, and i-eared 
a family of three sons : James, John and Wil- 
liam, Jr., all of whom followed agricultural 
pursuits in the native shire. William, Jr., 
(father) the youngest son, married Mary Cox, a 
daughter of David Cox of Cambridgeshire, 
who lived to number three years on the second 
century of his life. 

William Mace grew to manhood in his native 
shire, attended the rural English schools and 
learned the trade of tailor, which he followed 
in England until the spring of 1845, when he 
came to Jamestown, where he has resided ever 
since. About 1873 he quit tailoring, which he 
had followed continuously for twenty -six years, 
and embarked in the shoe business. Four years 
later he removed to his present place of business 
on the corner of Third and JNIain streets, where 
he associated his son Charles W. with him as a 
partner. Their establishment is twenty-two by 
sixty feet in dimensions and contains a first- 
class stock of boots and shoes, which have been 
selected to meet the requirements of their large 
city and country trade. William Mace is a 
republican in politics and a member of Ellicott 
Lodge, No. 221, Independent Order of Odd 
Fellows, of Jamestown. 

On April 12, 1847, Mr. aiace married Cor- 
nelia P. Deland, daughter of Alvin Deland, a 
native of Cliautauqua county. jNIr. and Mrs. 
Mace have two children : Charles W., now in 
the boot and shoe business with his father and 
married to Kate Faulkner, by whom he has 
two children, Willie M. and Mary E. ; and 
Mary Eppie, wife of Major Edgar P. Putnam, 
clerk of the courts of Chautauqua county and 
whose sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. 



366 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



IRA C. NICHOLS. Of the various great 
industries of the United States, few have 
more capital invested or more people employed 
in its ditlerent branches than the lumber busi- 
ness, beginning at the standing tree and follow- 
ing the log through its various processes of 
manufacture and sale until the finished stock is 
delivered to the carpenter, who skillfully man- 
ipulates his tools and leaves the result of his 
laboi's in a jilace of usefulness. A leading rep- 
resentative of this great business is Ira C. Ni- 
chols, of Kennedy, who is a son of Andrew and 
Cordelia (Holcomb) Nichols, and was born at 
Clayton, Jefferson county, this State, March 
16, 1840. His ancestors came from New Eng- 
land to northwestern New York. David Ni- 
chols was born in Claverack, New York, about 
1780, and emigrated to Jefferson county during 
the first decade of the present century; he was 
a tiller of tiie soil, and died, about 1830, at 
Cape Vincent. He married a Miss Dimmick, 
and their union resulted in six children. Dur- 
ing the war of 1812 he served in the capacity 
of an ammunition charger. Mr. Nichols was a 
man of thrift, energy and economy, and cast 
his sympathies with the whigs. Sullivan Hol- 
comb was the father of subject's mother, and 
came to Jefferson county from the State of Con- 
necticut, where he was born about 1776 ; set- 
tling at a point near Cape Vincent, he prepared 
him a beautiful home and lived ninety years to 
enjoy it. Having married Abigail Lee, a daugh- 
ter of Seth Lee, he became the father of five 
children. Like subject's paternal grandfather, 
he served in America's second fight with Great 
Britain, and took a prominent part as private 
and ofBcer. Andrew Nichols was a native of 
western Oneida county. New York, where he 
was born April 2, 1806. He went with his 
parents to Jefferson county, and thence, in 1870, 
to Chautauqua county, and settled at Kennedy. 
He died May 13, 1891, in the last mentioned 
village at the unusual age of eighty-five years. 
He followed farming and lumbering, the latter 



mainly along the St. Lawrence river. He married 
Cordelia Holcomb in 1830, and she bore him 
eight children, five sons and three daughters. 
Politically he was a democrat, and took an ac- 
tive and enthusiastic part in partisan matters. 
He was a member of the Methodist church, 
had a seat on the local school board and ani;issed 
his competency through his own industry and 
business tact. 

Ira C. Nichols spent tiie first twenty-two 
years of his life in Clayton, and then, in 1862, 
he enlisted in Company M, lOth New York 
Artillery, and served three years and four 
months. His superior officers recognized his 
ability, recommended him for promotion, and 
he was given a lieutenancy in the 13th regi- 
ment, U. S. colored troops, heavy artillery. He 
was. acting commissary at Cumberland Gap; 
was under fire at Cold Harbor and spent two 
months in the trenches before Petersburg dur- 
ing that long siege. While at Eddyville, Ken- 
tucky, he was captured by the Confederates but 
was soon after again at liberty. Immediately 
after returning from tiie army he came to Ken- 
nedy and embarkedun the lumber business and 
has been located there ever since. He votes 
with the Republican party and has held several 
local offices. Mr. Nichols is a public-spirited 
man and has done much to build up the town 
of Kennedy in a material way, and the schools 
have been improved by his services on the 
board of control. 

In July, 1867, he married .Salina Abbey, 
of Clayton, New York, a daughter of Samuel 
Abbey, and their union has resulted in the 
birth of five children : three sons, E. Ross, 
Lynn A. and Leigh S., and two daughters, 
Mary and Edna. All of these live at home 
and make a pleasant and happy family. 



"PLLEX M. DAVENPORT, wife of the 

-*"^ late Emery M. Davenport, is a daughter 
of Hiram and ^lary (Earnes) Thayer, and was 
born January 29, 1846, in tlie town of Carroll, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Chautauqua county, New York. Hiram Thay- 
er was a native of Ware, Hampshire county, 
Massachusetts, where his father, Jeremiah 
Thayer, was born and reared. Isaac Earnes 
(maternal grandfather) was a native of Ver- 
mont, and came to the Empire State and 
died. 

Hiraui Tiiayer wa.s born on August 24, 
1798, and came to New Yoriv in 1815, wiiere, 
on April 10, 1828, he married Mary Earnes, 
and had ten children : John M., was born July 
20, 1829, married Margaret Cowen, and moved 
to Nebraska ; Isaac W., born February 5, 1 832 ; 
Mary A., born February 28, 1834, is the wife 
of William Mahan, and lives in Pennsylvania; 
Lois Eliza, born February 21, 1836, and died 
when twenty-one years of age ; Hiram E., born 
May 8, 1838, married Mary Lawson ; Ezra E., 
born July 29, 1840; Sibyl B., born September 
7, 1843, married W. H. H. Fenton, Jr.; Ellen 
M. (subject); Orris E., born October 6, 1848, 
and Ed.son Frank, born April 26, 1851. Hi- 
ram Thayer settled in Portland, this county, 
October 31, 1816, and began clearing the land ; 
then he took a trip to Virginia, and upon re- 
turning he went to Jamestown and followed 
lumbering until 1820, when he came to Carroll 
and engaged in bolting and shaving shingles 
until the following spring ; he then bought a 
farm and tilled its .soil until his death, in 1880, 
aged eighty-two years. His wife died Decem- 
ber 6, 1879. He was a man of industrious 
and frugal habits, and through good manage- 
ment amassed wealth. He was of the strictest 
integrity, of unremitting energy and untiring 
zeal, and in business matters .seldom misjudged 
a transaction or incurred a hazardous risk. His 
character was meek and his conduct conscien- 
tious. Although not a strict partisan he in- 
clined towards the Republican party, and when 
he considered them worthy gave its nominees 
his suffrage. He took especial interest in edu- 
cational and military matters. Mary Earnes, 
his wife, was born at Dover, Vermont, May 7, 
19 



1810, the daughter of Isaac and Betsy Earnes. 
They reared a family often children. 

Ellen M. Davenport spent her childhood in 
the town of Carroll and went to tlie village 
school, then Randolph academy, and finally at- 
tended the Jamestown union schools. After 
this she taught live or six terms of scliool, and, 
on March 22, 1870, she married Emory M. 
Davenport, a farmer, hay packer, shipper and 
merchant of Kennedy. He die<l April 28, 
1887, when forty years of age. They had six 
children, four of whom are living: Charles E., 
Harry T., Myra E. and H. Joe. They have a 
pleasant home in Kennedy, and are well-springs 
of joy to their motlier's heart. 



/^KORGl-: AXDKKWS, living at the village 
^^ of Busti, is a quiet, una.ssuming gentle- 
man but nevertheless a leading and respected 
farmer in his community. He is a son of Asahel 
and Lucy (Merry) Andrews and was born where 
he now resides, on the second day of November, 
1823. 

His family trace their ancestry to England, 
both the Andrews and Merrys coming from 
that country. Asahel Andrews was a native of 
Herkimer county, this State, and came from 
there to Chautaucjua county in 1813 and located 
at what is now Busti village, but was then an 
unbroken forest. He secured two hundred 
acres of land from the Holland Land Company 
and, clearing him a fiu'm, conducted it until 
within a few years of his death, which occurred 
there in 1861, after he had passed his eighty- 
fifth year. He was a hard-working man, who 
gave little attention to politics but at elections 
voted the Whig ticket. His wife, Lucy Merry, 
was a native of Herkimer county. New York 
and came with her husband from thence, shar- 
ing with him all the trials and privations of 
pioneer life, and died one year before him. 

George Andrews .spent his early life on his 
father's ftirm and acquired such education as the 
common schools of that localitv could ffive. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



When he attained manhood lie began farming 
for himself and now owns a well improved 
farm. 

He has been twice married ; first, in 1846, 
to Charlotte E. Stoddard, a daughter of Kev. 
Ira Stoddard, a prominent locsil divine living in 
Busti. She died June 16, 1860, leaving two 
children, both sous : Clarence E. resides at 
Olean, Cattaraugus county. New York; and 
Adrian G., who went west and is now living at 
Colorado Springs, Colorado. George Andrews 
married his second wife in 1861 ; she was Mrs. 
Esther M. (Clough) Woodworth, and bore liim 
three children, two sons and one daughter : 
Earl D. is a farmer in the town of Busti ; 
Wells G. is a merchant in Olean ; and Stella L. 
is teaching school. 

Mr. Andrews is a member of the Busti 
Baptist church, toward the support of which he 
is a libera] contributor ; politically he is an out- 
spoken prohibitionist and belongs to the lloyal 
Templars of Temperance, which has for its 
object the inculcation of purely temperance 
principles and the attainment of prohibition by 
moral suasion. Mr. Andrews is a modest, in- 
dustrious citizen, who is in comfortable circum- 
stances through his own efforts. 



^>-HARL,E.S G. ALLEN is a generous and 
^^ patriotic citizen of Kennedy, who under- 
stood the principles of farming sufficiently to ac- 
cumulate a competency, which enabled him to 
cease hard work and live in comfort during that 
portion of his life, which is beautifully termed 
the zenith, or before the sun.set has commenced. 
He is a son of Charles C. and Delilah (Trum- 
bull) Allen, and was born in the town of 
Ellery, near the shore of Lake Chautauqua, on 
the sixteenth day of October, 1834. The 
Allen family descended from Scotch emigrants, 
although both grandparents were natives of 
New York. Charles C. Allen was born in 
Rensselaer county, this State, January 16, 1808, 
and, being educated as well as the country 



schools afforded, was taught to work on a farm. 
Prior to 1826 he came to the town of Ellery, 
this county, and worked by the month until he 
was enabled to buy a farm. Then he moved 
to Poland, where he followed farming for about 
twenty-five years and then went to Frewsburg, 
where he now lives in retirement. In business 
matters he was successful and is now very well- 
to-do. Having married Delilah Trumbull, she 
bore him nine children, one sou and eight 
daughters ; only three are now living : Alzina 
married James Webb, a farmer of Frewsburg ; 
Evangeline is the wife of Jefferson Fentou, who 
conducts a farm and is in the lumber business 
at the same place ; and Charles G. The names 
oftho.se who died were Oscilla (Hepih) ; Mary 
R. ; Artemitia (Heath) ; Nettie (Fenton) ; and 
Mercy, who died when three years old. 
Charles C. Allen was a republican and did 
good service on the old school board. He was 
liberal-minded and generous in public matters, 
industrious in his private habits and gained 
quite a local reputation as a mathematician. 

Charles G. Allen spent his boyhood and youth 
upon his father's farm in Ellery, learned the 
science of farming and acquired a good educa- 
tion. When he reached his majority, a clerk- 
ship was offered him in the town of Poland, 
and two years subsequently he went west. 
"When he returned, he invested in a farm in the 
town of Poland, which he still owns. The 
place contains two hundred and sixty-one acres 
and is well kept. Mr. Allen farmed until 
about seven years ago, when he moved into 
Kennedy and now lives here in comfort and af- 
fluence. 

On the 15th of February, 1865, he united in 
marriage with !Mary R. Randall, of Panama, 
New York, a daughter of M. Randall. Mr. M. 
Randall was a farmer of more than ordinary 
success and prominence and held all of the town 
offices within the gift of the people. Mr. and 
jNIrs. Allen have had one child, a son, George 
R., now engaged in the advertising business at 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



369 



Buffiilo, and is acliieving success through his 
natural ability and a good education received at 
the public and higii scliools and Eastman's 
Business College, Poughkeepsie, New York. 
George R. Allen married Lois Wells, a daughter 
of Mr. M. Wells, of Kennedy. Charles G. 
Allen is a republican of recognized influence. 
He takes an interest in educational matters and 
keeps himself thoroughly posted upon curreut 
events. Himself and wife are members of the 
Baptist church, Mr. Allen holding the position 
of trustee. Mrs. Allen was educated in the 
schools of Panama and is intelligent and enter- 
taining. Charles G. Allen is a good business 
man and has been successful throughout his 
business career. 



J-QHN A. HALL. The great-grandfather of 

^ the subject of this sketch was Elisha 
Hall, who emigrated to Hopkinton, Mass., from 
the vicinity of Boston about 1740. He married 
Elizabeth Young in 1742, and died in Hopkin- 
ton, February 25, 1794. He had eight chil- 
dren, and was by occupation a farmer. John 
and William were the only sons of Elisha that 
grew to maturity. 

William Hall, the grandfather of the sub- 
ject, is the only male progenitor of this branch 
of the Hall family of which the family has any 
knowledge. He was born June, 1753, in Hop- 
kinton. He married Abigail Pease, of Upton, 
Mass., August 29, 1782, and emigrated to 
Wardsboro (now Dover), Vermont, at an early 
age, and lived there until he died September 
28, 1828. He was a farmer by occupation, and 
served in the Eevolutionary war in Capt 
Baker's Upton company, and afterwards held a ' 
commission as captain in the Vermont Militia. 
He had a large fiimily of seven sons and five 
daughters. Six of the sons, Samuel, James, 
William, Josiah, Elisha and Orris, emigrated 
to Chautauqua county, New York, and the 
neighboring county, Warren, Pa., between the 
years 1812 and 1820. Nearly all these brothers \ 



engaged in the lumber business, and operated 
extensively on the Allegheny and other rivers 
tributary to the Mississippi. 

Samuel Han(f;ither) came to tliis county in 
1814. He bought land in the town of Busti 
and cleared up a farm which has been in the 
possession of his descendants ever since. He 
had seven children, five sons and two daughters. 
He died in 1859. 

John A. Hall was born in Wardsboro, Ver- 
mont, December 27, 1813. He was six months 
old when his father emigrated to the wilder- 
ness of western New York. In his early boy- 
hood he shared the labor of the farm with his 
father and brothers, and at the age of sixteen 
left home and went to Warren county, Pa., 
where he embarked in commercial pursuits, and 
remained about eighteen years. Ten years of 
this time he was postmaster at Warren. 

In March, 1835, he married Emily Perry, 
also a native of Vermont, whose family removed 
to Chautauqua county in the early days of its 
settlement, and to their union were born .seven 
children : Marian E., Ann E., Edward L., 
Henri, John A., Jr., Irene A. and Freder- 
ick P. 

In 184(3, at the solicitation of his father, 
whose health was failing, he gave up his busi- 
ness in Warren at a very considerable sacrifice 
of his financial prospects, and went back with 
his family to the old homestead to take care of 
his aged father and mother, an act of pure filial 
devotion. During the civil war he held the 
position of clerk of the committee on claims in 
the United States House of Representatives in 
Washington, D. C, and rendered willing assist- 
ance to many soldiers and their families while at 
the seat of government. Wieldinga trenchant pen 
and having a large knowledge in political mat- 
ters, he wrote during this time much for the 
press. His letters, under the nom de jilwne of 
"Paul Pry," to various jiapers were extensively 
read and copied. In 1872 he moved from 
Busti to Jamestown, engaging in business for a 



370 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



few years, and in 1876 he purchased of Davis 
H. AVaite, the Jamestoicn Journal, which under 
the efficient management of himself and son, 
Frederick I'., soon took highest rank among the 
newspapers of western New York, and secured 
a large circulation. Mr. Hall, while always a 
public man, because a leader and maker of pub- 
lic opinion, -was never an office seeker ; though 
often urged to be a candidate for public favors, 
he never would put himself forward. He did, 
however, serve on the board of supervisors of 
Chautauqua county three years, and at the time 
of his death was filling his second term on the 
board of education for the city of Jamestown. 
He was a man of the strictest integrity, never 
flinching in the advocacy of whatever he be- [ 
lieved to be right and true. His death occurred 
January 29, 18SG. 

Frederick P. Hall, youngest son of John A., 
was born in Busti, in November, 1859. He re- 
ceived his education mainly in the public .schools 
of Jamestown, and when his father purchased , 
the Journal, in 1876, a.ssumed the business 
management of the establishment. In a short 
time he was taken into partnership, and after 
a very few years, owing to his father's ill 
health, almost the entire management of the 
office devolved upon him. By his euterpri.-^e 
and business tact these papers have secured their 
present high .standing and influence. In Sep- 
tember, 188o, Mr. Hall was married to Lucy 
H., daughter of Levant L. Mason, of James- 
town. They liave three children : Henri !Mas- 
on, born December 19,1884; Levant Ma.sou, 
born December 25, 1886 ; and Frederick Perry, 
Jr., born April 7, 1891. Mr. Hall is at pres- 
ent (1891) one of the executive committee of 
the New York State Press Association, and 
holds several places of trust in the business, 
church and benevolent enterprises of the city of 
Jamestown. 



/^-.VPT. JOHN I. LANPHERK, who is now 

^^ serving a second term as po.stmaster of 
Silver Creek, is a son of Chauncey and Wealthy 
Ann (Carpenter) Lanphere, and was born at 
Silver Creek, in the town of Hanover, Chau- 
tauqua county, New York, June 10th, 1835. 
The Lanphere family is of German descent and 
was settled in what is now the United States at 
an early day. Charles Lanphere, the paternal 
grandfather of Capt. Lanphere, died while serv- 
ing as a soldier in the war of 1812. His .son, 
Chauncey Lanphere, was born near Brookfield, 
this State, in 1807 and died at Silver Creek 
February 1 , 1 849. When a young man he 
came to Villanova, where he pureha.sed and 
cleared out a farm within about twelve miles of 
Silver Creek. He afterward moved to Silver 
Creek, where he carried on contracting, house, 
boat and bridge building, besides erecting and 
running three large lime kilns. He was a well 
respected man and citizen and an old-line whig 
in politics. He married Wealthy Ann Carpen- 
ter, who was reared in Villanova, became a 
member of the Pre-sbyterian church and passed 
away in 1841, at the early age of thirty-three 
years. 

John I. Lan})liere was reared, until he was 
fifteen years of age, at Silver Creek and in the 
town of Villanova, and received his education 
in the public schools of that day. Leaving 
school, he went to Lake Erie and became a cook 
on a sailboat. He was rapidly and successively 
promoted to a place before the mast, to second 
mate and to first mate. In 1862 he was made 
captain of the .schooner '' Eliza Logan," which he 
commanded for three yea)\s in its trips between 
BuffiUo and Chicago. Leaving the " Logan," 
he had command of .several fine boats, owning 
an interest in two of them. In 1872 he quit 
sailing and returned to his home in Silver Creek, 
where he had' resided while sailing, and where 
he has since remained. He is a republican 
politically, has held .several village offices and 
served, in 1877, 1878 and 1879, as deputy 



^9 wwS 




-(nyYrScr^^>^^^ 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



sheriff of the county. He served uiuler Presi- 
dent Arthur's adiuiiiistratiou as postmaster of" 
Silver Creek, and in July, 1890, was re-ap- 
pointed to that office, which he is still holding. 
Captain T^anphere is a member of Silver Lodge, 
No. 757, Free and Accepted Masons, and Silser 
Creek Council, No. 139, Royal Arcanum. 

January 15, 18G1, he married Harriet, daugh- 
ter of Joseph and Sarah Hammond, of Sheri- 
dan. To Captain and Mrs. Lanphere have been 
born three children: Walter I., who married 
Luella Andrus, and was for some time in tlie 
book and notion business, which he recently 
.sold, and is now assisting his father in the post- 
office ; William H., a stenographer in Chicago; 
and Hattie, who is assistant cashier of a large 
manufacturing company in Buffalo. 



HON. CHARLES H. COKBETT, one of the 
leading merchants and business men ot 
Sherman, is a son of Newell and Persis (Newell) 
Corbett, and was born in the town of Mina, 
Chautauqua county, New York, October 5, 
1845. The Corbett and Newell families came 
from southern New England to Chautauqua 
county about the year 1825, and settled respec- 
tively in the towns of Mina and Sherman. 
Robert Corbett, the paternal grandfather of 
Charles H. Corbett, was from Milford, Massa- 
chusetts, and bought, in 1824, a part of lot 
three, in the present town of Mina. He built 
and operated for some time the flouring-mills 
of Fiudley's lake. His children were: Ithiel, 
of California; Newell (father); David, a New 
York merchant; Robert A.; and Otis, of Chi- 
cago ; Lucretia, wife of J. W. Robertson ; and 
Lydiann, who died at nineteen years of age. 
His second son, Newell Corbett, the fatlier of 
Charles H. Corbett, was born in Mas.sachusetts 
in 1819. He was brought by his parents, in 
1825, to this county, where he has resided ever 
since. He married Persis Newell, who also was 
born in 1819, and is a daughter of Jesse New- 
ell (maternal gradfather) who came from Con- 



necticut in 1825 and settled on Presbyterian 
Hill in the town of Sherman, where he was one 
of the earliest farmers in his section of the 
county. 

C. H. Corbett was rrarod on tli(> farm, at- 
tended Westfield academy and afterwards took 
the full commercial course of Eastman's Business 
college, of Ponghkeepsie, New York, from 
which he was graduated. In 180(J he entered 
into mercantile life by engaging as a clerk with 
J. T. Greene. At the end of five years, in 1871, 
he left Mr. Greene's employ and purchased the 
interest of J. M. Coveney in the mercantile firm 
of Coveney & Hart, of Sherman. As a mem- 
ber of the new firm of Hart & Corbett, he gave 
his time and efforts successfully to the building 
up of a large and prosperous business. Their 
mercantile establishment is on Main street, 
and they carry a heavy and well-assorted stock 
of general merchandise, worth about twenty 
thousand dollars, which embraces special lines of 
dry goods, boots and shoes, and carpets. He is 
a democrat in politics, served as supervisor of 
Sherman in 1882 and in 1883, and in the fall 
of 1882 was elected, in the First Assembly Dis- 
trict of Chautauqua county, which is strongly 
republican, by a majority of nine hundred and 
eighty-six,, as a member of the New York 
Legislature, in which he was made chairman 
of the committee on charitable and religious 
institutions. 

On May 13, 1869, he united in marriage 
with Narcissa Dutton, of Sherman. They have 
two children, both sons : Harry C, born Oct. 
24, 1873 ; and Frank D., born Nov. 23, 1879. 

In the financial affairs of Sherman Mr. Cor- 
bett has taken an active interest. He was in- 
strumental in starting and outlining the suc- 
cessful course of the State Bank of Sherman, of 
which he was vice-president. From his hum- 
ble start as a clerk in the mercantile business it 
was his laudable ambition to honorably excel as 
a merchant, which he has credit:d)ly done. In 
the political field as a legislator and in business 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



circles as a financier his course has been sucii as 
to secure respect and commendation. 

He is the present Grand ^Master Workman 
of the A. O. U. W. of the State of New York ; 
was elected at Syracuse last Marcii. Is the 
Grand Treasurer of the Select Knights A. O. 
U. ^^'. of the State of New York, and has held 
the office for the past ifour years. He is a 
prominent Mason, and belongs to the following 
bodies : Olive Lodge, No. 575 F. & A. M., 
Sherman, N. Y. ; Westfield Chapter, Xo. 239, 
E. A. M., Mayville, N. Y. ; Dunkirk Council, 
No. 25, R. and S. M., Dunkirk, N. Y. ; Dun- 
kirk Commandery, No. 40, Knights Templar, 
Dunkirk, N. Y^. ; Palmona Lodge of Perfec- 
tion, Ancient Accepted Scottish Rite at Buifalo, 
N. Y. ; Rochester Consistory, A. A. S. R., 
Rochester, N. Y. ; and Damascus Temple, An- 
cient Arabic Order Nobles of the ^I^stic Shrine. 



TRA D. ROWLEY, the representative of the 

-*- Lake Shore and ]\[ichigau Southern rail- 
way at Silver Creek station, this county, is a 
son of Abner and Phrebe C. (Hurd) Rowley, 
and was born in Holland, Erie county, New 
York, August 2.3, 1845. The Rowleys are 
New England Y'ankees, but came from Eng- 
lish ancestors. The paternal grandfather was a 
native of Vermont and removed to Holland, 
Erie county, this State, about 1815, where he 
followed his trade, carpentering, and tilled a 
farm. Being a mau of character and strict in- 
tegrity he was very influential and at his death, 
which occurred in 1855, there were general ex- 
pressions of sorrow. His wife was Mary , 

by whom he had six children. Abner Rowley 
(father) was born in Holland, Erie county, in 
1821, and having reached maturity he went out 
in the world to look for work. About that 
time the Erie railroad had built to Buffalo and 
there was an agent needed for the station called 
Town I/ine, in Erie county, which Mr. Rowley 
took and held for forty years. He passed awav 
in 1884 sincerelv mourned bv a laryre circle oF 



friends. He was a member of Alden Lodge, 
No. 284, F. and A. M., of the Independent 
Order of Odd Fellows, and of the Democratic 
party. In his younger days Mr. Rowley was 
an enthusiastic military man and attended, with 
his company, all the gatherings for military 
trainings. Connected with his railroad agency, 
he dealt in coal, a business which, as wood grew 
scarcer, developed to large proportions. In 
1841, he married Pha'be C. Hurd, who came 
from the same town in which he was born and 
they spent a happy married life until Mrs. 
Rowley was summoned to cross the broad river 
whose other bank is enveloped in mist, in 1863, 
when forty-four years of age. She was a kind, 
gentle and affectionate mother and pa.ssed from 
earth consoled by her confidence in the teach- 
ings of the Baptist church. 

Ira D. Rowley as a boy was bright and 
wide-awake. He was reared in Erie county 
and lived at home until fourteen years of age, 
when he secured a place as newsboy on the 
Erie railway, running from Buffalo to Corning. 
This life he led for three years and in 1862 
joined Co. D, 116th regiment, N. Y. Vols., at 
Buffalo and .served until the close of the war. 
His regiment saw .service along the Gulf, and 
later with Sheridan in the Shenandoah valley 
and participated in the engagements, twelve in 
number, of the armies to which it was attached. 
Mr. Rowley was wounded but not severely 
enough to cause permaneut disability. He was 
discharged at Washington and mustered out in 
Buffalo, having served the entire term as a 
musician. Then he took a course at Bryant & 
Stratton's Business college, in Buffalo, and 
learned telegraphy and soon after secured a 
place as operator and station agent on the Erie 
railway. Remaining there four years he changed 
to the L. S. & M. S. R. R., and had the Angola 
office two years and was promoted to the general 
dispatcher's office at Buffalo. Six months later 
he was given the Silver Creek station which he 
has hekl to the present time — a continuous ser- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



vice of nineteen year?. The American Express 
company is also represented by him. jNIr. Row- 
ley is a stock-hokler in the Silver Creek Upliol- 
stering factory and has been largely identified 
with its prosperity. 

In 1870, he married Caroline L. Winslow, a 
danghter of Myron D. Winslow, of Angola, 
and they have one daughter living : Edna H., 
born January 15, 1876; and Mabel E., born 
October 22, 1873— died in September, 1889. 

Ira D. Rowley is a member of the Methodist 
church ; a steward and trustee, and belongs to 
the following fraternal bodies : Silver Lodge, 
No. 757, F. and A. M. ; Silver Creek Lodge, 
No. 10, A. O. U. W.; Silver Creek Council, 
No. 39, Royal Arcanum ; and the Knights 
Templar degree of the Masons. He is a repub- 
lican, has served as president of the village, 
president of the school board and is now a 
member of the last named body. He belongs 
to the progressive, pushing and wide-awake 
element upon whom the work of developing a 
town or city falls, but being public-spirited Mr. 
Rowley cheerfully gives of his time and means 
to everything that will advance the interests of 
the village. 

nOBERT M. HALL, a fiu-mer of the town 
of Westfield and one of the Union sol- 
diers who was a prisoner at Anderson ville, is a 
son of Asa and Pauline (Mack) Hall, and was 
born in the town of Westfield, Chautauqua 
county. New York, February 5, 1833. His 
paternal grandfather, Asa Hall, Sr., was born 
June 20, 1767, in Rhode Island, where he was 
an importer and jobber for some years in the 
city of Providence. He came to the town of 
Westfield in 1811, served in the War of 1812 
and died March 14, 1832. His children were: 
Sophy, wife of Jonathan Cass ; George, who 
served in the War of 1812; Harriet; Asa; 
David; and Silas F., who died in Illinois. 
Asa Hall, the second son and father of Robert 
M. Hall, was born at Thompson, Connecticut, 



December 26, 1796, removed with his parents 
to Stratford, New Hampshire and in 1811 came 
with them to AVestfield. At sixteen years of 
age he enlisted in the American army, was at 
the burning of Buffalo and on his way home 
had fever and ague from the effects of which he 
never recovered. He purchased land from the 
Holland Land company and when not engaged 
at his trade of carpenter and builder was em- 
ployed in farming until his death, June 8, 1868. 
He was a ruling elder of the Presbyterian 
church and on December 20, 1820, he married 
Pauline Mack, a native of Genesee county, a 
very intelligent woman, who died May 4, 1861, 
at sixty years of age. Youug, in his history of 
Chautauqua county, says : Mr. and Mrs. Hall 
are spoken of as having been persons of exem- 
plary piety, and shedding a hallowed influence 
alike upon the members of the family and of 
the society in which they moved." They had 
five children : Charlotte, wife of W. P. Culbert- 
son, of Illinois; Robert M.; Sophy C, who 
married A. C. Crane, of San Francisco, Califor- 
nia; Emma M., wife of Judge S. G. Nye, of 
Oakland, California; and Frank A., for ten 
years publisher of the Wedfield Republican and 
now in the manufacturing business, the factory 
being located in northeast Pennsylvania — resi- 
dence, Westfield. Mrs. Hall was a daughter 
of Capt. John Mack, who kept the old Mack 
tavern and the ferry on Cattaraugus creek, 
when the British had possession of Lake Erie, 
and by the assi.stance of the Indians prevented 
the English from molesting him. 

Robert M. Hall grew to manhood on the 
Westfield farm and received a common school 
and academic education. He has given his time 
and attention to farming and now has a vine- 
yard of twenty-five acres on his farm, which is 
situated one and one-half miles west of the vil- 
lage of Westfield. In 1861 he enlisted as a 
private in Co. I, 9th New York cavalry, was 
promoted to quarter-master sergeant and after 
three and one-half years of active service was 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



honorably discharged at Elinira, New York, 
February G, 1865. In a cavalry charge at 
Brandy Station, Virginia, he was wounded and 
captured by the Confederates and spent four 
hundred and nine days in seven diiferent pris- 
ons, one of which was Andersonville, in which 
he was confined for the most of his time before 
being exchanged. Mr. Hall is a republican in 
politics. He is a member of the Westfield 
Presbyterian church and William Sackett Post, 
No. 324, Grand Army of the Republic. He 
has always been active and useful in his sphere 
of life and enjoyed the reputation of being a 
public-spirited citizen. 

January 30, 1867, he married Flora A., eld- 
est daughter of Milo A. Driggs. To their 
union have been born five children: Louise, 
who died at eleven years of age ; Florence, who 
possesses good artistic ability, has done some 
fine painting and graduated in 1891, from Ing- 
ham university, at Leroy, New York ; Paul- 
ine ; Mary ; and Asa. 



Ci\JPT. JA3IES P. BENNETT, a well- 
known citizen and prosperous farmer of the 
town of Westfield, is a son of James and Elizabeth 
(Ensign) Bennett, and was born in the town of 
Portland, Chautauqua county, New York, 
August 2, 1824. His paternal grandfather, 
Capt. Banks Bennett, was of French descent, 
and served in the Revolutionary war, and the 
maternal grandfather, Otis Ensign, also served 
in the Revolutionary war and afterwards left 
his native State of Massachusetts to become one 
of the early settlers of the town of Pomfret, where 
he died at the advanced age of ninety-six years. 
James Bennett, the father of Capt. James P. Ben- 
nett, was born in the town of Pawlet, Rutland 
county, Vermont, June 6, 1785, and came to the 
town of Sheridan in 1816; two years later here- 
moved to the town of Portland, where he followed 
farming until his death January 29, 1858. He 
was a whig and a republican and a member of 
the Metiiodist Ei)iscopal church, in which he 



was an active worker ; while his word was as 
good as his bond. He mairied Elizabeth 
Ensign, a consistent member of his own church, 
who was born in Susquehanna county, Penna., 
and died June 10, 1850, when in the sixty-third 
year of her age. 

James P. Bennett was reared on the farm in 
the town of Portland until he was fourteen 
years of age and received his education in the 
common schools. He then went on board a 
lake vessel and worked his way up until he 
became a captain and commanded several 
vessels that plied on the lakes between Buffiilo 
and Chicago. At twenty-eight years of age he 
left the lakes and spent three years as a grain 
weigher in an elevator at Buifalo. He then 
conducted a grocery and meat market for five 
years and at the end of that time embarked in 
the butchering business, which he continued 
successively in the Elk street market for twenty- 
two years. When he quit butchering (1882) he 
returned to this county, where he purchased a 
farm in the town of Westfield and has been 
engaged ever since in farming and grape cul- 
ture. 

In 1850, he married Sarah A. Drury, daugh- 
ter of John Drury of Detroit, Michigan. They 
have two adopted children : Lottie and Susie. 

Captain James P. Bennett is a democrat in 
politics, was elected supervisor in 1862 of the 
third ward of Buffalo and served for three 
years as captain of the police in the third 
precinct of that city. When he quit butchering 
in Buffalo, the butchers of the Elk street 
marked presented him a gold-headed ebony 
cane as a slight token of their esteem and 
respect. He is a member of Erie Lodge No. 
161, Buffalo Chapter No. 71, and Buftiilo Coun- 
cil No. 17 of tiie Masonic Fraternity of Buflalo. 



FUAXK O. BRIOGS is a well educated, 
bright, energetic and active young busi- 
ness man, who is appreciated for his worth in 
the community. He is an only son of George 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY. 



W. and Sallie A. (Tarbox) Briggs and was born 
in Arkwriglit, Chautauqua county, New York, 
September 21, ]8(3-"l. His grandfatiier^ Joseph 
R. Briggs, was born in Massachusetts, July 24, 
1795, and owned quite a large farm, which he 
sold, and came to this county in 1830, where he 
bought a farm of fifty acres in Arkwriglit and 
carried on a dairy business, manufacturing large 
quantities of butter up to the time of his death, 
which occurred November 25, 1876. In re- 
ligion he was a member of the Christian church, 
and politically he was a republican. Joseph R. 
Briggs was married January 1, 1817 to Rhoda 
Sabin and by her had eight children, two sons 
and six daughters: Olive, born July 11, 1818, 
married to Palmer Dennison ; George W. 
(father); Dorcas B. born May 10, 1822, mar- 
ried Wilder Fisher ; Louis J., born June 20, 
1824, married Hannah Lewis; Susan, born 
October 8, 1826, married John Griswold ; 
Rhoda F., born November 26, 1829, married 
Abner Mattoon ; Mary I., born April 27, 1832, 
married Joel Parker; Anna M., born July 25, 
1834, married Myron Dewey. The maternal 
grandfather of F. O. Briggs, Dudley Tarbox, 
was born in Hebron, Connecticut, January 9, 
1785, where he owned a farm and cultivated it 
until 1835, (except when he was serving as a 
soldier in the war of 1812), when he sold it and 
moved to this county, settling in the town of 
Arkwright, where he bought a farm of sixty 
acres and pursued the vocation of an agricultur- 
ist until his death, which summons came to him 
in Stockton, this county, June 3, 1851. His 
wife died April 10, 1857. Religiously, he was 
a member of the Christian church in Ark- 
wright, and politically he was a republican. 
Duilley Tarbox was married March 16, 1812, 
to Polly Waters and by her had ten children, 
six sons and four daughters : Mary S., married [ 
Leonard Dairymple ; Phebe S., born September 
8, 1813, married Benjamin House; William 
W., born December 28, 1816, married Sarah 
A. Wood ; Henrv C, born November 18, 1818, 



died young ; Harry M., born March 19, 1820, 
married Cornelia Rebbels ; Augustus C, born 
March 9, 1822, died young; Sallie A. (mother) 
born July 4, 1824 ; Albert G., born December. 
3, 1826, married Hercy Rebbels; Hannah J., 
born February 6, 1829, married Ranster Luce 
Saliua, born May 6, 1831, died young. It is a 
singular coincidence that grandfatiier and grand- 
mother Tarbox, grandmother Briggs and George 
W. Briggs died aged sixty-six years each. 
George W. Briggs (lather) was born in Massa- 
chusetts June 19, 1820, and became a fiu-mer, 
owning two hundred and iifty acres of laud at 
the old homestead. He came to the county in 
1835, settling in Arkwright, where he bought 
land, until at one time he owned seven hundred 
acres. In 1875 he sold all his Arkwright 
laud except three hundred and eighty acres, 
moved to Fredonia and in 1876 bought a prop- 
erty on Temple street and retired from active 
life. The laud he owned in Arkwright was 
unimproved, nearly all woods, and he improved 
it. The first year he was married he worked 
for a man named Strong at Sinclairville for one 
hundred and twenty dollars a year and hou.se 
rent. At the time of his death he was worth 
thirty thousand dollars, .showing what an in- 
domitable will, added to Yankee shrewdness 
and pluck, will accomplish. During the war 
he had charge of filling the quota of the town of 
Arkwright, but was never in the army. In re- 
ligion he was a member of the Christian church 
in Arkwright, of which he was also deacon and 
trustee. After coming to Fredonia, he joined 
the Disciple church, of which he was afterward 
a trustee or minister and was a very active 
church worker. In politics he was a republican 
and an active party man. He was assessor and 
supervisor of Arkwright in 1875, 1876, 1877. 
George W. Briggs was married to Sallie A. 
Tarbox January 1, 1843, and the union was 
productive of four children, one son and three 
daughters : Ellen J., married C. W. Cardott, a 
mechanic in Jamestown ; Katherinc P. married 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



C. B. Wilson, a farmer in Charlotte, tliis 
county ; Ifla B., dead ; and Frank O. The 
father died November 23, 1886. His death 
\A^as caused by a hurt in the hand, which he had 
received seven years previous and which had 
resulted in blood poisoning. The best physi- 
cians were consulted and he was taken to the 
hospital at Ann Arbor, Micliigan, but his life 
could not be saved. His widow is still living, 
in her sixty-seventh year, having been born in 
1824. 

Frank (). Briggs was educated at the district 
school in Arkwright and at the union school in 
Jamestown, which latter he had attended four 
terms when his parents moved to Fredonia and 
he attended tlie State normal school six terms, 
taking the regular normal course, but did not 
graduate. He then went to clerking for D. Ij. 
Shepard in the hardware business, where he re- 
mained three years, and then bought a fruit 
farm of twenty acres in Pom fret, which he occu- 
pied two years, being very successful. Then 
he returned to Fredonia and resumed his place 
in Mr. Shepard's store, still owning the farm, 
remained here about sixteen mouths and then 
traded the farm and bought out Mr. Shepard in 
connection with Case & Zahn in 1882. In 
October 1886 he .sold out his interest and 
started in the shoe business at No. 53 Main 
street, Fredonia, where he carried a stock of 
eight thousand dollars worth of all varieties of 
boots, shoes and rubber good.s, and did a busi- 
ness of sixteen thousand dollars a year until 
April 11, 1890, when he sold out his boot and 
shoe business and embarked in the hardware 
trade, associating with Fred R. Ford ; they 
purcha.sed the west end of M'hat is known as 
the Park House and by January 1, 1892, ex- 
pect to have the finest line of hardware in stock 
to be found at Fredonia. In religion he is a 
member of the Presbyterian church of Fre- 
donia, and in politics is an active working re- 
publican. He is secretary of Forest Lodge, 
No. 16G, F. A. 'SI., a memi)er of Grapevine 



Tent, No. 81, Knights of the Maccabees, and 
of Fredonia Grange, No. 1. Frank O. Briggs 
was married June 4, 1879 to Sophie M. Lee, a 
daughter of Uriah and Eliza Lee of Fredonia, 
and has two children, a son and a daughter: 
Mav L. and (leorue W. 



T^LY 1>AVI.S is a venerable gentleman living 
-"■^ at Fredonia, who has been an extensive 
farmer; is now interested in the cultivation of 
grapes, and makes politics a study, believing 
that the affairs of the Nation should command 
the attention of all ]>atriotic citizens. He is a 
son of Harry and ^lary (Stanhope) Davis and 
was born at Scio, Allegany county. New York, 
November 24, 1817. The paternal grandfather, 
James Davis, was a native of the old Bay 
State and was born about 1744. By trade he 
was a shoemaker and followed it in the town of 
Conway, then Hampshire county, Massachu- 
setts, and served through the Revolutionary 
war, rising to the rank of major and served on 
Gen. Washington's staff. Mr. Davis was the 
leader of a sect called the San Dominicans, and 
exercised a great influence for good over them. 
In 1767 he married Irene Ticnor, who bore 
him ten children, six girls and four boys: 
James, Cyrus, Harry, Charles, Eunice, Luciuda, 
Piiilana, and three whose names are lost. His 
wife died about 1810 and he then moved to the 
home of subject's father in Allegany county in 
1812, where he died four years later. The 
maternal grandfather, Samuel Stanhope, was 
born in Massachusetts in 1755 and was a life- 
long farmer. He married Mary Goodenough in 
1773 and moved to Genesee county. New York, 
where his wife died in 1828, aged seventy-one 
years, and she is buried at Attica. Mr. Stan- 
hope theu removed to ^Monroe county and lived 
with a son until his jNIaker called him in 1839. 
He too served under Washington in the Rev- 
olutionary army and, at the time of his death, 
was drawing a disability pension. iNIr. Stan- 
hope belonged to tlie Baptist church, and reared 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



a family of six chiklren, Levi, Ciiarlotte, Mary, 
Teresa, Luther and Zatta. Harry Davis, sub- 
ject's father, was born at Conway, Hampshire 
county, Massachusetts, August 24, 1780, and 
for a number of years was reared liy Deacon 
Ware. When he attained his majority he moved 
to Whitestown, Oneida county, N. Y. and lived 
there for a year and then went to Angelica, 
Allegany county, on the Genesee river, where 
he got one hundred and sixty acres of land for 
two dollars and fifty cents per acre. The land 
was heavily timbered and the Indians were his 
only neighbors, while the howling of wild 
beasts at night made the music that lulled him 
to sleep. That was in 1805, and he remained 
upon the same property until he died, October 

18, 1864,when eighty-four years of ago. Prior 
to the second war with Great Britain, he joined 
a rifle company that was called into service but 
soon after discharged, so that the members 
could return home to protect their families from 
the ravages of the Indians. For service ren- 
dered the government, Mi-. Davis received a 
land warrant, which he presented to the Bap- 
tist church. Politically he was a whig and was 
elevated to nearly all the town offices in the gift 
of the people, filling with special credit the 
positions of assessor and road (iommissioner and 
was also elected captain of militia. For many 
years he served as deacon in the Baptist church 
and at its organization in 1817 he was the first 
to be baptized in that country. On October 5, 
1801, he married Mary 8tanhope and she be- 
came the mother of eight children, five sons and 
thi-ee daughters: Charles was born April 27, 
1803, and married Jemima Van Campen iu 
182.5 — he is dead ; Wells was born April 14, 
1806, now dead, married Polly Wightman, 
July 21, 1825; Philana, born September 23, 
1808, married Samuel Wheeler, February 22, 
1825, and is dead ; Nathan W., born February 

19, 1811, married Sarah Waters, September 11, 
1833, and is dead; Stata, born May 1, 1813, 
married John B. Norton, April 9, 1834, she 



too is dead; Lovina, born November 1.3, 181.5, 
is dead, mairied Horatio N. Crandall, Novem- 
ber 12, 1840; Ely Davis; Luther was born 
February 29, 1820, married Delana Rogers, 
June 17, 1847, dead; and three others died in 
infancy. Harry Davis lived to be eighty-four 
years old and died October 18, 1864; his wife 
survived until September 10, 1870, and passed 
away, aged ninety years. 

Ely Davis was educated at the district schools, 
which in pioneer times were seldom held more 
than two or three months in each year and the 
scholars were often obliged to walk three and 
four miles to attend; during the summer he 
worked on the farm. In 1845 he bought his 
father's farm and then secured the adjoining 
tracts until he owned two hundred and ninety- 
five acres in one piece. 

September 14, 1843, he united with Mari M. 
Mosher, a daugliter of Seba Mosher, of Otsego 
county ; by their union came two children : Eliza 
Ann, died when six years of age, two days after 
her mother, who passed away October 25, 1851, 
and both were buried in the same grave at Bel- 
mont, New York; and Elizur I., a hardware 
merchant at Belmont ; he married Evangeline S. 
Lamphere, Sejjtember 11, 1872. On Decem- 
ber 1, 1853, Mr. Davis wedded Betsey M. 
Reed, a daughter of Robert Reed, a farmer of 
Allegany county. By her, three children were 
born: Eliza M., born April 5, 1855, and died 
November 8, 1856; Harry E. is a book-keeper, 
stenographer and telegrapher in a machine shop 
at Belmont — he married Eliza E. Ryman ; and 
Ella, at home. 

In 1873 Mr. Davis came to Chautauqua 
county and bought a desirable property in Fre- 
donia, leaving his son to manage his farm at 
his former home, but four years later he sold it 
to the latter and now attends to a grape orchard 
often acres iu the town of Pomfret and some 
interests in timber lands located in New York 
and Pennsylvania. Politically Ely Davis was 
a whig as long as that party was an organiza- 



380 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



tion but is now a stalwart republican, and since 
1839 lias been a communicaut of the Baptist 
cliurcli. 



"PJIjIAS BEC'KEK is one of the farmers of 
^~^ Busti town who pays strict attention to 
his agricultural work and thereby usually has 
good crops. He is a sou of Abram and INIar- 
garet (Stoin) Becker and was born in the town 
of Ellery, this county, October 28, 1825. The 
paternal grandfatiier, Adam Becker, was of 
German extraction and came to Chautauqua 
county from Herkimer county when this 
country was new and comparatively wild. 
He secured a farm and continued to till 
its soil until his death. Abram Becker was 
a. native of Herkimer county, and came to 
Chautauqua when a boy with his father. They 
lived for many years in Ellery town, where he 
followed farming until well advanced in life, 
when he retired from active business and moved 
into the village of Fluvanna, where he died, 
aged sixty-seven years. Abram Becker was a 
democrat, a sterling, pushing, energetic man, 
and he died when sixty-seven years old, con- 
soled by his faith in the Christian church. His 
wife, Margaret Stem, was a native of Ellery 
town ; she too was a communicant of the 
Christian church and died in 1851, aged forty- 
six years. 

Elias Becker was reared on his father's farm 
where he worked during the summer and at- 
tended the common schools in the winter, 
thereby securing the education which has car- 
ried him through life. He is the owner of a 
highly improved farm of one-hundred and six 
and one-half acres in the town of Busti, located 
on the niad running from Jamestown to 
Busti. 

Mr. Becker has been married twice, first in 
Ellery to Mary M. Wiard, a daughter of Plum 
Wiard ; she died in 1851, leaving no children. 
For his second wife he took Ellenore L. Miller, 
a daun'Iiter of John Miller, of the town of 



Ellery; by this last union they have one child 
living, a daughter Lena, who is now the wife 
of Lorenzo Denn, who was a farmer living 
near subject's home. Elias Becker belongs to 
the Baptist church at Busti, in which he holds 
the responsible and honorable position of 
trustee ; he is also a member of the Grange, a 
society devoted to advancing the interests of 
farmers; politically he is a republican, wide- 
awake, enterprising and public-spirited and all 
improvements calculated to benefit the section 
of the country in which he lives find him a 
ready and enthusiastic supporter. Mr. Becker 
has attained the position he now occupies by 
industry and economy and he appreciates the 
fact that all wealth is derived from toil. 



JOKXJAMIX FKANKLIX MATHEWS, a 

-•"^ gallant defender of his country's flag and 
successful in the pursuits of peace, is the 
oldest living resident of the town who is a 
native of Gerry. Benjamin F. Mathews is a 
son of Caleb and Margareth (Salisbury) 
^[athews and was born in the town of Gerry, 
Chautauqua county. New York, March 24, 
1822. His grandfather was of English descent 
and came from one who crossed the ocean on 
the Mayflower. He was born in the State of 
Rhode Island and lived to be eighty-seven 
years and six months old. By occupation he 
was a shoemaker and for many years followed 
the sea. He died in the town of Gerry in 1855. 
Caleb Mathews came to this town in 1821 and 
secured four-hundred acres of land from the 
Holland Land Company. He was a potter by 
trade but made farming his ])rincipal work 
His place, when he first moved his family on to 
it, was two and one-half miles from his nearest 
neighbor, but soon after, the country began to 
populate rapidly. He married Margareth Salis- 
bury, reared eleven children, and lived until 
his death, which occurred November 17, 18(39, 
when eighty-two years old, upon the original 
tarm. Politically a repabliean, he held several 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



town offices aud was a member of the Baptist 
church. 

Benjamin Franklin ifatiiews was reared in 
the town of Gerry and attended its public 
schools. When he arrived at that age in which 
young men were put to work, he began farming 
and helped to clear considerable new ground. 
Shortly after, he went to Le Roy, Genesee 
county, and was interested in a machine shop 
for two years, when he returned to Gerry and 
settled on a farm adjoining liis present home 
and now does general farming. In 186'2 Mr. 
Mathews enlisted in company F, 112th regi- 
ment, N. Y., Infantry, aud was first engaged at 
the Deserted Farm, Virginia. After this 
engagement, battles and skirmishes followed 
one another in rapid succession, in all of which, 
he proved himself a gallant soldier and a 
patriot. He was present at the siege of Suffolk 
and from there went to Wliite House Landing 
and after service at that place, moved on to 
Hanover Junction. Returning to Portsmouth, 
Va., and thence to Bowers Hill, he was 
ordered from the latter place to Charleston, S. 
C, and remained there until the following 
spring. Then in succession he was at Jackson- 
ville, Yorktown, Bermuda Hundred, Peters- 
burg and Cold Harbor. During the election 
his regiment was ordered to New York, and 
when their duty was performed there, in the 
order named, they were transferred to Deep 
Bottom, Fort Fisher under Gen. Butler Ber- 
muda, and under Gen. Terry, went back to 
Fort Fisher and " took it." Wilmington, N. 
C, surrendered to them on February 22, 180-3. 
Mr. Mathews was then detailed as manager of 
the hospital at Wilmington, N. C, and served 
as such for eight weeks, when he was discharged 
aud came home. He began farming at once 
and has now a very fine place. His herd of cows 
are superior; and, among other items of produc- 
tion, is about 1500 pounds of cheese annually. 
Politically, a republican, he is serving as 
poor-master aud constable. 



June 2, 1844, he married Mary Lyon, a 
daughter of William Lyon, of Le Roy, Gene-see 
county, and they have been blessed with nine 
children : C. Electa ; Melvin L. ; Florence 
A. ; Francis Marian ; Alvonsee J. ; Orin H. 
died when twenty-four years old ; Lizzie M. 
living, aud Franklin, dead. 

Benjamin Franklin Mathews is a member of 
the Free Methodist church, a gentleman of 
upright character and a citizen to whom the 
community may point with pride. 



TO.SEIMI OAKFIKLD, a leading stock-raiser 
^^ and dealer in pedigree horses, was born 
August 27, 1853, and is a sou of Joseph Gar- 
field, Sr., aud Lucy A. (Palmer) Garfield. His 
ancestors on both sides belonged to the race'of 
English pioneers, who came to the shores of 
New England to e.scape monarchical rule. His 
grandfatiier, also named Joseph, was born 
near Rutland, Worcester county, Ma.s.sachusetts, 
April 17, 1780, and was a liberal supporter of 
the National cause during the war of 1812, and 
held the office of justice of the peace for fifteen 
years. Subject's father was born at Pine Grove, 
Warren county. Pa., on May 5, 1817, and re- 
moved with his father to the town of Busti, aud 
settled upon the farm which he now occupies. 
He was a farmer and stock-rai.ser by occupation 
and continued such up to the date of his death, 
August 8, 1885. His wife, who.se maiden name, 
\vas Lucy A. Palmer, was born March 8, 1824, 
at Norwich, Chenango county, New York, and 
bore him si.K children, all boys: Martin G., 
Eliakim, Samuel, Joseph, Amos P. and Whit- 
man P., the two latter being twins. Three of 
the children, Martin G., Amos P. and Whitman 
P. are now deceased. Joseph Garfield, Sr., and 
his wife were married March 3, 1841, and both 
are steadfa.st members of the Methodist Episco- 
pal church. Mrs. Garfield still survives and 
makes her home with her son Joseph. For 
many years Mr. Garfield was a devotee of whig 
principles, but with the organization of the 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Republican party, he changed his political alle- 
giance to the new party. 

Joseph Garfield, whose name heads this 
sketch, on November 15, 1876, was united in 
marriage with Miss Ella A. ><^orthrop, of the 
-town of Busti. Their union has been blest by i 
the birth of five children : Flora E., Floyd A., 
Lucy B., Lizzie M. (deceased) and Hazel Rutii. 
Mr. and Mrs. Garfield have a very comfortable 
and pleasant home situated one and a quarter 
miles from Jamestown, near the line between 
the towns of Ellicott and Kiantone. Mrs. Gar- 
field is a daughter of Hon. William Northrop, 
Jr., of Busti. 

Joseph Garfield, is now engaged in the 
breeding and raising of Clydesdale horses and 
Shetland ponies in partnership with B. F. Hazel- 
ton, of Bradford, Pa. The firm known as Gar- 
field & Hazelton, embarked in business four 
years ago, but Mr. Garfield lias recently sold his 
interest to Hazelton and assumed the general 
superintendency. The efforts of these gentle- 
men to introduce fine and fancy stock into 
Chautauqua county have been highly encouraged 
and supported. At the present time they have 
twenty-eight head of registered Clydesdale horses 
(several of which have been imported and are 
very valuable) and have no fears from compe- 
tition. Mr. Garfield is an adherent of the Re- 
publican partv, but is in no sense a partisan in 
politics. He recognizes the fallibility of all 
parties and creeds and holds himself free to at 
all times support the cause representing the 
highest principles and the most humanitarian 
and equitable policy. In his religious views 
the same principle of freedom obtains. He 
places conduct, action, life, above doctrine and 
dogma, and instead of believing in a religion of 
dead formalism and absolute ritualism, he ad- 
vocates a rational religion upon the basis of 
honesty, sincerity, purity, conscientiousness and 
law. 



nALiPH H. HALL, has been one of the most 
extensive farmers and providers of fat 
cattle for the market in this section, and is now 
enjoving a hale and serene old age, surrounded 
by the fruits of his success. He is a sou of 
Ahira and Laura (Palmer) Hall, and was born 
in Portland, Chautauqua county. New York, 
November 3, 1S21. James Hall, his grand- 
father, was born in Uibridge, Massachusetts, 
April 19, 1757, was a farmer all his life, and 
owned a large tract of land at that place, which 
he tilled up to the time of his death, which 
occurred July 29, 1835, in Croydon, New 
Hampshire. He served as a soldier in the 
Revolutionary war, and fought under General 
George Washington throughout that world- 
famous .struggle for the liberty and the rights of 
man, and after the war drew a pension. In 
religion he was a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, and among the most influen- 
tial. James Hall was married at the age of 
nineteen to Huldah Cooper, aged si.xteen, a 
niece of Roger Sherman, one of the signers of 
the Declaration of Independence, and by this 
marriage had twelve children, seven sous and 
five daughters : Abijah, Ahira (father), Sherman, 
James, Carlton, Albiua, Lyman, Chloe, married 
to Menassah Sawyer ; Huldah, married Elijah 
Darling; Dilla, married Benjamin White; Sarah, 
died in infancy ; and an infant. The mother 
of these children died in 1847, February 19th, 
aged eighty-eigh.t years, and was buried at 
Croydon, New Hampshire. John Palmer, who 
was the maternal grandfather of Ralph H. Hall, 
was born at Tolland, Connecticut, in 1755, and 
when quite a young man moved to Charlotte, 
Vermont, where he took up a large tract of 
land, all forest, which he cleared, improved and 
tilled until his death in 1835, and the house he 
built is still standing. He was a soldier in the 
Revolutionai-y war under General George Wash- 
ington and was awarded a pension. In religion 
he was a member of the Baptist church of Char- 
lotte, of whicii he was a deacon for several years. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



John Palmer was married to Ruth Chapman, by 
whom he had ten childi'en, four sons and six 
daughters : John, James, William, Chapman, 
INIalinda, who married Zimri Hill; Abigail, 
who married Edward Allen ; Laura (mother); 
Ruth, who married Ancinius Jones ; Charlotte 
and Lovica. The mother of these children died 
in 1827, aged sixty years. Ahira Hall (father) 
was born in Croydon, Sullivan county, New 
Hampshire, December 21, 1784, and remained 
on the farm until he was tweuty-one years old, 
when he emigrated to Charlotte, Vermont, where 
he remained but a few years wheu he removed 
to Massena, St. Lawrence county. New York, 
where he took up a tract of one hundred and 
sixty acres of land, all of which was unbroken 
forest. At the breaking out of the war of 181 2, 
he was among the first who were drafted into 
the service in the army of the War of 1812, and 
served throughout the war. His wife determined 
not to stay alone in this wilderness, packed all 
the effects she could upon a horse, and buried all 
else in the ground, and with her three children 
returned to her father's home in Vermont. In 
October, 1815, after the close of the war, Mr. 
Hall came to Chautauqua county, journeying 
thirty-one days through the wilderness, and 
occupied a log house owned by Abel Palmer, 
which, M'ith fifty acres of land, came into his 
possession at the death of ]\Ir. Palmer, the land 
being located in what is now the town of Port- 
land and near the Brocton line, and is now 
owned by T. S. Moss. In politics Mr. Hall 
was a whig, and for fourteen consecutive years 
was elected justice of the peace on that ticket. 
He was a man of uncommon ability and enjoyed 
the confidence of the community. In religion 
he was a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, of which he was also steward for a long 
time. Ahira Hail was married in Charlotte, 
Vermont, October 18, 1807, to Laura Palmer, 
by whom he had fourteen children, six sons and 
eight daughters, twelve of whom reached 
maturity : Ezra, died in infancy ; John, a 



farmer in Fredonia, who married Mrs. Jane 
Ann Miller; Albina, a Methodist clergyman, 
who married Nancy Quigley ; Ruth, who mar- 
ried Richard Reynolds, a farmer in Portland ; 
James, a physician in Portland, who married 
Caroline Herrick ; Laura, married to Charles 
Fay, a farmer in Portland ; Samuel, a farmer 
in Pomfret, married to Miranda Kip ; Ralph 
H. ; Nancy, married to Henry Flint, a fiirmer 
in Portland ; Livia, married John Green, a 
merchant in Sherman ; Lodoiska, married Wil- 
liam INIartin, a farmer in Portland ; Sarah, 
married John Merritt, a druggist in Silver 
Creek; Jane, married Frank Ellis, an under- 
taker in Forestville; and Chloe, died in infancy. 
Ahira Hall died February 24, 1858, in his 
seventy-fourth year, and was buried at Br(jcton, 
and his widow died December 18, 1863, in her 
seventy-third year. 

Ralph H. Hall was educated in the public 
schools of Portland, and attended the high 
school at Jamestown and the academy at Paines- 
ville, Ohio, for .several terms. After leaving 
school in 1 842, he became a teacher and taught 
twelve terms, being principal of a school in 
Westfield one year, and two years in Silver 
Creek. He exchanged the pedagogue's chair 
for the business of a cattle broker, and continued 
in the latter vocation until 1870. In 1852 he 
and his brother John bought a farm of two 
hundred and twenty-five acres of land in Pom- 
fret, this county, and added to it untd they had 
reared and fattened their cattle for market. Mr. 
Hall is a director of the Fredonia National 
Bank and one of the finance committee of that 
institution, and was a member of the board of 
directors of the Oswego National Bank, Oswego, 
Labette county, Kansas, until it was sold out. 
In religion he is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church at Fredonia, in which he has 
always held some office, and is a member of the 
board of control of Allegheny college, at Mead- 
ville, Pennsylvania. In 1880 he was a delegate 
to the general conference of the Methodist 



384 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Episcopal church at Ciucinnati, Ohio. He has 
aided in buiidiu^ two churches on the frontier 
through the Freedmen's Aid Society, one in 
Nebraska and the other in Dakota. He is a 
very intelligent, agreeable man, very higiily 
respected by the community in which he dwells, 
and his wife is a most estimable and refined 
lady. 

Ralph H. Hall was married March 29, 1852, 
to Caroline Hall, a daughter of James and 
Ruth (Hall) Hall, of Newport, Sullivan county, 
New Hampshire, her fatiier being a farmer there. 
This marriage resulted in tiie birth of one sou, 
who died in infancy. 



TA>ILLIA3I K. YAXDEHGKIFT, JK., a 

-*'* son of William K. and Sophia (Sarver) 
Vaudergrift, was born in Pittsburg, Allegheny 
county, Pennsylvania, in 183o, and died in 
Jamestown, Chautauqua county. New York, on 
the 17th day of September, 1888, aged fifty- 
three years. AVilliam K. Vaudergrift, Sr., 
was a native of Pennsylvania, born near Phila- 
delphia, and while in his 3'oung manhood 
moved to Pittsburg, where he married Sophia 
Sarver. Both of them were of German de- 
scent. 

William K. Vaudergrift, Jr., was educated 
iu the common schools of Pittsburg, and studied 
esjjecially to fit himself for an engineer. He 
followed that Hue of business until the com- 
mencement of the oil excitement, when he re- 
moved to Oil City, and remained until April, 
1881. He then came to Jamestown, and began 
manufacturing washing-machines, — an article 
which is as useful and almost of as much a 
necessity as the sewing-machine, which he con- 
tinued until his decease. Mr. Vaudergrift was 
an active politician, and his proclivities were 
decidedly republican ; but he was satisfied to 
be a party worker instead of an office-seeker, 
and attended steadily to his business. 

On December 1, 1859, he was married in 
the city of Pitttsburg to ^lartha R. Carson. 



She was the daughter of John A. H. and 
Susan (Borrett) Carson, the former an Ameri- 
can, and the latter of English birth, and had a 
family of five children,— two sons and three 
daughters. To Mr. and Mrs. Vaudergrift were 
born six children. Four of them attained 
mature growth, and are now living : Etta, 
Victoria, William and Henrietta. The former 
is the wife of William Duffur, resides at Oil 
City, Pa., and has three children — Florence, 
Elsie and Sarah. The latter three reside with 
their mother at her fine home on Allen street, 
Jamestown. 



TTLBEKT S. WATSOX, of Scotch and 

-**■ Engli.sh descent, and one of the largest 
and most prominent grape growers of the town 
of Westfield and Chautauqua county, was born 
iu Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, June 4, 
1847, and is a son of Jeremiah and Parmelia 
(Rockwell) Watson. His grandfather, James 
Watson, was of Scotch extraction, although 
born in County Armagh, Ireland, from which 
he came to America in 1792, and .settled in 
Susquehanna county, Pennsylvania, in 1807, 
where he purcha.sed a farm and lived until his 
death in 1850, when eighty years of age. He 
married Sarah Lounsbury, of New York city, 
in 1800. His son, Jeremiah Watson, was born 
in Susquehanna county in 1812, and removed 
in 1863 to Broome county, this State, where he 
died in 1878. He was a farmer by occupation, 
a presbyterian in religious faith and a democrat 
in political opinion. He held several of the 
offices of his town, and married Parmelia Rock- 
well of eastern New York. She was of Eng- 
lish descent, a member of the Presbyterian 
church, and died in 1889, aged eighty years. 

Albert S. Watson was reared on a fiirm, and 
attended the common schools and an academy, 
iu which he received a good practical English 
education. At thirteen years of age he went 
with his parents to Broome county, where he 
remained until he was past twenty-one years 




^^V^ Py^i/^ 



^='>t^ 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



old, when he entered the employ of the Pull- 
man Palace Car company. Four years later 
he left their service to become a traveling sales- 
man for the Mount Hope Nursery of Koches- 
ter, New York, which position he held for 
three years. He then (spring of 1878) bought 
a small stony tract of fourteen acres of land in 
the town of Portland, on which he commenced 
growing and propagating grape vines. In 1884 
he came to Westfield, where he has a very 
comfortable home, and owns one hundred and 
fifteen acres of bearing vineyards. He gives 
constant employment to about twenty-five 
hands, makes a specialty of propagating grape 
vines, and in 1891 delivered seven hundred 
thousand vines for vineyard planting. He also 
is engaged in raising small fruits, and during 
one year grew more than thirteen hundred 
bushels of strawberries. He has berii tiie 
architect of his own fortune, and has dt)ne 
much for the advancement of grape-growing 
in western New York. 

On April 10, 1879, he united in marriage 
with Mrs. Mary E. Mack, of the town of Port- 
land. Mr. Watson assigns a large share of his 
success in life to the sympathy and assistance 
of his wife, who has rendered tireless and in- 
valuable aid. Their union has been blessed 
with three children : Edward C, Charles G. 
and Leonard A. Mr. Watson has two step- 
children : Fred J. and Kate M. Mack. 

A. S. Watson is a democrat in politics. He 
is an active and successful business man, and 
was elected in 1888 as manager of the Western 
New York Grape-growers' Shipping association, 
which position he still holds. 



H[KA3I A. BUKTOX is now a prosperous 
farmer and grape grower living in the 
town of Ripley, but formerly was a teacher of 
ability, whom the children of the generation 
now just reaching fifty years of age will remem- 
ber as having taught for a number of years. 
He is a son of Hii-am and Harriet (Skinner) 
20 



' Burton, and was born in the town of Portland, 
Chautauqua county. New York, October 22, 
1822. John Burton, the grandfather of the 
sixth generation remote, was a subject of King 
Charles II., and lived at Durham, England, 
where he died. He had a son Joiin, who was 
born in 1685, and emigrated to America, finally 
settling in Massachusetts, where he died in 
1763. He also had a son John, who was born 
at Danvers, Mass., in 1726, and lived until 
1798, when he died at Sutton, the same State. 
One of his .sons, too, was named John, the 
great-grandfather of Hiram A. He lived until 
September 30, 1837, and passed away at the 
same place. Simon Burton (grandfather) was 
born at Sutton, Massachusetts, Novemlier 19, 
1769, and came to Chautauqua county .soon 
after the close of our second war with England, 
in wiiicli, with four of iiis situs, he gallantly 
served his country. Although he was a mill- 
wright, he bought a farm and followed these 
occupations in conjunction with each other until 
he died in 1842, in the town of Portland. 
Simon Burton was possessed of an education 
and intellect far above the average of his day. 
He was a prominent universalist, and enjoyed 
the distinction of being editor of the church 
paper called Grospel, Advocate. In politics he 
favored the Whig party and gave them such 
assistance in their campaigns as he could. He 
married Margaret French and reared a family 
of seven sons and three daughters. Two of the 
former lost their lives in the war mentioned 
above. Hiram Burton (father) was born in 
Croydon, New Hampshire, November 22, 
1799, and came with his father to Portland in 
181C. He had learned the trade of mill- 
wright but, like his father, also owned and op- 
erated a farm. He was a whig and afterwards 
a republican, and .served as commissioner of 
highways for a number of years. He belonged 
to the Universalist church, and served in the 
war of 1812 with his father. He married Har- 
riet Skinner, who was born in Chenango 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



county in 1805. After the death of her 
parents she came to Chautauqua county witli 
a lai'ge family of brothers and sisters and 
located near Brocton, and died January 14, 
1890. They reared a family of five sons and 
three daughters. 

Hiram A. Burton received a superior educa- 
tion for his day at the district schools and the 
Fredonia academy. Succeeding his sciiool life 
he taught for a luimber of years, and ranked 
high as an instructor and disciplinarian. After- 
wards he engaged in farming and fruit growing 
which he still follows, having come to Ripley in 
1868. 

He married Ellen j\I. Harris, who was Ijorn 
May 27, 1820, and is a daughter of Jonathan 
G. and Lucy (Miller) Harris, and came from a 
family of seven children, all born in Vermont, 
but who afterwards came to Chautaucpia coun- 
ty. One, Gilbert D., entered the civil war and 
lost his life at the bloody battle of the Wilder- 
ness. Mr. and Mrs. Burton are the parents of 
four children, all daughters : Lucy, born May 
18, 1845, married to TalmageB. Little, a grape 
grower of this town ; Sarah, born July 28, 
1855, is the wife of T. J. Walker, who is en- 
gaged in the same business in the same town ; 
Maria M., born January 22, 1858, is the wife 
of George W. Onthank, in Ripley, also grow- 
ing grapes ; and Cora Annette, born August 21, 
1865. 

Hiram A. Burton is an energetic, pushing 
man who enters into everything he takes hold 
of with life and vim. He belongs to the Re- 
publican party, the Universalist church, is a 
member of the Equitable Aid Union, and other 
co-operative and fraternal organizations. 



GEORGE LEE. The name of Lee has ever 
been prominent on the pages of Ameri- 
can history — as pioneer, soldier and patriot. 
Our subject, George Lee, has the honor and 
j)leasure of tracing back his lineage to this re- 
markable and historic family. He is the son of 



James and Polly (Gates) Lee, and was born 
November 9, 1824, in the town of EUicott, 
Chautauqua county, Xew York. His grand- 
father, Benjamin Lee, was a native of Rhode 
Island, whither his ancestors had emigrated 
from England before the march of civilization 
had reached our shores. From Rhode Island 
he changed his residence to Rensselaer county, 
Xew York, and thence to Chautaqua county, 
March 20, 1811, where he located in the town 
of Ellicott at a point near the line between the 
towns of Ellicott and Ellery. Here he pur- 
chased a tract of land containing two hundred 
and ninety-seven acres, from the Holland Land 
Company, upon which he resided until his 
death. He devoted his life to clearing and im- 
proving his land, and was also a hunter of con- 
siderable note, since in those days the forests 
and rivers were more productive than the farms. 
He married Catherine Simmons and reared a 
family of seven children, four boys and three 
girls. He was a supporter of the Whig party. 
James Lee (father of subject) was born in Rens- 
selaer county. New York, June 6, 1796, and 
came with his father to Chautauqua county, 
where he has since lived and died. He was a 
pioneer farmer, and felt all the experiences and 
endured all the privations of pioneer life, so 
that the heritage of the old homestead, to which 
his children succeeded, was one fraught with 
memorable incidents and significant of toil and 
self-sacrifice. He cast his vote with the Whig 
party during its existence, but upon the incep- 
tion of the Republican party, he at once affili- 
ated with it. He was radical in his jjolitical 
views, and firmly believed in being more than 
a merely nominal partisan. At one time he 
held the office of assessor. He also -had the 
distinction of having assisted in the erection of 
the first building in the city of Jamestown. 
His brothers served in the war of 1812. His 
wife, who was a daughter of Zephaniah Gates, 
a native of Connecticut, but by adoption a citi- 
zen of Chautauqua county, New York, bore 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



389 



him three children : Louisa, now dead ; Ada- 
line, also dead ; and George (subject). 

George Lee married Julia Hollenbeck, a 
daughter of Edward Hollcubeck, originally of 
Madison county, New York, but more recently 
of Chautauqua county, same State ; where he 
has since died. Their union resulted in the 
birth of three children : Mary (now dead), mar- 
ried to Charles ]\L Bentley, a farmer of the 
town of Ellicott, Ciiautauqua county ; Eva A. 
(also dead), married to Mark A. Griffith, who 
lives near subject; and Frank O., married to 
Carrie Benney. Frank O. now resides near 
Waynesville, Missouri, where he is engaged in 
farming and stock-raising. He has one child, 
JNIarguerite. 

George Lee was educated in the common 
schools, began life as a farmer, and has since 
pursued that business in connection with mill- 
ing. His farm and mill are located in the 
town of Ellery near Lake Chautauqua. The 
mill was built by John, Seth and Samuel Grif- 
fiths about 1835. Mr. Lee is an adherent of 
the Republican party and, as such, has held the 
position of highway commissioner for a number 
of years. He is also a member of the I. O. 
O. F. 

/VAREY BRIGGS belongs to that class of 
^^ intelligent, enthusiastic and progressive 
men, who, by their personality and inherent 
force of character, have made lasting impressions 
upon those with whom they have come in con- 
tact. He is a descendant of an old and noted 
family of Briggs, who came to New England 
as early as 1709. His father, Francis Briggs, 
at the time of his birth, April 21, 1818, was a 
resident of Berkshire county, Massachusettts (of 
which he was likewise a native) but seized with 
the desire to try his fortunes elsewhere, he 
removed to Cayuga county iu 1825. He 
remained hei'e until 1832 when he emigrated to 
Chautauqua county and located first in the 
town of Gerry and later (the next year) in the 



town of Ellington, where he purchased a farm 
upon which he continued to re.side until his 
death in 1844. In his church affiliations he 
was a Baptist and for many years was an 
atteudant of the church at Clear Creek. He was 
a su])porter of the old-line Whig party and 
served in the war of 1812. Francis Briggs 
was known as a man of mild, even temperament, 
possessing the qualities of a man of deep relig- 
ious convictions. At the same time he was a 
man of strong will power and conservative mind. 
He married Miss Betsey Hakes, of Berkshire 
county, Massachusetts, who died in 1867 at the 
age of seventy-nine. Subject's father was a 
cousin of Governor George N. Briggs of Massa- 
chu-setts. Grandfather James Hakes was born 
at Stonington, Connecticut, March 25, 1752, 
and participated in the struggle of the Revolu- 
tion. 

Carey Briggs came to Chautauqua county 
with his father, received his education and grew 
to manhood in that county. In early life, after 
making a careful inventory of his mental apti- 
tudes, he decided to take up the profession of 
teaching. This he did and continued his work 
as teacher for some twenty years. In 1849 he 
received a certificate from the State superintend-' 
ent of public schools at Albany, giving him the 
prerogative of teaching in any district school in 
the State. Subject has made a careful study of 
pedagogy in its application to the primary 
schools and this, together with long and varied 
exj)erience in practical teaching, has given him 
a high standing in his profession and iu educa- 
tional circles. Mr. Briggs was the organizer of 
the stock company which first gave form and 
reality to the project of building Ellington 
academy. He has since been strongly identi- 
fied with education and educational interests in 
his county. 

In 1844 he was married to Miss Diantha, 
daughter of Daniel Gould of Pomfret, Chau- 
tauqua county, who died in 1855, leaving three 
children — all girls : Clarissa ; Caroline, married 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



to Jerry Gifford of Lakewood, N. Y. and Mary i 
Frances, wife of Arthur C. Wade, a prominent 
lawyer of Jamestown (see sketch). Carey | 
Briggs was married the second time in 1858 to 
Miss Martha Staples, daughter of Rev. S. Staples 
of Clymer, New York. By this union he had 
three children, two sons and one daughter : 
Charles Francis Adams died at the age of six 
years, October 5, 1870 ; William C, of the drug 
firm of Hatch & Briggs of Jamestown, New 
Y'ork ; and M. May. 

Carey Briggs is a devoted member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, in which he has 
been steward for over fifty years. In his 
jjolitical views he is an unmistakable republican, 
and has filled very acceptably the oHices of 
supervisor and school trustee at the hands of 
that party for a number of years. On current 
events, educational matters, political relations, 
literary and scientific topics and general intel- 
ligence, Mr. Briggs is a well posted man and, 
judging from his career and teachings, is the 
happy possessor of a high, idealistic concejition 
of life. I 



HOX. MILTON M. FKXNER. We may 
look about us and often see a man who 
has gained proiuineace in business, politics, or 
upon his military record, but a man who has 
silvered locks and enjoys an extensive acquaint- 
ance with his fellow-men may turn his mind to 
meditation and scarce can count a quartette who 
have become eminent in all. Such however may 
be truthfully said of Hon. M. M. Fenner, who 
is tiie seventh child of a family of nine, born to 
Ciiristopher C. and Luciiida (Fross) Fenner. 
He came into the world July 28, 1837, at the 
old homestead belonging to his father in South 
Stockton, New Y''ork. The ancestors on both 
sides were of English extraction — grandfather, 
Resolved W. Fenner, being a native of Rhode 
Island. He was a descendant of Rev. W. 
Fenner, a noted Puritan divine, from v,'hom 
came Arthur, James, and James Jr., Fenuer, all 



of whom occupied the Gubernatorial chair in 
the State of Rhode Island between 1790 and 

1845. Resolved W. Fenuer went to Madison 
county, N. Y'^., in 1800, and there is a town in 
that county named in his honor. He came to 
EUery, Chautauqua county. New Y^^ork, in 1819 
and remained there until he died in 1847. 
Rufus Fross was a native of Iv'iuderhook, 
Columbia county, New York. From there he 
went to Litchfield, Herkimer county, New Y''ork, 
and married, and then came to the town of 
Chautau<^ua, this county, in 1810, locating on 
the farm where he resided until his death in 

1846. He served in the war of 1812 and was 
present at the burning of Buffalo. Subject's 
father, Ciiristopher C Fenner, was born in 
Brookfield, Madison county, in 1801, and came 
to this county with. Newell Putnam when six- 
teen years of age. Two years later the family 
came and took up a tract of land lying on 
Ca.ssadaga creek. He united in marriage with 
Lucinda Fross, in 1826, and conducted his 
form until his death in 1850. Of nine chil- 
dren born to Christopher C. Fenner, eight are 
yet living. Both he antl his wife were hard- 
working and frugal in their habits and living, 
and possessed the highest sense of honor. No 
debt that they ever contracted remained un- 
settled and this motto, " pay everything you 
owe," was so firmly impre.ssed on the minds of 
their children that the lesson was never forgot- 
ten. Hard work and privations caused tiie 
health of the father to fail before he reached 
that age when man should be his best, and this 
coupled with the large fiimily of children and 
unfortunate financial ventures kept the family 
for man)' years on the verge of destitution. 

M. M. Fenner inherited the seemingly untir- 
ing energy of his mother ; the ambition and 
strong integrity and strict honesty of both par- 
ents. He was but thirteen years of age when 
he lost his father, and was thrown upon his own 
resources. Being thus obliged to toil fir a 
mere existence, he early acquired habits of in- 




\ 







\ 



K/^/ ^^^^-z^-^^^^^^- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



diistry aud economy, which have been poteutial 
factors in his life's success. For five years suc- 
ceediug iiis father's deatii he was either em- 
ployed working his mother's farm, or as a farm 
hand by the neighbors. The summer he was 
sixteen years old he worked four months for 
David Smith, of Stockton, and instead of losing 
any time, he made five extra days, working 
nights at " stents." From eighteen to twenty 
he worked the homestead in partnership with 
his brotiier, and acquired an interest in the per- 
sonal property. They cleared some " new 
ground," and followed dairying and stock-rais- 
ing. His early dreams were thinking of the 
time when he should have knowledge, and when 
prepared he entered Allegheny colhge, of 
Meadville, Pa., and attended its sessions, spend- 
ing the vacations at woi-k to secure money for 
paying his way. Before he reached twenty-five 
he had taught seven terms of public and select 
schools in New York and iNIichigan, and found 
time to read and learn the ])reliminary course 
in the study of medicine. He then attended a 
Medical college at Cincinnati, Ohio, and ob- 
tained the degree of M.D. on May 22, 1860. 
Doctor Fenner first practiced in the city of 
Flint, Michigan, beginning immediately after 
he received his degree, but July 12, 1S61, only 
a year after, his patriotism compelled him to 
give up his newly-established practice and en- 
list as a private in company A, 8th Michigan 
regiment, that was recruited by Col. William 
M. Fenton, ex-lieutenant-governor of that State. 
He was appointed hospital steward of the regi- 
ment and war correspondent for a couple of the 
leading State papers. Soon after getting into 
active service he was promoted to a second lieu- 
tenancy for valorous conduct, aud was assigned 
to duty in Co. I, of the same i-egimeut. They 
were under fire at the battle of Coosaw river, 
S. C, January 1, 1862, and in April of the 
same year, the captain and first lieutenant, hav- 
ing resigned, he commanded his com|)any dur- 
ing; the siesje that resulted in the fall of Fort 



Pulaski. He commanded the outpost station 
at Spanish Wells, on Hilton Head Island, S. C, 
during the night attack and attempted burning 
of that place by the Confederates, March 12, 
1863. In the latter part of May, 1862, he was 
appointed to service in' the signal corps and as- 
signed to General Hunter's staff" at Hilton 
Head. For meritorious conduct he was com- 
missioned first lieutenant, October 1, 1862. He 
was in the trenches at the fall of Fort Wagner, 
Charleston Harbor, in July, 1863. Col. Feu- 
ton said of him in a letter to Governor Blair of 
Michigan, dated May 14, 1863 : " I take the 
liberty, although not now in service, of cordially 
recommending him (first lieutenant M. M. Fen- 
ner) to further promotion. INIy connection with 
the 8th regiment and previous acquaintance with 
Dr. Fenner enable me to speak under standingly, 
and to say that in my opinion such an ajjpoint- 
ment would prove advantageous to the .service. 
His experience in the field as hospital stewai'd 
of the 8th regiment, and subsequently as lieu- 
tenant in command of a company, and his effi- 
ciency in every position in which he has been 
placed, as well as his sterliug moral virtue and 
irreproachable private character, entitle him to 
high consideration. He may l)e relied on as 
competent and worthy." 

In April, 1863, he came north to Brooklyn, 
in response to an invitation extended by the 
Secretary of the Navy, passed an examination 
and received a commission as assistant surgeon, 
U. S. Navy, from Secretary Welles, in May, 
1863, but owing to the active operations about 
Charleston, and the prospects of a fight, he de- 
cided to remain for a time in the army, which 
he did, until after the fall of Fort Wagner. 
Dr. Fenner was a member of Admiral Dahlgren's 
staffs, and was on board the flagship in the naval 
night attack upon Fort Sumter. In the spring of 
1864 he came north on a leave of absence, when, 
seeing a good opening at -Jame-stown, near his 
early home, he resigned his commission and be- 
gan to practice his profession, in which he was 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



eminently successful. But when the speculation 
excitement in the oil regions broke out and was 
carrying everything before it, he, and many 
others from the vicinity of Jamestown, went 
down and spent the winter of 1864—65 in west- 
ern Pennsylvania. Like many others he was 
unfortunate, and returned to Jamestown in the 
summer of 1865, with a light purse, but his 
heart was not heavy, and with renewed energy, he 
went to work to reclaim his scattered fortunes. 
The publication of " The Medical Progress " 
was one of his ventures, and large editions were 
distributed. In 1866 Dr. Fenner was ap- 
pointed city physician, and held that position 
until he departed from Jamestown. 

On June 5, 1866, he married Georgiaua 
Grandin, a daughter of Daniel H. Grandin, an 
extensive woolen manufacturer of Jamestown. 

During the month of May he delivered the 
annual address to the Eclectic Medical society 
of the Thirty-second Senatorial District. Two 
years later, in the course of a similar address, 
given to the same society of the State of New 
York, he made this utterance, which was widely 
commented upon: "Liberality of principle, 
scope of thought and research, untiring energy 
and unswerving devotion are the requisites in 
the medical man to extended success in the 
treatment of all aifections, both acute and chronic, 
simple and complex, ranging from an influenza 
to a grave typhoid, a simple ulcer to a scirrhous 
cancer, a bronchial cough to a grave consump- 
tion." In March, 1869, he disposed of his large 
practice at Jamestown, settled up his " oil re- 
gion losses," dollar for dollar, and in July of that 
year located at Fredonia, where he established 
his " People's Dispensary of Medicine and Sur- 
gery ;" resumed the publication of " The Medi- 
cal Progress " and soon secured a larger j)rac- 
tice than he had left. In 1870 the United 
States government ajipointed him examining 
surgeon, and in 1872 the Eclectic Medical so- 
ciety of the State of New York elected him its 
president. Dr. Fenner is a prominent lecturer 



before medical societies, and a monographer of 
National reputation through his contributions 
to medical joui-nals. He was one of the earliest 
promoters of the Dunkirk and Fredonia R. R., 
and has been its president, secretary, treasurer 
and manager. 

Politically he is one of the most prominent 
men in western New York. He has always 
displayed an acute interest in the Republican 
party. His popularity is best shown by the 
fact that when first a candidate for office — that 
of supervisor of the town of Pomfret, although 
the district for several years had given majori- 
ties for candidates of the opposite party — he 
was elected by a majority of one hundred and 
sixteen. The next year he was elected with a 
majority increased to two hundred and eighty- 
two, and at the following election, when run- 
ning for the Assembly, the Pomfret district 
swelled his majority to three hundred and ten, 
while the Assembly district made his total 
majority over his opponent two thousand 
five hundred and ninety-five, the largest ever 
given a candidate in that district. When the 
republiciuis again took control of the govern- 
ment, after Cleveland's administration, Hon. 
M. M. Fenner was appointed deputy collector 
of the port of New York, which position he is 
now filling withcredit and honor. Although his 
duties in the office compel him to spend a great 
portion of his time in New York city, his fam- 
ily remain at their home in Fredonia, where his 
personal business interests are all located. Mr. 
Fenner is courteous, straightforward and cordial 
in his intercourse with men, and his affability 
makes him many warm friends. Industrious 
and painstaking in his business, he always dis- 
charges the most minute details of his work 
with the same care that characterizes his trans- 
actions of greater magnitude. The utmost sys- 
tem is observed in his office, and he has his 
large business .so thoroughly under control that 
he seems to handle it with but slight effort. 
Among his business associates his word is as 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY. 



good as his bond, and his check will as readily 
pass current as the cash. Hon. M. M. Fenner 
is a bright example of the possibilities of au 
American yonth who is possessed of sound 
sense and a determined and unconquerable will. 



JACOB HAKDKXBUKG. A resident of 
^ Westfield town, who is probably as well 
known and as well liked as any other non-pub- 
lic man in the county is Jacob Hardenburg, 
who is a large land owner, farmer, grape-grower 
and live stock dealer. His parents, Valkart 
and Su.san (Miller) Hardenburg, are of Germau 
jjarentage, and came from eastern New York, 
where the former was born in 1798. They 
lived until 1833 in various eastern and central 
counties, Jacob Hardenburg being born at 
Charleston, IMontgomery county, New York, 
September 8, 1825. Valkart Hardenburg 
(father) came to Chautauqua county, in 1833, 
and lived in several of the numerous towns. 
He finally located in Portland town, where he 
still resides, and is now ninety-three years old. 
For one of his years this elderly gentleman is 
remarkably well preserved. His form is .straight 
as an arrow and his step is elastic and brisk. 
He owns a small farm in the town of Portland 
and does all his own chores. The first dairy 
ever kept in this county, away back in 1833, 
was run by Mr. Hardenburg, and was located 
three miles east of Mayville. He freighted the 
butter to Buffalo in a wagon, and there mar- 
keted it. About ten cows constituted his stock. 
He married Susan Miller on October 4, 1818. 
She was born on May 3, 1796, and died in 
1870. They had six children, three .sons and 
three daughters. 

Jacob Hardenburg first .saw Chautauqua 
county in 1833, being at that time about seven 
years of age. He was reared on his father's 
farm and early taught to hold the ])low. His 
education was received in the common schools, 
and tiien he settled down to a farmer's life. 
His home is a tract of one hundred and twentv 



acres, only one mile east of Westfield. Another 
farm of two hundi-cd and ten acres in the same 
town, two miles south, belongs to him, which 
is also occupied and operated by him. Grape- 
growing is a profitable business in a good sea- 
son, and Mr. Hardenburg devotes considerable 
attention to it, and is also a large trader in live 
stock for breeding and shipping purjjoses. Ja- 
cob Hardenburg is an excellent manager; be- 
fore entering upon a plan he carefully calculates 
it in all its aspects, and then, like Von Moltke, 
pushes it through with energy to a successful 
termination. Good judgment is second nature 
to him, and a plan once conceived seldom fails. 

His wife was Annette Hassett, whom he 
married in 1851. She was a daughter of John 
Hassett, who lived in Stockton town. Mr. and 
Mrs. Hardenburg have four children, two .sons 
and two daughters : Earl, Henry, Elva and 
Flora. The first is living at home; Henry is 
a resident of Brooklyn, New York, but is in 
business in New York city. Elva married 
Delbert Arnold, and lives at De Wittviile, this 
county ; and Flora. 

Jacob Hardenburg is a member of two fra- 
ternal organizations, A. O. U. W. and the 
Knights of Honor, and is identified with the 
Republican party. Socially he is a pleasant 
gentleman, and, in business, of strict integrity. 



lUTILTON J. MUNSOX, a prosperous, pro- 
A gressive and intelligent farmer of Port- 

land town, is a .son of Samuel and Polly 
(Hulburt) Munson, and was born in the 
town where he now lives on the 23d of 
May, 1828. The Munson family trace their 
ancestry to England, although indigenous to 
American soil for nearly two. centuries. The 
paternal grandfather, Samuel Munson, Sr., was 
born in the State of Connecticut, July 9, 1762, 
and at least thirty years later went from there 
to New Hartford, a place near Utica, Oneida 
county, this State, where he stayed until after 
harvest, in 1818. In the winter of 1818-19 he 



396 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



started to take his family and make a home 
farther west. Coming by way of Buffalo, a 
trip of at least three half fortnights, with the 
cumbersome vehicles then in use, they turned 
southwest and traveled for one week more. The 
town of Portland's general appearance pleased 
the party, and it was decided to go no farther. 
Securing a tract of land he entered heartily upon 
the task of clearing it up, and in a few years was 
the possessor of a fine farm. Mr. Munson 
served in the American army during the war of 
1812, and was a gallant soldier. He died Feb- 
ruary 27, 1841, aged seventy-nine years. Sam- 
uel Munson, Jr., came to this county with his 
father. He was born in Oneida county in 1803, 
and when fifteen years later his father came to 
this county he was of sufficient size to be of 
great assistance. Being among the early set- 
tlers they were obliged to battle many priva- 
tions and put up with much inconvenience. 
When Samuel Munson, Jr., reached mauiiood 
he took a tract of fifty acres from the Holland 
Laud Company and made himself a farm. He 
was a stirring, energetic man, and a lover of 
fine horses, in handling which he took great 
delight. 

In 182.3 he married Tolly (Sliuff) Hul- 
burt, a widow, a native of Ponipey, Onondaga 
county, New York. She was a woman of 
sterling character and Christian virtues. They 
had children : Hannah B., born January .31, 
1826, died January 31, 1847; Harry S., a 
farmer of this town (sketch appears elsewhere); 
Milton J., and Alson N., living in Westfield 
town. 

Milton J. Munson was reared on the farm 
and received his education in the common 
schools, after which he learned the carpenter's 
trade and followed it for fifteen years. In the 
spring of 1871 he moved on the farm he now 
owns, where he has lived ever since without 
intermission. The place contains thirty-five 
acres and a fine house. Several acres are de- 
voted to graj)e culture. The location, onlv 



two miles from Portland village, is central and 
convenient to shipment. 

On February 11, 1849, Mr. Munson married 
jNIarian Hamlin, a lady of this town, who died 
January 12, 1873, leaving five children, one 
son and four daughters: Almy, married Frank 
Magiunis, who is a farmer in this town ; Ada, 
wife of E. H. Taylor, who is similarly employed 
and lives adjacent; Eva, lives in Broctou, where 
her husband, Dr. B. S. Swetland, is a practic- 
ing physician ; Edith, is the wife of Vale Lilly, 
a Portland farmer; and Samuel. In 1879 J\Ir. 
Munson married, for his second wife, Julia 
Dodge, who died in 1882, leaving an infant 
son, Jay, now nine years of age. In January, 
1885, he married Mrs. Sarah A. (Spencer) Heu- 
shaw, of North East, Pa. 

In politics Mr. Munson is a republican, a 
courteous gentleman, a pleasant entertainer and 
a citizen in whom Portland may take pride. 



JE. W. BISSKLL, D.1)..S., is a son of 
• ;\Iilton L. and :\Ielissa (Rice) Bissell, 
and was born in the pleasant village of Owego, 
Tioga county, New York, January 23, 1867. 
Th(? Bi.ssells sprang direct from Puritan stock. 
The Cu.shmans and Bissells came over among 
the very first New England settlers. His grand- 
father, John W. Bissell, was a native of Green- 
field, Franklin county, Massachusetts. He was 
a hatter by trade, but branched out into other 
fields of business, and, with his superior and 
natural talent for accumulating money, he soon 
made a good fortune for those days. He then 
moved into Spririgfield, Mass., where he lived 
a life of ease and comfort until his death, at the 
age of eighty-four years, leaving a gootl for- 
tune for his children. He served a short 
time in the war of 1812. Milton L. Bissell 
was born in Massachusetts, and while a young 
man saw something of western life, but sub- 
sequently came to this county, where he has 
lived for about twenty-three years. He now 
resides on and cultivates a nice farm, and is 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



a prosperous farmer. He was at one time 
engaged in business in Jamestown for about 
five years. Politically he is a republican, is 
a member of the Grange or Patrons of Hus- 
bandry, and has been Master and State del- 
egate of that organization. He is a member 
of the A. O. U. W., and is prominent in that 
order. He married Melissa Eice, an only 
daughter of J. A. Kice, in 1860, who was a 
native of this county. J. A. Rice (grand- 
father) still resides in the county, where he is an 
extensive farmer. His wife died in 1886. 
Mrs. M. L. Bissell is a member of the Pres- 
byterian church. They are the parents of two 
sons: John E. W. and Berne Burritt Bissell, 
the latter being fourteen years of age. 

John E. W. Bissell was reared principally 
on the firm and received his earlier educa- 
tion in the common schools, supplementing it 
by a thorough course in the Jamestown pub- 
lic schools. After completing his course there 
he entered the well-known dental office of 
Rawson, Lenox & Swetland. Although there 
were changes in the firm, he worked there 
about one year and a half, then, going to 
Warren, Pa., as assistant for A. C. McAlpine, 
and later entered the well-known dental in- 
stitution, the Philadelphia Dental college. 
While there Dr. Bissell was esteemed highly 
by the faculty as being an excellent student 
and a person of good habits, and one who 
excelled in good work. Graduating from that 
institution in 1890, he at once located in West- 
field, N. Y., and is building u]j an excellent 
practice, and is appreciated and esteemed by 
his fellow-townsmen. 



"lyrAKTIX L. FENTON, one of the leading 
4 lumber dealers of western New York 

and a member of the well-known lumber firm 
of M. L. Fenton & Co., of Jamestown, is a 
son of George W., Jr., and Mitta (Howard) 
Fenton, and was born in the town of Carroll, 
Chautauqua county, Xew York, Februarv 1, 



1839. His paternal grandfather, George W. 
Feuton, was born in Connecticut, and became 
one of the pioneer settlers of Chautauqua coun- 
ty. He came first to near Sheridan Centre, but 
subsequently removed to what is now the town 
of Carroll, where he purchase<l, in March, 1810, 
lot 52 from the Holland [jand company. He 
followed lumbering for several years, running 
his rafts to Pittsburgh, Cincinnati and St. 
Louis. He married Elsie Owen, a daughter of 
Ira Owen, who was a celebrated marksman and 
served in the war of 1812, and whose fat her, John 
Owen, served in the French and Indian and Rev- 
olutionary wars, and died in 1843, aged one hun- 
ilred and seven years. Mr. Fenton died ^larchS, 
1860,and his widow, who was born July 8, 1790, 
passed away February 26, 1875. Their chil- 
dren were : Roswcll O., George W., Jr., Wil- 
liam H. H., John F. and Hon. Reuben E. 
Fenton, ex-governor of New York and ex- 
United States Senator. The second .son, George 
W., Jr. (father), was born in 1812 in Carroll, 
where he has always resided and been engaged 
in lumbering and farming. He is a Baptist and 
republican, and married Mitta, daughter of 
Luther Howard. They have six children liv- 
ing and one dead : Thomas, of Frewsburg ; 
Welthy, the wife of Prof George Georgi, of 
Jamestown; Martin L. ; Ann E., widow of 
John Frew ; Laura, wife of C. A. Haynes, of 
Plainfield, N. J. ; Lucy M., who married Dr. 
Prittle, of Detroit, Michigan; and Alice, now 
deceased. 

Martin L. Fenton attended Fredonia acade- 
my, and entered Union college of Schenectady, 
N. Y. He also attended a Cincinnati college 
for two years and was graduated from a com- 
mercial college in Buffalo, N. Y. Leaving 
school he and C. L. Norton, in 1860, engaged 
in the general mercantile business at Frews- 
burg, which they continued until 1864, when 
Mr. Noi-ton was elected county clerk, and the 
store was conducted two years longer by Mr. 
Fenton. In 1866 he came to Jamestown, 



398 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



where he was engaged for four years with 
H. W. Tew in a hardware store. At the end 
of that time, in 1870, he org-anized a liiruber- 
ing company under tiie firm name of il. L. 
Fentou & Co., and they cut and ship from 
eight to ten million feet of lumber per year. 
He also deals largely in real estate, and prob- 
ably owns more houses iu Jamestown than 
any one else in that city. 

On March 19, 1863, he united iu marriage 
with Alice Tew, daughter of William Tew, a 
prominent citizen of Jamestown. They are the 
parents of two children : Harry W., born 
June 13, 1873, and now attending school at 
Concord, New Hampshire ; and Gertrude, 
born June 27, 1888. 

Martin L. Fenton is one of the largest tax- 
payers in the city of Jamestown, which he 
has made his home for over twenty years. 
He is a republican in politics and a member 
of the Jamestown Independent Congregational 
church, which was organized (by Dr. Town- 
send) in June, 1886. 



JOHN GIFFOKD, who is the subject of this 

^ sketch, is one of the leading farmers living 
in the vicinity of Lakewood, Chautauqua county. 
New York. He is a son of Jeremiah and De- 
borah (Tallman) Gifford, and was born in Wash- 
ington county. New York, December 25, 1806. 
Like most citizens of western New Y'^ork, he 
traces back his lineage to New England ances- 
try. Here, in New England, while it was yet 
dominated by the iron rule of Puritanism, was 
born Bial Gifford, our subject's paternal grand- 
father. He pureued the vocation of farming 
and later in life migrated to Washington county, 
New York, where he died. Mr. Tallman (ma- 
ternal grandfather) was also a native of the east. 
Subject's father was bora in the State of Massa- 
chusetts and emigrated to Washington county. 
New York, in the year 1825; from thence he 
removed to Chautauqua county, where he set- 
tled in the town of Busti. Here he obtained 



one hundred and twenty acres of laud from the 
Holland Land Company, which, at that time, 
was a veritable wilderness, untouched as yet by 
the transforming hand of the settler. His time 
and energies were devoted to the clearing, fenc- 
ing and general preparation of his farm for plow 
and .seetl. He .saw the alternation of harvest 
and seed time for a period of seventy-nine years, 
when, on February 4, 1S54, he w;is quietly laid 
to rest. Politically he was a devotee of the Re- 
publican party; religiously a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. 

He was joined iu marriage to Deborah Tall- 
man, which union resulted in a family of nine 
children, five bo^'S and four girls, all of whom 
are deceased except the subject. 

John Gifford passed his childhood amid the 
wild scenic mountains and lakes of his native 
county — in which it is difficult indeed to find 
a single spot totally devoid of interest. In this 
county, rich in martial memories to the old .set- 
tler and full of historic interest to the young, 
our subject also received his early education, 
which in those days was chiefly confined to 
" readin', 'ritin' and 'rithraetic '' — the three R"s 
of the primitive .school. L^pon leaving school 
he took up the occupation of farming and is at 
present engaged in that business on the old 
homestead. He is numbered among the intelli- 
gent supporters of the Republican party, and 
deems it one of the first and highest privileges 
of American citizenship to intelligently exerci.se 
his right of suffrage. Mr Gifford is a good 
citizen, generous, public-spirited and liberal to 
a fault ; he is well posted upon current events, 
issues and problems and endeavors to live with 
an intelligent, modern conception of life. 

John Gifford was married to Catherine Cor- 
nell, a daughter of Joseph Cornell, of Washing- 
ton county, New York. The result of this 
union was two children : Jeremiah, who was 
first married to Henrietta Alexander, by whom 
he had three children — Leroy, Irving and John. 
He was married the second time to Caroline 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Briggs, but without issue. He uow lives witii 
his father and is engaged in farming ; and Jennie, 
married to Thomas Nelson, formerly a farmer 
but at present in the merchandising business in 
Minneapolis, Minnesota. jNIr. and Mrs. Nelson 
have been blest with two children — Frank and 
Kate — both still in childhood. 



•>-HARLES S. CURTICE, of Portland, who 
^^ i.s one of the largest propagators of grape- 
vines in the United States, is a son of Roswell 
B. and Hannah jSI. (Chase) Curtice, and was 
born at Webster, Monroe county, New York, 
January 21, 1857. The Curtice family is of 
English extraction, and Jesse Curtice, the grand- 
father of Charles S. Curtice, came from Antrim, 
N. H., to Webster, Monroe county, N. Y., 
where he was engaged in farming until his 
death, in 1863, at sixty-six years of age. One 
of his sons was Roswell B. Curtice (father), who 
was born in 1833. He came about 1870 to 
Jamestown, where he owns a small farm within 
the limits of that city and is engaged in raising 
small fruits. He is a republican in politics, a 
member of the Firet Baj)tist church of James- 
town, and has been master workman for several 
terms of the lodge of Ancient Order of United 
Workmen, of which he is a member. He mar- 
ried Hannah M. Chase, a native of Wisconsin, 
and a member of the Baptist church, who 
passed away in 1873, aged forty-one years. 

Charles S. Curtice came with his parents, in 
1870, to Jamestown, where he attended the 
Union school and collegiate institute of that 
place. Leaving school he entered the employ 
of E. A. Ross & Co., of Ross JNIills, with whom 
he remained for four years and then engaged as 
a traveling salesman with George A. Stone, 
nurseryman of Rochester, New York. He 
traveled for Mr. Stone throughout this State 
until 1880, when he engaged in the nursery 
business on a small scale for himself in the town 
of Portland. He increased his business from 
year to year until it is now of large proportions. 



He makes a specialty of propagating grape-vines 
for the wholesale trade, and has developed this 
branch of the nursery business until he is uow 
one of the largest grape-vine propagators in the 
United States. In addition to supplying home 
demands he supplies large orders from every 
section of the Union. Mr. Curtice employs an 
average force of twenty men in his nursery and 
vineyard in the town of Portland, and is a stock- 
holder in the Rochester and Cayuga Lake Vine- 
yard company, of Seneca county. He owns a 
nice residence at Portland where he has made his 
home since 1880. He is an active republican in 
politics, a member of the jMethodist Episcopal 
church, and a pleasant but thoroughgoing busi- 
ness man. He is a member of Brocton Castle, 
No. 284, Knights of Pythias, Summit Lodge, 
No. 219, Free and Accepted Masons, at West- 
field ; Westfield Chapter, No. 129, High Royal 
Arch Masons, at May ville ; and Triumph Union, 
No. 32, Equitable Aid Union, which organiza- 
tion was incorporated at Columbus, Pa., March 
23, 1879. 

On October 4, 1882, Mr. Curtice married 
Luna L. Harris, a daughter of W. D. Harri.s, 
of the town of Ellicott. Mrs. Curtice was born 
in 1861 and died July 26, 1889, leaving one 
child, a son, named William M., who was born 
February 17, 1885. 



^HAUNCEY >I. KATHBVX, D.D.S., of 

^^ Fredonia, one of the jn'ogressive and 
leading dentists of western New York, is a .son 
of Dr. Byron and Thirza A. (Jillson) Rathbun, 
and was born in the city of Dunkirk, Chautau- 
qua county. New York, May 28, 1867. The 
Rathbuns are of English descent and Rev. 
Levant Rathbun, paternal grandfather of Dr. 
C. M. Rathbun, was born at Camden, Oneida 
county, in June 1803, and removed to Pine 
Grove, Warren county, Pa., where he farmed 
until 1837. He then entered the ministry of 
the Baptist church and preached in Jamestown 
and Dunkirk and at Panama where he died 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



September 18, 1869. In January, 1826, he ; 
married Laura Brainard Comstock, who was 
born at East Haddam, Connecticut, and died 
August 24, 1845, leaving five children: Dor- 
liska, Theron, Andrew, Dr. Byron and Milton. 
Rev. Levant Rathbun married for his second 
wife, on August 10, 1846, Mrs. .lohn Paden, 
who bore him five children : Wilbur, Laura, 
Charles, James and Willie. Dr. Byron Ratli- 
bun (father), now the oldest practicing dentist 
of Dunkirk, was born at Pine Grove, Pa., 
October 28, 1834, worked on a farm at May- 
ville, from twelve to fifteen years of age and 
then went to Erie, Pa., where he studied 
dentistry with Dr. Thompson in day time and 
worked in a printing office at night. He left 
there in 1853, held a position for two years in 
A. T. Stewart's dry goods store in New Orleans 
and returned in 1855 to Erie where he was a 
partner with Dr. Thompson for three years. In 
1858 he opened his present office on Center 
street, Dunkirk, where he is now an influential 
member of the city council. He has a large 
pi-actice, is wealthy and has been for several 
years a Knight Templar of Dunkirk Cora- 
mandery No. 40, K. T., and a member and 
vestryman of St. John's Protestant Episcopal 
church. On December 28, 1865, he married 
Thirza Ann Jillsou. They have three children : 
Chauncey M. ; Mary J., born March 28, 1877 ; 
and Jean A., born January 27, 1882. Mrs. 
Rathbun's father, Samuel C. Jillson, was born 
October 4, 1820, and ou August 28, 1842, 
married Mary Shale, of Rochester, N. Y., by 
whom he had four children. He was a son of 
Oliver Whipple Jillson, who was born in 1786, 
married to Sally Sackett in 1819 and died in 
Genesee county in 1829, leaving four children : 
Samuel C. ; De Witt C, born in 1822 ; ]\Iary, 
born January 2, 1824; and Amanda, born 
March 20, 1826. 

Chauncey M. Rathbun attended the public 
schools of Dunkirk until he was seventeen 
years of age when he entered a military sciiool 



at Peekskill, on the Hudson, ^vhere he remained 
one year. He then returned home, studied den- 
tistry with his father, and matriculated in 1887 
at the University of Pennsylvania, from which 
he was graduated in the spring of 1888 with 
the degree of D.D.S. In the autumn of that 
year he came to Fredonia %vhere he has been 
successfully practicing dentistry ever since. His 
office is fully equipped with modern appliances 
and he keeps fully abreast of the times in the 
line of his profession. 

June 12, 1889, he united in marriage with 
Julia S., daughter of P. Ten Eyck and Caro- 
line (Spark.s) Smith, of Wilmington, Delaware, 
where Mr. Smith is cashier of the First 
National bank of the city. 

Dr. C. M. Rathbun is energetic and active 
in whatever he undertakes. He is a conserva- 
tive republican and a Master Mason of Forest 
Lodge, No. 166, Free& Accepted ]SIasous. He 
is a member and vestryman of Trinity Prot- 
estant Episcopal church of Fredonia. 



HOX. CHARLES B. BROC'KWAY was 
a man who in life attained an enviable 
position, and who, since his death, is remem- 
bered as a courageous, generous and honorable 
man. He was a .sou of Burban and Lois A. 
(Bostwick) Brockway, and was born in Ontario 
county. New York, December 6, 1810, and 
died December 4, 1883. The earliest mention 
of the representatives of this family in Amer- 
ica, Wolston Brockway, is found in the town 
records of Lyme, Connecticut, where it is stated 
on December 3, 1659, he purchased housing 
and laud from John Reynolds, then living at 
Norwich, Connecticut, but formerly of Lyme. 
From Wolston Brockway came the Hon. Chas. 
B. Brockway. Burban Brockway was born in 
Lyme, Connecticut, :^[arcll 1, 1767, being the 
youngest of a family of ten children. His 
father and several of his older brothers served 
in the Revolutionary war. Burban Brockway 
l)egan a sea-faring life at jthe age of eighteen 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



years, and when twenty-three years of age he 
married Lois Anne Bostwick, of New Milfurd, 
Connecticut, and located at Catskill, New 
York, where he left his family while he fol- 
lowed his chosen occupation. In 1797 he re- 
moved his family to Ontario county, located in 
the wilderness, and commenced clearing up a 
farm with the idea of following an agricultural 
life; but in 1813 he removed to the town of 
Ripley (then Portland), Chautauqua county, 
and located on a tract of laud of which he held 
possession until his death, and it still remains 
in the family. This property is located one 
mile east of the village of Ripley, and there 
Mr. Brockway lived until his death, whicli 
occurred September 2, 1861. He was a mem- 
ber of the Episcopal church, and on the organ- 
ization of St. Paul's church at Mayvilie was 
elected its senior warden. Mr. Brockwav reared 
a family of four sons and five daughters, of 
which our subject was the youngest. 

Charles B. Brockway removed with his pa- 
rents to Ripley, Chautauqua county, in 1814, 
and at their arrival the land was covered with 
dense woods. But meager educational facilities 
were at hand, and the better part of his knowl- 
edge was obtained after he had attained man- 
hood. His childhood and youth were passed 
in the usual manner incident to the early pio- 
neers. Mr. Brockway was a constant reader, 
and his mind was practical. He took an active 
part in the preservation of the Union during 
tJie civil war, devoting all of his time and 
much means in enlisting volunteers from his 
own and adjoining towns, and aiding them to 
secure equipments. In 1838 he was elected a 
member of the Board of Supervisors for Chau- 
tauqua county, and held that office for thirteen 
years, part of the time as chairman of the 
board. Although at that time but twenty-eight 
years of age, he showed extraordinary ability 
and good judgment in conducting the affairs of 
the county, and familiarized himself with all 
her needs. When he abdicated this position, ; 



he was elected associate judge of the county, 
and at th.e end of his term of office was made a 
justice of the peace, which office he held for 
fourteen years. His administration of those 
offices was highly satisfactory, and had it not 
been for his natural modesty and desire to 
avoid the turmoil of public life, he would have 
been elevated to more distinguished positions. 
Mr. Brockway was a man of strong moral con- 
victions, which gave him a standing among his 
neighbors and attracted their confidence, and 
his services as a counselor and conveyancer 
were much sought after. He was a regular 
attendant at church and a liberal supporter of 
every public enterprise, whether religious or 
secular, that had for its object the public weal. 
Hon. Charles B. Brockway was the friend of 
the poor, tiie widow and tiie fatherless, and 
their a))peals to his liberality M'ere always met 
with substantial responses. 

He married Raciiel Rebecca Sterrett, a 
daughter of David Sterrett, who was a repre- 
sentative of one of the old and respected fami- 
lies of the Keystone State. Their union was 
blessed with the following children : Mary S., 
who married Hon. James M. Williams, May 
21, 1882, — a lawyer of Cleveland, Ohio, who 
for two years was a member of the Ohio As- 
sembly, where he was the recognized leader of 
the Democracy; he has edited one edition of 
the statute laws of Ohio, and revised several 
others; Martha, who died when thirteen years 
of age; Charles B., now living iu the town of 
Ripley, thoroughly identified with local poli- 
tics and a well-known republican; David S., 
died in infancy; Belle R., also died in infancy; 
and Frederick, born July 20, 1854, and on Sep- 
tember 15, 1877, married Emma L. Cushman, 
a daughter of Leverett and Ann (^\'■ilson) 
Cushman; they have three ciiildren, — Byron, 
May and Fred. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



y^EXTER T>. DORN, now resideut of James- 
^^ town, and a member of the Chautauqua 
county bar, wa.s born in Sugar Grove (now 
Farmingtou) township, Warren county, Penn- 
sylvania, September 26, 1849, and is a son of 
John L. and Harriet M. (Allen) Doru. His 
grandfather, Andrew Dorn, was a native of the 
town of Florida, Montgomery county, New 
York, removed to Warren county, Pa., in 1841, 
and about forty years later came to this county, 
M'here he afterwards died. He studied for the 
ministry, but the death of his father and the 
cares of the family compelled him to abandon 
his studies and engage in teaching for several 
years. He served as school commissioner, held 
vai'ious town offices, was a Methodist and demo- 
crat, and married Mary Cramer, by whom lie 
had four sons and one daughter. His son, John 
L. Dorn, the father of Dexter D. Dorn, was 
l)orn in the town of Florida, N. Y., March 1 6, 
1819, went with his father to Pennsylvania, and 
iu 1870 came to this county, where he has 
resided ever since. He is a farmer, a ]\Iethodist 
and a prohibitionist. He married Harriet M. 
Allen, and to them were born two sons and four 
daughters, two of whom are dead. Mrs. Dorn 
is a daughter of Jacob Allen, who was a native 
of Jefferson county, N. Y., but about 1830 
became one of the )>ioneer settlers of Warren 
county. Pa. He was a man of unusual mechani- 
cal inventive genius, carried on coopering ex- 
tensively and taught vocal music. He was a 
prominent member and deacon of the Baptist 
church, and a republican in political principles. 
He married Olive Tupper, whose mother, well 
remembered by Dexter D. Dorn, in relating her 
experience in witnessing the naval engagement 
on Lake Champlain, near Platt.sburg, N. Y., in 
1814. The Americans were victoi'ious, and the 
whole British fleet was surrendered to the 
American commander, McDonough, died at 
the advanced age of ninety-eight years. They 
reared a family of one son and three daughters. 
Dexter D. Dorn received his education in the 



common .schools and Jamestown Union school 
and Collegiate Institute. He received the regent's 
certificate in 1867, but was prevented from 
obtaining a collegiate education by failure of 
his eyesight, he having to rely wholly upon his 
own resources. He taught .school for a time, 
then learned the trade of cooper, which he soon 
abandoned to learn telegraphy. On May 1, 
1870, he was appointed night operator at Cam- 
bridge, Pa., and on January 1, 1871, was pro- 
moted to day operator, and freight, ticket and 
express agent, which position he held for eighteen 
years and four months. During this long period 
of time he was never called in for misconduct 
or neglect of duty, and never caused an accident 
or damage to any person or train by carelessness 
or mistaking orilers by telegraph or otherwise, 
which is a remarkable record considering the 
time covered, the onerous duties performed, 
vast amount of property and the hundreds of 
lives that were daily dependent upon his accuracy 
and vigilance in moving trains over a great 
railway. During this time he and his wife com- 
pleted the cour.se of, and graduated in the pioneer 
class (1882) of the C. L. S. C, Leaving the 
railroad, he commenced to read law in James- 
town on Sejjtember 26, 1887, and after com- 
pleting his course of reading entered the Albany 
Law school, from which he was graduated May 
23, 1889. On June 6, 1890, he was admitted 
to the bar, and since then has been engaged 
succe.ssfully in the pi'actice of his profession in 
Jamestown. He is in principle a democrat, a 
strong temperance advocate and an active worker 
in the Methodist church, of which he and his 
wife are members. 

On October 23, 1871, he united in marriage 
with Emma Brookmire, a woman of rare force 
of character who had been a successful student 
and teacher in the Jamestown Union Schools 
and Collegiate Institute, and .served as principal 
of one of the city schools in 1870. To their 
union have been born two children : M. Edith, 
born August 5, 1872, and died March 23, 1889; 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



and Ralph W., who was bora Juue 28, 1877, 
and has just passed the regent's examination for 
the academic department of the Jamestown 
High Sciiool. M. Edith Dorn was a girl of 
brilliant promise, amiable and kind in disposi- 
tion, and a fine scholar and musician for one of 
her age. She was a membej' of the class of 
1890 of the Jamestown High School, was uni- 
versally loved and regarded, and her early death 
Avas deeply deplored by all who knew her. 



TIITATHEW FULLER comes from an old 

-1'-^ English family of that name, was born 
in Dutchess couuty, New York, November 26, 
1825, and is a sou of Micah and Elizabeth 
(Clemeuts) Fuller. Micajah Fuller (grandfather) 
was a native of eastern New York, and farmed 
in Westchester county, where he died. He had 
four children, one of whom, Micah Fuller 
(father), was born in Westchester county in 
1788. When a young man he went from his 
native county to Dutchess ; in 1828 he moved 
from thence to Herkimer county, and in Novem- 
ber, 1833, he came to Chautauqua county and 
settled on a farm in Portland town, which he 
occupied and tilled until his death in 1860. 
Politically he was a whig, and a quiet, un- 
assuming gentleman. He married Elizabeth 
Clements, a native of Dutchess county, where 
she was born in 1795. She died in 1883. Mrs. 
Fuller bore her husband fourteen children, six 
sons and eight daughters. 

Mathew Fuller was eight years of age when 
his father came to this county. He got his edu- 
cation in the common scliools, and spent his early 
life on the farm, and when he had attained man- 
hood adopted farming as his life work. The 
old homestead of his father is now his propei'ty, 
in which he resides, and one huudred and five 
acres of land are attached to it, with a fine vine- 
yard of grapes. In 1860 he went to the deer 
sections of Michigan where he spent six years, 
mostly hunting. Three elk fell before his rifle, 
and deer too many to count. The remainder 



of his life has been spent on his Portland farm. 
In 1865 he was united in marriage with Mary 
Barrows, who lived at Port Huron, Michigan, 
a daughter of La Prelate Barrows, a farmer of 
Racine county, Wisconsin. Three daughters 
have been born to them, all of whom are living: 
Winnie E., Lucy B., and Milly R. 

Mathew Fuller is an adherent of democracy. 
Poor health took him to Michigan, as recorded 
above, and the bracing air of the fragrant 
pines invigorated his constitution so that he 
bids fair to enjoy a long and happy life. 



TOHX W. I>AWSOX was an esteemed 

^ Christian gentleman, who lived in the 
town of Ripley, this county, until his death, 
which occurred August 8, 1890. He was the 
son of Thomas and Hannah (Connelly) Daw.sou 
and was born in Venango county. Pa., Septem- 
ber 14, 1817. 

His grandfather, James Dawson, was a na- 
tive of Ireland, but emigrated to America and 
settled in Venango county, Penna., where he 
followed farming until his death. He was a 
consistent member of the Methodist church and 
married Elizabeth Armstrong, by whom he 
had a family of three sons and four daughters. 
Thomas Dawson, the father of our subject, was 
born in Ireland and had not yet reached his 
fifth year when his father came to America. He 
worked upon the farm, and having reached 
manhood married Hannah Connelly, who bore 
him thirteen children, six sons and seven 
daughters. 

John W. Dawson was reared in the " Key- 
stone State," where he learned how to farm and 
secured his education in the common schools. In 
1865 he came to Chautauqua county, and set- 
tled in the town of Ripley, where he secured 
him a farm and spent the remainder of his life. 

He belonged to the Republican party and 
was a devout member of the Presbyterian 
church, in the affairs of which he took a lead- 
ing part and served as one of its trustees. 



404 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Od the 17th day of February, 1841, he united 
in marriage with Emeline Ross, a daughter of 
Perrin Ross, who was one of the first settlers of 
Erie county, Peuna. His fatlier was a renowned 
Revolutionary officer and was killed at the 
massacre of Wyoming, where Eutler and his 
hordes of blood-thirsty savages, after defeating 
the handful of able-bodied defenders at Forty 
Fort, pursued the fleeing defenceless women 
and children, and killed and scalped them with- 
out mercy, ilrs. Dawson's grandmother fled 
to the woods with her four children where she 
remained concealed for four days, until Butler 
and his aroiy had withdrawn from the country. 
When Perria Ross came to Erie county, he 
settled at Colt's Station, near the present town 
of North East, and remained there nearly all 
his life engaged in agricultural pursuits. He 
marrieil Hannah Utley and reared a family of 
six sons and six daughters : of these but two 
.sons and two daughters are yet living ; one of 
the former, Sterling A. Ross, served in the late 
civil war, and is now living at Jackson, Kan- 
sas. By his marriage with Emeline Ross Mr. 
Dawson had the following family : William 
R., who married Livonia Richardson, and lives 
at Tidioute, Penua., a merchant, a real estate 
dealer, oil producer and a general bu.siness man. 
They have had three children : Josephine G. ; 
Bessie, died at the age of six, and Mary 
R. He entered the civil war in August, 1862, 
joining Co. H, 121st regiment, Penna. Volun- 
teers, and served until July, I860. He was 
wounded at Gettysburg and was taken prisoner, 
but soon thereafter was exchanged and then 
entered the provost marshal's office at Pitts- 
burg ; Olive E., married Rev. Frederick Fair, 
a Methodist Episcoj)al minister located in the 
town of Sheridan, Chautauqua cxjuuty. They 
have two children, Hurlburt D. and Arthur 
R. ; Elizabeth J., is the wife of John C. Ster- 
ling, and lives in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 
where her husband is engaged in the real estate 
business. Their children are Thayer D., Ruth, 



John and Faith ; and Henry T., who married 
Lulu Smith, and lives at Newark, New Jersey. 
He is connected with the University Publishing 
Company, New York, is a graduate of Syracuse 
University, and has two children: Eva A. and 
John W. " 

John W. Dawson was a public-spirited, gen- 
erous, open-hearted man, and the last years of 
his life were spent in grape-growing and light 
tiirming ; he died a Christian. 



yyjILLI.OI E. POWERS, one of the 

^-^^ jirominent citizens and leading busi- 
ness men of the town of Hanover, Chautauqua 
county, is the son of William and Achsah 
(Emerson) Powers, and first saw the light Feb- 
ruary 6, 1827, in Auburn, New York. His 
grandfather, John Powers, was a descendant of 
the early families of tliat name who came to 
the rock-bound coast of the New England 
States for settlement. He, however, was born 
among the mountains of New Hanlpshire, after- 
ward removed to the State of Vermont and 
there died. Beside himself and wife, his family 
consisted of six children. Enoch Emerson 
(maternal grandfather of subject) was more 
commonly known to his neighbors and chosen 
friends by the sobriquet of " Deacon Emerson." 
He was a native and citizen of Vermont, where, 
among the green mountains of his nativity, a 
plain marble slab, bearing the inscription " Re- 
quiescat in pace," marks his last resting place. 
Deacon Emerson was a mau whose life and 
energies were devoted with a rare sincerity and 
sacrifice to the interests of the Commonwealth 
of Vermont. He w^as nominally a farmer, but 
the longest and best part of his life was given 
to the public service. For many years he was 
a member of the Vermont Legislature and the 
recognized political leader of his section of the 
State. Imbued with sincerity, honesty and a 
controlling desire to promote the general wel- 
fare of the entire people of the State, he was 
held in the highest confidence and respect. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



William Powers (father) was born in Corydon, 
New Hampshire, where he speut his childliood 
and youth, amid the natural beauty of the 
"Granite State." In 1795 he migrated to the 
State of Vermont, thence to Auburn, Cayuga 
county, New York, in 1826, and thence to 
Kingston, Ontario, Canada, in 1833, and 
from thence to Chautauqua county, in 1840, 
where he died. Politically he was a firm ex- 
ponent of Democratic principles, and while in 
Vermont was a member year after year of the 
State Legislature. His place in the Legislature 
had been formerly filled by his father-in-law 
for many years. While a resident of Auburn, 
New York, Mr. Powers was appointed keeper 
of the State prison, which position he held until 
called to Kingston, Ontario, Canada, as archi- 
tect and builder of the province penitentiary at 
that place. He was selected as architect and 
builder by a British commission sent all over 
the United States to inquire into and investi- 
gate prison systems. Their inspection of the 
prison at Auburn and its management, together 
with a satisfactory examination of certain plans 
drawn up by Mr. Powers led to his selection. 
After the completion of the prison he was made 
warden, which position he held for seven years. 
In Chautauqua county he occupied himself in 
agriculture and stock-raising. Mr. Powers was 
a man of military bearing and tastes, and at one 
time (in the State of Vermont) was colonel of a . 
regiment of militia. In politics he was a re- 
publican and strong abolitionist. He was a 
personal friend of Hon. William H. Seward, 
Vice-President Fillmore, William L. Marcy, of 
New York, and ex-Postmaster-General Jacob 
Collamer, of Vermont. He was a member of 
the Presbyterian church, in which he held the 
office of deacon. His first wife, Achsah Emei'- 
son, bore him five children, three boys and two 
girls. His children were: Eunice, dead ; John, 
died in Buffalo, New York, where he had been 
distributing superintendent in the post-office 
for thirty-five years; William E. ; Ellen, dead ; 
21 



and Gershom, now living at Grand Kapids, 
Michigan, and engaged in the insurance busi- 
ness. He married a second time shortly l)efore 
his death, but without issue. 

William E. Powers received his education in 
the common schools, and has, since maturity, 
been engaged in various pursuits, though chiefly 
in farming. For three years he was engaged 
in the mercantile business at various points. 
He is a republican in politics, and for three 
years was post master at East Golden, Mich- 
igan. 

William E. Powers was first united in mar- 
riage to Calista Mark, who bore him one son, 
Frank, a merchant and farmer, now married to 
Caroline Oyer, and living in Springport, Jack- 
son county, Michigan. His second wife, Mrs. 
Harriet Evans {nee Clough), also bore him one 
child, Hattie C, who is now married to Frank 
A. Rider, a farmer. 

Mr. Powers is a prominent secret society 
man, being a member of the Masons, Royal 
Templars of Temperance, Equitable Aid Union 
and I. O. O. F. 



TOHX K. PATTKK.SON. Occasionally we 
^^ find one of the old school railroaders who 
has pulled coupling-pins, twisted brakes and 
punched tickets for over a third of a century 
and escaped with his life, but such men are 
scarce. He, of whom we are writing, is such 
a man, who began in 1856 and relinquished his 
punch on the first of the present year. John 
K. Patterson is a sou of David and Eva (Kern) 
Patterson, and was born in Sheridan, this 
county, December 2, 1836. David Patterson 
was born in Perthshire, Scotland, March 11, 
1794, and came to this country in 1812 in time 
to see the burning of Buffalo, although he 
was not a belligerent. He located at Buffalo, 
which he made his home for two years and then 
moved to Oneida, New York, and began to 
farm, and by this labor he lived until 1834, 
when he went to Sheridan and continued farm- 



406 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



iug until old age compelled liis retirement. 
Then he moved to Dunkirk and <lied January 
17, 1877. He was early taught the Presbyter- 
ian faith but joined the Baptist church after 
coming to America, and died in its faith. Po- 
litically, INIr. Patterson was originally a demo- 
crat, but when the slavery question agitated the 
country, he transferred his allegiance to the 
whigs and afterwards to the republicans. He 
was active in politics and energetic in business, 
decided in his convictions and one so well in- 
formed, that it was difficult to touch a subject 
upon which he could not talk intelligently. 
He served five years in the British navy before 
coming to America, and married, on October 
31, 1818, Eva Kern, who was a native of 
County Wicklow, Ireland, born July 8, 1802. 
Her father, John Kern, was a sea captain, who 
came to America some years after the Irish re- 
bellion of 1798, and died in Oneida county, 
New York, in 1839, aged ninety years. Mrs. 
Patterson is still living with her son in Dun- 
kirk, with a mind unimpaired by age. She is 
a member of the Baptist church. 

John K. Patterson was reared in the town of 
Sheridan on a farm, and received his education 
in the ^^^estfield and Fredonia academies, and 
after leaving school he taught the winter term 
1855-56, in the .spring of the latter year going 
to Davenport, Iowa, which at that time was in 
the far west. Soon after his arrival there he 
secured work on what is knoM'n as the Great 
Rock Island I'oute, his division being between 
Davenport and Iowa City. He remained there 
two years, and in 1858 returned home, living 
on the farm until 1863, when he went to Brad- 
ford and took charge of the construction train 
on the Bradford branch of the Erie R. R., 
where he remained until August, 1864. The fall 
of 1864 found him in Marietta, Georgia, era- 
ployed in business until March, 1866, when, 
the soldiers having withdrawn, he came away. 
His business was providing supplies along the 
line. Upon his arrival at Dunkirk he hired a 



vessel and engaged in trade between the latter 
city and Canada, and the next year, forming a 
partnership with O. R. Oakley, he began the 
dry goods business, the firm being Oakley & 
Patterson, and was continued until the fall of 
1868, when President Andrew Johnson ap- 
pointed him postmaster, his being the last ap- 
pointment confirmed by the Senate, then in 
session. Upon assuming his duties he disposed 
of the dry goods business, and devoted his 
whole time to the execution of the duties of his 
office, which he held until 1871. In October, 
1871, he took a passenger train on the D. A. 
V. & P. R. R., and ran as conductor until Jan- 
uary 1, 1891, when he was appointed special 
agent to collect statistics for the United States 
Government, Department of the Interior. Mr. 
Patterson is an active republican and a member 
of the Baptist church, of which he has been 
treasurer for many years. He belongs to Iron- 
dequoit Lodge, No. 102, Free and Accepted 
jNIasons, of Dunkirk ; has attained the rank of 
Sir Knight, and is a member of the Conductors' 
Insurance association. 

John K. Patterson was twice married, first to 
Mary Seamans, of Poughkeepsie, New York, 
whom he married February 15, 1864. She 
came from a Quaker family, the daughter of 
Nelson Seamans. She died April 10, 1885, 
leaving four cliildren, one son and three daugh- 
ters : John K., Jr., Mary H., Maud J. and 
Jennie F. On December 15, 1886, he married 
Lidp Croukrite, daughter of Rufus Cronkrite, 
of Pleasant Valley, Dutchess county, this 
State, and tliey have one child, Mildred K. 
Mr. Patterson has a beautiful home on Cen- 
I tral avenue, Dunkirk, and is a pleasant, fine- 
j looking, social gentleman, whose friendship is 
esteemed by a wide circle of acquaintances. 



FREDERICK R. GREEN, the efficient 
cashier of the Fredonia National Bank, 
one of the best managed and most prosperous 
banking institutions in western New York, is a 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



son of John T. and Livia P. (Hall) Green, and 
was born in Sherman, Chautauqua county, 
New York, May 10, 1861. His grandfather, 
William Green, was a native of Lincolnshire, 
England, and together with his wife and fam- 
ily, came to America in the year 1830, settling 
near Utica, New York, for a short time, and 
subsequently in the towns of Chautauqua and 
Sherman, Chautauqua county, New York. 
William Green was by trade a carpenter, held 
the office of supervisor of his town for several 
years, and died at the age of iifty-nine years. 
He was married to Miss Martha Tomlinson. 
John T. Green (father of subject) was born in 
Lincolnshire, England, January 31, 1829, and, 
with his father, emigrated to America in 1830, 
so that nearly his entire life has been spent 
under the shadow of republican government. He 
was reared upon a farm, received a common 
school education, and in youth and early man- 
hood worked at the carpenter and joiner's trade. 
He then made a farming venture, and about 
thirty years ago embarked in mercantile pur- ' 
suits, which he has prosecuted with vigor and 
profit ever since. When he first engaged in 
merchandising it was entirely upon his own re- 
sponsibility, but later he received as a partner, 
Mr. W. F. Green, now cashier of the Sherman 
Bank. At j^resent he conducts his business in- 
dependent of partnership alliances. He was 
united in maniage in 1851, and is the father of 
three children : William A., now in Australia 
as the rejiresentative of a manufacturing syndi- 
cate ; Frederick R., of Fredonia, New York ; 
and Florence, at home. j 

Frederick R. Green was reared in the village 
of Sherman, and attended the Union schools, 
where he acquired a good preliminary educa- 
tion. After leaving school he became a clerk 
in his father's store, where he remained until ! 
1879, when, during that year, he accepted the 
position of assistant cashier in the Sherman j 
Exchange Bank, the duties of which position 
he continued to discharge until 1882. During 



that year he removed to Fredonia, New York, 
first became teller, and in April, 1884, cashier 
of the Fredonia National Bank, which he now 
holds. Mr. Green is a young man of great 
enei'gy, careful habits and marked business 
ability ; and through his fidelity and sjwtless 
integrity, has been entrusted with his present 
responsible position. He possesses many good 
social qualities, and enjoys the esteem and re- 
spect of his wide circle of acquaintances. 



Q DDISOX MASOX is engaged in the culti- 
■**■ vation of grapes which has been found to 
make the largest returns proportionate to the 
amount of labor expended of any crop grown in 
Chautauqua county. Addison Mason is a sou 
of Hezekiah and Rosanua (Rich) Mason, and 
was born in Washington county. New York, 
November 30, 1822. Great-grandfather Ma- 
son was a native of Nova Scotia where he was 
engaged as a Baptist minister, but came when 
an elderly man to Massachusetts, where he died. 
His son, too, was a native of the land of the 
Acadians and they may have been allied to that 
honest, happy, but too confiding people whom 
the rude hand and merciless arm of the English 
victors tore from their homes in 1755. In any 
event grandfather Mason came first to Massa- 
chusetts and then pushed on until he reached 
AYashington county, New York, where he met 
and married Hannah ]\Iason, who, although of 
the same name was of no kin to him. They 
reared a family of six sous and three daughters. 
Upon the mother's side, the ancestors c^^me from 
New England for some generations. Hezekiah 
Mason (father) first looked out upon the light 
of day within the confines of AYashington 
county, this State, on an April day of the year 
which began this century. Twenty-four years 
later he passed through the almost interminable 
forests of central and western New York and 
finally reached Chautauqua county, where he 
made but a short stay and passed on into Penn- 
sylvania, locating near North East. Hezekiah 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Mason was a carder aud weaver by trade but, 
leaving Pennsylvania, he returned to the south- 
ern part of Ripley and followed farming until his 
death in 1848. He was a democrat, tilled the 
offices of supervisor and justice of the peace 
and was a deacon in the Baptist church. He 
married Rosanna Ricii and reared a family 
of live sous and two danghters : Addison ; 
Miranda, is the wife of Glover Wattles ; Diana, 
married to Ira Gay, of Ripley ; George, wedded 
Abbie Teller and is a tinsmith at Geueva, 
Ohio ; Judson, was born at what is called 
Rouse Well, Pa. ; aud Edgar, married Ella 
Beatty and follows milling in Pennsylvania. 

Addison Mason received an education which 
at the time was considered good and then he 
was apprenticed to and learned the secrets of 
carding and cloth-dressing, which trade he fol- 
lowed for eight years. In 1850 he began 
farming aud has since been so employed 
together with doing more or less carpenter 
work. 

On October 12, 1848, he married Harriet 
Rice, a daughter of Horace Rice who came 
from Massachusetts to North East, Pa., w^here 
he follows farming, and a granddaughter of 
John Rice, also of the Bay State. Her ma- 
ternal grandfather was Theodoi-e Gilbert, of 
Connecticut, who married a Miss Cale, a 
daughter of a .sea-captain, prominent iu his day- 
Mr. and Mrs. Mason have had a happy union 
and were blessed with the following children : 
Oscar L., born November 19, 1850, married 
Flora Bell and now lives in the town of Ripley 
with a family of three children, Eva, Clara and 
Addison, Jr. ; Clarence H., born December 29, 
1855, married Florence Perry, daughter of W. 
B. Perry (see sketch). He lives iu Ripley and 
is a farmer and grape grower, owning about 
thirty acres of vineyard. Their children are : 
Perry, Ella, Horace, Effie and Harriet ; and 
Harriet E., born January 13, 1859, is the wife 
of Fred N. Randall, a son of Nelson Randall. 
Fred N. Randall is a merchant and grape 



grower living in Ripley and has two sons: 
Frederick M. and Byron A. 

Addison Mason is a republican and has been 
elected assessor and supervisor two terms. He 
is also a member of the Equitable Aid Union, 
has good judgment and is one of the foremost 
citizens of his town. 



TOHX P. BAXTER. One of Cliaiitaiii|iia 

^ county's early residents, a gallant de- 
fender of the Nation, and whose early death 
may be attributed to e.xposure and suffering 
during his long term of service in the Union 
army was John P. Baxter, y\lio died August 9, 
1872. He was a son of Cyrus and Maria 
(Cooley) Baxter, aud was born about 1828, in 
the town of Hanover, Chautauqua county. New 
York. The paternal grandfather, Baxter, was 
one of three brothers who caime from England. 
Abner Cooley (maternal grandfather) was a 
native of New England but came to Chautau- 
qua county and settled in Hanover town about 
1806, being among its earliest settlers. He was 
one of the most affluent men in the town and 
lived there the remainder of his life engaged in 
farming. The Whig party got his support in 
all matters where he considered them right. 
He married and reared four sons and two 
daughters. C'3'rus Baxter was born in 18 — , 
followed farming and died in the town ot 
Hanover. He married Maria Cooley, by whom 
he had two .sons aud one daughter. 

John P. Baxter as a boy showed marked 
ability. He attended the public schools and ac- 
quired a good business education. His mature 
life was pa.ssed in farming with the exception 
below noted. He lived at Forestville until he 
married and then went down into Warren 
county, Pa., where he lived for a time. In 1802 
he returned to Chautauqua county and leaving 
his family at Ripley enlisted in Company I, 
14th regiment, Pennsylvania Cavalry, aud was 
sent to the front. Mr. Baxter was in many 
battles and skirmishes under General Averill 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



and was wounded wliile engaged at Rocky 
Gap, August 26, 1863. A\'hcn the war was 
over lie returned home and followed farming 
until his decease. 

On the 17tli of January, 1850, Mr. Baxter 
married Maijorie Ferry, who was born May 6, 
1831. She was a daughter of the late Captain 
Joe Ferry, a sailor of renown along the shores 
of Lake Erie about 1830 and subsequently' till 
his death in 1844:. Capt. Ferry was a mariner 
who knew the whole of Lake Erie like a book 
but at the last date mentioned his boat was 
caught in a storm and foundered taking with 
her all on board. Capt. Ferry married Polly 
A. Pattison, a daughter of John Pattison, who 
was one of the old settlers that located in Han- 
over and they had two children, both daughters : 
Helen, the youngest, married and is now the 
widow of Hiram Burrows. She lives in Rip- 
ley. The other is Mrs. Baxter who bore her 
husband two sons : Fred, married Nannie 
Aspinwall, and is now a farmer in Ripley, the 
father of five children — John, May, Ford, Carl 
and Marjorie ; and Frank, who resides at home. 

From this brief history it will be seen that 
some of the oldest as well as the most loyal 
blood of the State of New York flows iu the 
veins of the Baxter family. John P. Baxter 
was a man above reproach or suspicion. Since 
his death his widow has lived upon the farm 
he left, conducting it with her .son's assistance. 
Mr. Baxter lies buried in Ripley cemetery. 



T V YDELL L. AVILSOX. Among the va- 

-'■^ ried industries ol' Chautauqua county 
there has been probably none that have given 
more intelligent, successful and useful men to the 
citizenship of the county than that of lumber- 
ing. There are many reasons for this, too 
many indeed to enumerate here ; it is sufficient 
to say that the risk involved, the development 
of a trade and the multitude of details connec- 
ted with the busijiess, all tend to develop man's 
many-sided Inisiness nature. With those who 



stand first iu the general manufacture of lumber 
iu the county is the gentleman whose name 
heads this sketch. He was born in the town of 
Poland, Chautauqua county, New York, on 
April 0, 1859. His father was James Wilson, 
Jr., and his mother Maria (Lydell) Wilson, 
born res]iectively in Westmoreland county, 
Pennsylvania, and Cooperstown, Otsego county, 
New York. Grandfather Lydell was a native 
of New York State and moved to the town of 
Poland in 1832. Grandfather Wilson was a 
native of Pennsylvania, took part in the war 
of 1812 and removed with his parents to 
Worksburg (now Falconer), New York, where 
he secured a tract of land from the Holland 
Land company. The land was heavily covered 
with timber, hence the early part of his life was 
spent in lumbering and the preparation of his 
farm for cultivation. He was a resident of 
Falconer for over seventy years. At the battle 
of Chippewa, near Buffalo, New York, he was 
severely wounded. James Wilson was of 
Scotch ancestry and married Elizabeth Porter, 
an Englishwoman of Philadelphia, Pennsylva- 
nia, in the year 1809. He belonged to the class 
of pioneer settlers of the town of Ellicott and 
was the founder of the old Methodist Episco- 
pal church in Jamestown, New York. He was 
a man of great strength of character, firm in his 
religious views and convictions, and honest in 
his deportment toward his fellow-men. James 
Wilson, Jr., (father of subject) had seven chil- 
dren: Laura M., Lilian W., Mary L., Ida M., 
Jennie M., Burton J. and Lydell L. He is 
and has always been a stanch supporter of the 
Republican party. Both he and his wife are 
still living in the town of Gerry at a ripe old 
age. 

Lydell L. Wilson was reared in Poland 
town, county of Chautauqua, New York, and at- 
tended the schools of his native town. After 
about two years he went to the State of Michi- 
gan as an employee in lumbering, but returned 
in about one vearand resumed the same business 



410 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



in his native State. At first be was connected 
witli the Hortson mill for a period of two 
years, at the expiration of which time he leased 
a mill at iloon's station, New York, and oper- 
ated it until it was destroyed by fire in 1885. 
The mill was rebuilt in 1886, and his orders, 
meanwhile, were transferred to the Hortson 
mill. In 1888 Mr. Wilson put a new mill at 
Moon's station, rcmov'ed to Gerry in 1890, and 
rebuilt a mill upon lands obtained from Levi 
Pratt, known as the " Wilson Mills." These 
mills have no superior in the county, either iu 
equipment or capacity. They have a capacity 
of fifteen million feet per annum, the greater 
part of which is shi2)ped to Bnifalo, Jamestown 
and other large centres. Lydell L. Wilson is 
a man of untiring efforts, careful business 
habits and large business resources. He began 
life a poor boy, at the very bottom, and by his 
business acumen has accumulated from nothing 
his present great business. 

On November 10, 1880, he was married to 
Anna Booth, daughter of James Booth of 
Buffalo, New York. Their union has resulted 
in the birth of four children : Alice M., Mertie 
D., Willis L. and Nellie S., all of whom are 
still young. 



JOHN DOXELSON, a prominent farmer of 

'^ Busti, who came from Sweden while a 
young man, is a son of Gust and Annie (Samel- 
son) Donelsou, and was born in Sweden on the 
15th of February, 1841, and is now iu his 
fiftieth year. Gust Donelson was a farmer in 
the old country and po.sse.s.sed a fine voice, 
which he displayed in his village church choir 
for fifty years. He never came to America, 
being satisfied and contented with the home of 
his forefathers, and died in December, 1890, 
aged eighty-seven years. His wife Annie 
Samelson, died when fifty-two years old, trust- 
ing with a Ciu-istian's faith iu the cliurcii of her 
country. 

John Donelsou was reared in Sweden and 



acquired his education at its schools. In 1868 
he came to America direct to the town of Busti, 
where he has since lived and followed farming. 
He owns a good farm of forty acres well im- 
proved, upon which he resides and makes a 
comfortable income. 

One year after his arrival hei-e (in 1869) he 
married Sophia Lawson, also a native of 
Sweden, and the}' are the parents of eight chil- 
dren : Henry A., Hattie, Elmer, Edward, 
Hilda, Alof, Esther and Arthur. 

John Donelson is a republican and was 
elected to the responsible office of master of the 
poor in the spring of 1891 aud is performing 
its duties creditably. He is a member of the 
Busti Swedish church, towards the erection of 
which he was a liberal contributor aud served 
as a trustee for six years. He is one of the 
pillars of its support and is a liberal and gen- 
erous man. He merits and has the respect of 
all his neighbors aud is a good citizeu. 



^EORGK W. 3IARSH. — Among a band of 
^^ twenty families who left Hingham, Nor- 
folk county, England, in 163-3, under the leader- 
ship of Rev. Peter Hobort, and who landed at 
Charlestown, N. H., June 8, 1635, were George 
Marsh, his wife Elizabeth and their four children. 
From these, the original founders of the family 
in America, sprang George W. Marsh, who is a 
.son of Charles A. and Annis D. (Whipple) 
Marsh, and was born in the town of Portland, 
Chautauqua county, New York, March 29, 
1840. Omitting the long line of lineage from 
1635 we will skip one hundred and forty-one 
years and say that the grandfather of our sub- 
ject, Isiiac ilarsh, was born in New Hampshire, 
Augu.st 3, 1776. He had a son, Charles A. 
Marsh (father), who was born at Nashua, N. H., 
April 15, 1815. The latter came to Chautau- 
qua county in 1831 and located in the town of 
Portland, where he farmed without intermission 
until his death, in 1882. Politically Mr. Marsh 
was a republican. (He married Annis D. Whip- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



pie, a daughter of David Whipple, of Kichfield, 
X. Y). Her parents both died when she was 
three years of age and she was adopted and 
reared by Samuel Brown of the same place, who 
came to Chautauqua county and settled in the 
town of Portlaud in 1835. She died in 1868, 
aged fifty-three years. They were the parents 
of three cliildren, two sons and one daughter. 

George W. Marsh was taught practical life 
upon his father's farm and learned theoretical 
knowledge in the district schools. He later took 
a course at the Fredonia acadetny, and since 
1865 has been engaged in raising grapes. Half 
of his well-kept farm of fifty acres is a vine- 
yard from which large quantities of grapes are 
annually gathered. The home is a fine, large 
two-story frame building which is much better 
and more ornamental than the average house. 

In 1866 he married Lillie La Due, daughter 
of Joshua La Due, a prominent resident of the 
town of Portland. They have three children, 
one son and two daughters: Charles J., Lena, 
wife of Clarence Arnold, an enterprising and 
pushing young man of Portland ; and Addie L. 
George W. Marsh is a republican and has 
held the office of town-clerk and assessor-^ — the 
latter for nine years, and has been secretary of 
the Grape-Growers" association ever since it 
was organized. Of a stirring and philanthropic 
disposition Mr. Marsh is one of Portland's most 
prominent men. 



QLFKED PALMER, is a son of Solomon 
-**■ and Hannah (Williams) Palmer, and was 
born October 17, 1809, in the town of Daven- 
port, Delaware county, New York. His grand- 
father was Solomon Palmer, Sr., a native of 
Litchfield, Conn., where he conducted a wagon- 
shop, married and reared six children, and died. 
Thomas Williams was the maternal grandfather, 
also a native of Connecticut. He was one of 
those " Yankees " who went to the Wyoming 
Valley and settled on its fertile lands, prior to 
the Revolutionary war. Being a mill-wrioht bv 



trade, he built a mill, the site of which is now 
occupied by another. It too is over eighty years 
old and is fast going into decay. He married 
and had four children, one of whom, Thomas, 
was a lieutenant in the little band that went 
forth to meet Butler and his Indians, above 
Forty Fort, and were slain on July 3, 1778, 
less than a score escaping. Thomas Williams, 
Sr., although not in the battle, was slain in the 
horrible massacre that followed the fight and 
which has come down in history to be known 
as the Wyoming Massacre. Mrs. Williams 
and her thi-ee small children became much 
alarmed some days before the fight and started 
over the mountains from Wilkes Barre to go to 
her former home in Conuecticut, a distance of 
three hundred miles. She escaped the vigilant 
eyes of the Indian scouts and after terrible 
hardships, lasting several weeks, she reached 
her destination in safety. 

Solomon Palmer (father) was born in Litch- 
field about 1775, and died in Delaware county. 
New York, in 1817, having married Hannah 
Williams, one of the children who made the 
perilous trip mentioned above, in 1796. He 
kept a hotel in Delaware county, and during 
the war of 1812 he was in the recruiting ser- 
vice of the American government. He was a 
federalist and a member of the Methodist church. 
The fruit of his union M'as five sons and three 
daughters. 

Alfred Palmer was left an orphan when but 
nine years of age, and as he was obliged to pro- 
vide his own sustenance, opportunities for an 
education were not plentiful, but he managed to 
secure a practical business knowledge with no 
other tutor or instructor than experience. He 
came to the town of Ripley when si.xteen years 
of age, and worked as a day and monthly la- 
borer for three years and then engaged in carry- 
ing the mail between Westfield and North East, 
Pa. Following this he went to Oswego county, 
this State, and engaged in lumbering. Return- 
ing to Ripley he bought a tract of land and 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



cleared up three farms. He then went into the 
fanning-iuill business as an agent which he con- 
tinued six years. Succeeding this he was a con- 
stable and deputy sheriff under Sheriff Muzzey. 
He then began his most extensive business 
operations in lumbering, owning several saw- 
mills up Lo 1857, when he entered mercantile 
life at Ripley. Mr. Palmer erected a fine large 
store building, which he occupied until 1885, 
when, having reaehed seventy-six years of age, 
he retired from active business and has since 
lived in retirement. 

On July 26, 1829, he married for his first 
wife Sophia Osborne, a daughter of Philip Os- 
borne, of Oswego county, and had eigiit chil- 
dren : Permelia, born in Granby, N. Y., October 
6, 1830, died young; Cornelia, born May tt, 
1832, married Benjamin Christy, who was a 
farmer in the town of Ripley; Sylvester, born 
April 20, 1834, died when three years old ; Lo- 
renzo, born February 9, 1830, died young; 
Alfred D., born June 27, 1837, is a boot and 
shoe dealer at Sharpsville, Pa.; Frank L., born 
April 9, 1840, died an infant; Sophia, born 
September 3, 1842, married John W. Morri.s, a 
merchant in Ripley; Chloe, born July 26, 1844, 
died September 9, 1889, was the wife of A. B. 
Lacey, of New Wilmington, Pa., and Asa, born 
February 11,1 847, djed in 1 863. Mrs. Palmer 
died March 25, 1848, and Mr. Palmer married 
for his second wife Mrs. Catherine Rogers [nee 
Christy), who was born in July, 1813, and who 
died on May 25, 1870. He married for his 
third wife, in 1871, Adaline Siggins, a daugh- 
ter of John Siggins of Ripley, N. Y., who was 
born July 10, 1830, and died on July 19, 1884. 
He then married Mrs. Betsey M. (Smallwood) 
Skiff, a daughter of William Smallwood, one of 
the first settlers of Wyoming county, with whom 
he is now living. 

Politically iNlr. Palmer is a republican and 
was the first avowed abolitionist in the town of 
Ripley. Mr. Palmer is a strictly temperate 
man and with his wife is a member of the 



Methodist church, having for over fifty years 
been the steward and at times trustee, and lay 
delegate to the annual conference. 

mILL,IAJ>I T. CLARK, The late Wil- 
liam T. Clark, one of the reliable cit- 
izens and prosperous farmers of the town of 
Ellicott, was a son of William and Anna (Mar- 
tin) Clark, and was born in Chautauqua coun- 
ty, New York, November 24, 1825. His pa- 
ternal grandfather, William Clark, Sr., married 
Jeannette Thompson, who was a native of 
Scotland, and came from that country to New 
York with Mrs. Agnes (Thompson) Prender- 
gast. One of their sons was William Clark, 
the father of the late William T. Clark, and 
who was a life-long resident of New York. 

William T. Clark was reared on the old 
homestead farm in the town of Ellicott, where 
he was engaged in farming and stock-raising 
until his death, March 25, 1878, at fifty-three 
years of age. He was a .substantial citizen, an 
industrious farmer and a strong republican in 
]jolitics. He was a Sir Knight of a Masonic 
Coramandery, had been for several years a mem- 
ber of the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, 
and his remains lie interred in Levant ceme- 
tery. 

He married Nancy S. Chandler, of this coun- 
ty. They were the parents of two children : 
James P., a member of the grocery firm of 
Clark & Jones, of Jamestown, and a prominent 
(irange advocate, who married Anise Washburn, 
and owns two hundred acres of good land ; and 
Annie, who married H. L. Fairbank, and died 
leaving three cliildren : Harvey C, Henrietta 
and Emily N. 

Mrs. Nancy S. Clark, who resides in James- 
town, is a daughter of Wocdley W. Chandler, 
who was born in Virginia, February 14, 1800, 
and came to Jamestown about 1820. He was 
engaged for a short time in the lumber business 
and then built a carding and cloth-dre.ssing es- 
tablisiiment on the site of the present woolen 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



flictory of Preston & Bradshaw. After some 
years he retired from the woolen business, and 
removed to Levant, where he died on his farm, 
April 22, 1854. Mr. Chandler was a promi- 
nent citizen as well as an early settler of the 
county. He married Phoebe Winsor, daughter 
of Abraham Winsor, an old and highly respect- 
ed resident of Ellicott. Mr. and Mrs. Chand- 
ler were the parents of six children : Phebe 
Pardee, wife of James Pardee ; Gen. Martin 
S., an active republican of Redwing, Minne- 
.sota, who served twenty-two years as sheriff'of 
the county of Goodhue, and afterwards was sur- 
veyor-general of Minnesota ; John W., who 
also resides at Redwing, and was formerly en- 
gaged in the folding department of the House 
of Representatives ; Nancy X., the widow of 
the subject of this sketch ; Winsor A., a jewel- 
er, who died in Erie, Pa. ; and Williamson B., 
a Union soldier of the late war, who was taken 
pri-soner, exchanged and discharged for physical 
disability in 1863, after which he bought a 
ticket for California, but has never been heard 
of since by his peojjle. 



TOHX LANGFORI>, a ]-eal estate dealer, 

^ and one of the older busine.ss men of 
Jamestown, was born in Wales, May 20, 1822, 
and is a son of John, Sr., and Rebecca (Rob- 
erts) Langford. His paternal grandfather, Ed- 
ward Langford, was a life-long resident of 
Wales. He married and one of his children 
was John Langford, Sr., the fiither of the sul)- 
ject of this sketch. John Langford, Sr., like his 
father before him, made the' land of his nativ- 
ity the land of his life-long residence. He died 
in 1846, aged fifty-nine years. He was an in- 
dustrious man and married Rebecca Roberts. 
They were the parents of nine children, four 
sons and five daughters : Edward ; Ann, dead ; 
Merab, deceased ; John, Elizabeth, now a resi- 
dent of St. Louis, Missouri ; Mary, who died 
at an early age ; Sarah, who lives in Jamestown ; 
Thomas, a painter by trade, and now a resident 



of Baltimore, Maryland ; and Rebecca, now de- 
ceased. 

John Langfurd was reared in his native coun- 
try, and was carefully trained to good business 
methods. He received his education in the 
rural schools of Wales, and was variously en- 
gaged imtil he was twenty-eight years of age, 
when, in 1850, he embarked on board a vessel 
bound for America. After landing at New 
York he pushed westward in the Empire State 
until he arrived in this county, where he has 
resided ever since in the city of Jamestown. 
He was formerly in the meat business, but of 
late years has been engaged in farming and 
dealing in real estate. He has been successful 
in business life, and now owns two good farms, 
one of which is situated in the town of Elli- 
cott, and the other lies in the adjoining town of 
Ellery. Since coming to the United States, 
Mr. Langford has supported the principles of 
the Democratic party, although he has never 
allowed political ujatters to engage any of the 
time that rightfully belongs to his business af- 
fairs. 

On June 28, 1854, he married Laura Heath, 
daugiiter of James Heath, and a native of 
Chautauqua county, N. Y. They have five 
children, one .son and four daughters : Anna, 
wife of George Maltby, now superintendent ot 
the Jamestown street rail-way ; Mary ; Re- 
becca ; Edward, a jeweler of Jamestown, who 
married Mattie Lakin ; and Blanche. 



HOXOKABLK THEODOKE A. CASE, a 
banker and sterling citizen of the town of 
Ellington, is a son of Salmon T. and Sophia 
(Ayers) Ca.se, and was born June 17, 1841. 
His father was originally a citizen, as well as a 
native of Massachusetts, but at a very early day 
moved west to the county of Chautauqua, New 
York, where he purchased land and took up his 
residence in the town of Ellington. His father's 
experiences there were those of the pioneer set- 
tler ; he cleared, improved and tilled until his 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



farm was brought into a fair state of cultivation 
and productiveness, so that those who might 
succeed him would be spared the privations and 
inconveniences incident to pioneer life. His 
earthly career ended in 18G4, when, at the age 
of fifty- four, he serenely passed away. Salmon 
T. Case was a Calvinist of the strictest type and 
a life-long member of the Presbyterian church. 
In politics he was first a whig and then a re- 
publican, under both of which parties he held 
local offices. He was a man of fine intellectual 
attainments, and when young engaged in the 
vocation of school teaching. He was an invet- 
erate reader, and always endeavored to keep 
fully abreast of all the issues then agitating tlie 
political, literary and social world. Grandfatiier, 
Eliphalet Case, also born in the " Bay State," 
aud removed to Chautauqua county, shortly 
after the arrival of his son. His occupation 
was that of farmer, which claimed his life-long 
attention. In the year 1847 he died at the age 
of eighty-two. The Cases are of English de- 
scent, and came to America during the coloniza- 
tion of the New England States. Our subject's 
mother was born in Massachusetts, and died in 
September, 1890, at the age of seventy-seven 
years. 

Theodore A. Case passed his childhood and 
youth upon his father's farm, alternating his 
time in school and farm duties. His education 
in the district schools was supplemented by a 
course of study at the Ellington academy, upon 
the completion of which he entered the law- 
office of Hon. Obed Edson, of Sinclairville, with 
a view to fitting himself for the profession of 
the law. In 18C2 he left the law office and en- 
listed in Company G, 9th New York Cavalry, 
as a private, and served till the close of the 
civil war. He was wounded by a minie-ball at 
the battle of Old Church, Virginia, on the day 
preceding the battle of Cold Harbor, May 30, 
18G4, but soon i-esumed his place in the i-egi- 
ment and took part in all subsequent engage- 
ments. After returniim- from the war, he fin- 



ished the study of law with Hon. Charles B. 
Green, of Chautauqua county, and was admitted 
to practice before the various courts of New 
York State in June, 1871. Mr. Case first 
opened an office in Ellington, where he continued 
to practice until 1880, when he engaged in 
private banking business in his native village. 
He has practically given up the law, and now 
devotes his time to banking interests. Politi- 
cally Mr. Case is a republican, aud for some 
eight or nine years was a member of the board 
of Supervisors of Chautauqua county. In 187G 
he was elected to succeed Hon. Obed Edson as 
a member of the New York Legislature, and 
served in that capacity with honor and distinc- 
tion for two years, 1876-77. 

He was united in marriage in 18(35 to Miss 
Lucy, daughter of Allen Bagg, of Ellington. 
Mr. and jNIrs. Case have one daughter, Cora E., 
married to Clyde C. Hill, of Clymer, Chautau- 
qua county. 

Theodore A. Case is an attendant of and 
contributor to the Methodist Episcopal church, 
and member of the A. O. U. W., of which he 
has been twice elected Grand Master for the 
State of New York, and for four consecutive 
terms Supreme Overseer of the Supreme Lodge, 
composed of the United States and Canada. He 
is a man of fine address, great versatility and 
withal a marked geniality, and as a citizen, as 
an advocate, as a man, enjoys the entire confi- 
dence and respect of his fellow-citizens. 



FLINT BLANt'HAKD. Among the most 
prominent farmers and business men of 
the town of Ellicott must be placed Flint Blan- 
chard, whose name heads this sketch. He was 
ushered into this life in the town of Wales, Erie 
county, New York, October 17, 1825, and is 
the son of Amos and Eunice (Flint) Blanchard. 
The grandfather of Flint Blanchard, whose 
name was Caleb Blanchard, claims, as the place 
of his nativity, the village of Antrim, New- 
Hampshire ; and liere, also, amid the granite 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



hills, beautifully set with nestling lakes and 
ragged peaks, he finished the toils of life and 
passed out into the mystic i-ealms beyond. His 
life was one of uprightness, honesty and sim- 
plicity, which attributes were not only inherent 
in his nature but also extended out into all iiis 
business transactions and relations. In occupa- 
tion he was engaged in the operation of a farm, 
merchandising and the allied branches of busi- 
ness. Tlie fither of our subject, Amos Bian- 
chai-d, was born in the town of Antrim in the 
year 17'J9, and died Juue 16, 1891. He came 
to Erie county, New York, about 1824, and re- 
moved from there to the town of Ellicott, 
Chautauqua county, in 1834, wiiere he resided 
until the time of his death. He purchased a 
large farm and has devoted his life to its im- 
provement and operation. Mr. Bianchard was 
a democrat in politics, and in religion a devoted 
member of the First Presbyterian church of 
Jamestown, in which he held tiie oifice of dea- 
con. His marriage resulted in the birth of 
eight children, seven boys and one girl. 

Flint Bianchard received his education in the 
common schools of his native town and the 
academy at Jamestown. In early life he de- 
voted several years to school teaching and at a 
later period took up the occupation of farming 
and dairying, in which business he is now en- 
gaged. He owns a farm of three hundred 
and seventy-five acres in the town of Ellicott, 
in a high state of cultivation and productive- 
ness. He has always cast his fortunes, politic- 
ally, with the Democratic party, and has de- 
voted much time and energy in party work. 
He has been a candidate for State Assembly 
and also for the Senate, and, although he suf- 
fered defeat, succeeded in reducing the republi- 
can majority from eight thousand to two thou- 
sand six hundred in the counties of Chautauqua 
and Cattaraugus, ^\'hen but twenty-one years 
of age lie was elected justice of the jwace. Mr. [ 
Bianchard is a member of the First Presbyterian 
church at Jamestown in iiigh standing, and for 



many years served as an elder. He is also a 
member of the Patrons of Husbandry. In his 
moral, social and business life Mr. Bianchard 
enjoys the esteem and confidence of his friends 
and fellow-citizens. Uniformly kind and cour- 
teous in his deportment toward those with 
whom he comes in contact, he is eminentlv de- 
serving of the epitliets genial and social. 

Flint Bianchard was united in marriage to 
Sarah Jane Allen, a daughter of Sumner Allen, 
of Jamestown, New York. To them were born 
seven children, five boys and two girls : Henry 
L. is at present a resident of the State of Wash- 
ington, a lawyer by profession (having gradu- 
ated from the College of Law at Seattle) but 
more largely engaged in lumbering and manu- 
facturing than in the active practice of his pro- 
fession ; Charles, a farmer, lives in Ellicott ; 
Jennie D., died when quite young ; Dr. Robert 
Newland, a practicing physician of Jamestown, 
New York (see his sketch); Mary E., married 
Fred A. Bentley, vice-president of Chautau- 
qua County National Bank, and lives at Lake 
Wood ; Amos F., a graduate of Buffalo Medical 
College, and now a practicing physician in 
Frewsburg, New York ; and Clarence, dead. 



"JOICKXELL D. FENTOIV, an industrious 
ftirmer and respected citizen of the town 
of Ellicott, was a son of Captain Berry B. and 
Fanny (Demming) Fenton, and was born in 
the town of Ellery, Chautauqua county, New 
York, September 12, 1816. The Fentons are 
of English extraction, and are descended from 
four Fenton brothers who were Puritans and 
came from England to New England, where 
they settled in a very early day. Berry B. 
Fenton (paternal grandfather), a descendant of 
one of these brothers, was a life-long resident 
of Saratoga county, this State. He was a 
democrat, married, and had two sons. Captain 
Berry B. and Thomas, and four daughters. 
Captain Berry B. Fenton, in all probability, 
was born in the town of Greenfield, Saratoga 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



county, and in February, 1816, came to the 
town of Ellery, where he purchased fifty acres 
of laud of the Holland Land company, near 
Chautauqua Lake. He was a farmer by occu- 
pation, a democrat in politics, and commanded 
a comjiany in the State militia for several 
years. He married Fanny Demming, and 
reared a family of four sons and three daugh- 
ters: Bicknell, Almira, Lodica, Hibbard, Dan- 
iel, Barry and Fannie. 

Bicknell D. Fenton obtained a practical 
English education for himself in the primitive 
backwoods schools of his day, and was engaged 
in farming until 1852, excepting three years 
spent in the mercantile business at De Witt- 
ville. He then went back to Ellery, and 
owned a farm of two hundred and fifty acres, 
kept a dairy of from thirty to forty cows, living 
there till 1867; then came to Jamestown, and 
remained here until 1870, when he purchased 
the farm of seventy-six acres in the town of 
Ellicott, upon which his widow now resides. 
Mr. Fenton was a republican in politics, and 
had been a member of the Patrons of Hus- 
bandry for some years. He was fi'ugal, indus- 
trious and careful. He was prosperous as a 
farmer, and successful as a business man. He 
died on July 11, 1889. 

He married Cordelia A. Ide, daughter of 
Thomas and Laura (Chamberlain) Ide. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Fenton were born five children: 
George T., formerly a hardware dealer, but 
now treasurer of a loan association in James- 
town, who married Lelia Yates, and has I wo 
chihlren, — Louis G. and Lucy; Laura, born in 
1847, and died in 1854 ; Fannie, who married 
O. H. Carpenter, a farmer and dairyman of 
Ellery, and has four children, — Belle A., Edith 
C, Janie and Lelia ; Eugene S. and Edward 
L., ^yho both died in childhood, and Hibbard, 
who died in 1876, aged nineteen years. 

Mrs. Cordelia A. Fentou's father, Thomas 
Ide, was a native of the town of IMilton in 
Saratoga county, and came in ls20 to the town 



of Aurora, Erie county; in 1834 came to 
Ellery, where he died in 1851. He was a 
j)rosperous farmer and good citizen. He was 
married three times. His first wife was Debo- 
rah Eldridge, who bore him four children, and 
after her death he married Sarah Howe, by 
whom he had one daughter. For his third 
wife, he married Mrs. Laura (Chamberlain) 
Scofield, widow of Seth Scofield. By his third 
marriage he had five children : Chauncey, Cor- 
delia A. (Mrs. Fenton), George, Henry and 
Seth, who died in infancy. Mrs. Fenton re- 
sides on the farm owned by her husband at his 
death, where she lives in comfort, and intelli- 
gently and successfully manages all of her 
farming operations and business affairs. 



T4|ILLIA3I F. L. F. REKD, one of the 

^'^ leading manufacturers and citizens of 
Chautauqua county, is descended from a long 
line of Reeds prominently identified with the 
early military and political struggles of Colonial 
and National America. He is the son of Wiley 
Hamilton and Margaret Lockhart (Wilkey) 
]\eed, and was born in the capital city of Ottawa, 
Canada, June 16, 1844. His paternal grand- 
parent, John Savage Reed, was a native of 
Massachusetts, and in the early part of his 
career emigrated to the town of Mexico, Os\vego 
county. New York, where he lived the remain- 
der of his life and died. He was a man of good 
education, a lawyer by profession and a success- 
fid practitioner. His sympathies were with the 
Whig party — the prevailing party of that time 
— to which he gave earnest and liberal sujjport. 
Under the whig administration he was created 
a magistrate, which office he filled with marked 
efticieiicv. He served in the War of 1812, 
while many years before his father had served 
as a genera] in the Revolutionary war. His 
grandfather had been a soldier in the English 
army with the rank of colonel, in the old French 
and Indian war, took ])art in the engagements 
at liuebec and Louisburg, and, in fact, the entire 



UF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Canadian campaign. His father, General Reed 
of Revolutionar}- feme, was once the recipient 
of certain overtures from tlie British commander 
to desert tiie colonial cause and deliver np certain 
strongholds wiiieh he held — being offered ten 
tiiousand pounds as an inducement. But with 
iiaughty indignation at the very thought of dis- 
loyalty, he proudly made the repl}^ long since 
passed down in history, " I am poor, very poor, 
my all has been given to the cause of colonial 
freedom, but I thank God that King George is 
not rich enough to hire me to desert the cause 
of the colonies." The reply was indicative of 
the man. Loyal to the very core in moments 
of darkest National gloom, loving country and 
a free, untrammeled system of democratic insti- 
tutions more than home or life or fame, he lias 
justly merited the universal respect of those who 
now enjoy the blessings and security of self- 
government. The father of our subject is a 
native of the State of New York, born in the 
town of Russia, Herkimer county, in the year 
1807. He afterward removed to Ottawa, 
Canada, and died in Packenham in 1859. He 
learned the trade of tanner, and afterward 
engaged quite extensively in the manufacture of 
leather. In matters of politics he was a whig 
adherent, and. in religion a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. His marriage to 
Miss Wilkey, who died in 1890, resulted in the 
birth of nine children, three boys and six girls. 
Two of the -sons died young, and only one 
daughter is now living, her home being in 
Brockville, Ontario. 

W. F. L. F. Reed received a common school 
and academic education, worked witii his father 
and learned the trade of tanner and currier. In 
May, 1886, he came to Chautauqua county, 
New York, and purchased what was known as 
the old Martin tannery, at Smith's Mills, tiien 
owned and operated by Martin & Co., of Buffalo, 
New York. Since purchasing he has newly 
equipped the works, and nearly doubled their 
capacity both for manufacturing and storing 



leather, placing the tannery easily at the head 
of that industry in Chautauqua county. The 
firm, which is known as Nast & Reed, employs 
about thirty men the year round, and pays out 
yearly wages to the amount of fifteen thousand 
dollars. The annual output of the tannery is 
about fifty thousand sides of leather, most of 
which is shipped to Boston. The dry-house is 
a large building, one hundred and ten feet bv 
forty feet, and three and a half stories in height. 
The main building of the establishment is about 
one hundred and seventy-five feet long by 
seventy-five feet in width, part of which is 
three and a half stories in height and joart one 
and a iiaif. In addition to these there are large 
accessory buiklings for finishing, etc., eqnipped 
with the latest improved machinery, offices and 
storage houses for bark — altogether a singularly 
complete plant. Mr. Reed is politically a demo- 
crat, and, while at Hornelisviiie, was a member 
of the board of education. He is also a Free 
and Accepted Mason, belonging to the Consistory 
at Dunkirk (of which he is a charter member), 
Blue Lodge, Council and Commandery. Mr. 
Reed united in marriage with Margaret Louisa 
Prindle, of Hornelisviiie, N. Y., to whom has 
been born three children : Josephine P., Charles 
M. and Ernest J. 



X >-ICTOK A. ALBKO is a son of James R. 
^ and Sophronia (Taylor) Albro and was 
born October 10, 184C, in Wcstfield, Chautau- 
qua county, New York. His grandfather, John 
Albro, was a resident for many years of Catta- 
raugus county, tliis State, but emigrated to 
Wayue county, Illinois, where he died. He 
was a hotel-keeper and served as a soldier in 
the war of 1812, participating in the battle of 
Fort Erie, August 15, 1814. In religion he 
was a methodist. John Albro was married to 
Martha Morrison, by whom he had six children, 
four sous and two daughters. The maternal 
grandfather of V. A. Albro was Thomas Tay- 
lor. James R. Albro (father) was born in 



418 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



June, 1812, and in 1838 came from Gowanda, 
Cattaraugus county this State, to "Westfield, i-e- 
mained tiiere a short time, returned to Catta- 
raugus county, and after awhile came back to 
this county, locating at Fredouia, going thence 
to Sherman. He was by occupation a cloth 
dresser and carder and also a fine penman, 
having taught writing schools. In politics he 
w'as a republican, and in religion was, with his 
wife, a member of the Methodist church. 
James R. Albro married Sophronia Taylor and 
had four children, three of whom are living, 
two daughters and a son, Victor A. 

Victor A. Albro was educated in the common 
schools, learned the trade of a cabinet-maker 
and worked at it until 1862, when he enlisted 
in Com2)any E. 112th Regiment New York 
Volunteers, and served until the close of the 
war, participating in the siege of Suffolk and 
nearly all the battles in which his regiment ap- 
peared, but was never seriously wounded. 
After he was mustered out of service, he 
worked at his trade of cabinet-maker until 1867, 
when he went into the office of the county 
clerk, Charles L. Norton, as clerk, served 
through Norton's term and also through that of 
his successor, Richard Willing, and as special 
deputy clerk under Willing's successor, John 
R. Robertson, and his successor, Herman Six- 
bey, and again under Sixbey's successor, J. 
J. Aldrich, for two terms or six years. He 
served under T. D. Baldwin in the same office 
as deputy clerk and occupied the same position 
under A. H. Staffiard, continuing under the 
present administration of E. P. Putnam. In 
politics he is a republican, and besides his offi- 
cial position in the county clerk's office, he has 
served Mayville as town clerk for six consecu- 
tive terms. He belongs to Peacock Lodge, No. 
696, F. and A. M. ; to E. T. Carpenter Post, 
No. 308, G. A. R. ; and to Mayville Council, 
No. Ill, Royal Arcanum, all of Mayville. 

Victor A. Albro was married in 1866 to 
Maria Benson, a daughter of Thomas Benson, 



and by her had one child, a son, Frank E., 
married to Ruby Lonnen, and is in the hard- 
ware business in Mayville. The mother died 
January, 1868, and Victor A. Albro married 
for his second wife, Cordelia L. Kelsey, of 
Chautauqua. 



TT NDREW KELSEY JK. is a descendant 
■**- of one of the old settlers of Portland 
town, and the deed to the property he now owns 
shows no transfer on the I'ecorder's books since 
the original j^urchase. He is a son of Andrew 
and Elizabeth (House) Kelsey and, was born in 
this town July 18, 1829. Grandfather James 
Kelsey lived in bonny Scotland, enjoying the 
quiet and uneventful life of his people, but 
when the English had need of soldiers they 
took him among others to assist in subduing the 
rebelling colonies. He stoutly asserted that he 
would not fight against the Americans, and at 
the fii-st opportunity deserted the British forces 
and joined their opponents and fought through 
the war. At the close of the struggle he went 
to Massachusetts but died in Connecticut in 
1822, aged about seventy-five years. He mar- 
ried Catharine Brown and had a family consist- 
ing of four children, one son and three 
daughters. Andrew Kelsey, Sr., was born in 
Tyringham, Massachusetts, Augu.st 17, 1789, 
and came to Chautauqua county in 1811, set- 
tled in the town of Portland and took up ninety- 
six acres of land. The heavy work of clearing 
was at once commenced, but the next year, 
when the demand was made for men to whip 
the British the second time, he fought as his 
father had fought in the first struggle and work 
was, for the time being, discontinued. At the 
close of the war he returned to the farm and 
conducted it until 1858, when he died. Mr. 
Kelsey was a man of the strictest integrity, a 
member of the Congregational church and an 
old-line whig. He was industrious, economical 
and frugal and lived a life commendable in 
every respect. He married Elizabeth House, a 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



419 



dangliter of John House, who came from 
Rhode Island in 1816. She is an aunt to 
Cyrus House, whose biography appears under 
the head of Westfield town. She was born in 
Homer, Cortland couuty, New York and had 
the distinction of being the first female child to 
appear there. She died in 1864, aged seventy 
years. Mr. and Mrs. Kelsey raised a family 
consisting of eight children, three sons and five 
daughters. 

Andrew Kelsey, Jr., gained his practical 
education on the farm and his theoretical 
knowledge in the common school. Farming- 
has been his life-long avocation and to-day he 
owns seventy-one acres of as fine land as may 
be found within three miles of Westfield. Grape- 
gi'owiug is his delight and he now cultivates 
a fine vineyard. Mr. Kelsey never married. 
He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church and fills the office of trustee and class 
leader. 

He belongs to the Grange Society and is a 
member of the Prohibition Jjarty, being en- 
trenched in his convictions that they are right. 
He is a courteous gentleman, though he does 
not impose his ideas upon those who do not 
choose to hear them. At home he is pleasant 
and hospitable and has the regard and esteem 
of a large circle of friends. 



^SCAB L. PORTER, proprietor of one of 
^^ the leading general merchandise stores in 
Brocton, is a son of John N. and Nancy M. 
(La Bar) Porter, and was boru in the town of 
Portland, Chautauqua county, New York, Au- 
gust 26, 1853. His grandfather, Roland 
Porter, was a native of Oneida county, but 
came to Chautauqua county in 1819, and began 
to farm in the town of Pomfret. He was of 
Plymouth Rock extraction, (the first of his 
name coming to America and settling in Con- 
necticut about 1785). He died in 1818, aged | 
eighty-five years. He married Eliza Shepard 
and had four children, one of whom was John 



N. Porter (father), who was born in Chautau- 
qua county in 1825. When his father came to 
this county in 1S19, he with him worked upon 
the farm for a while. In 1852 he removed to 
the town of Portland, where he still lives, and 
engaged in farming and the growing of grapes. 
In 1851, he married Nancy M. La Bar, a native 
of Oneida county, who is still living, aged 
sixty-one years. They had three children. Mr. 
Porter is a Jacksonian democrat and is held in 
high esteem in his community, by his own 
jiarty as well as the republicans, and has filled 
the offices of justice of the peace and auditor of 
the town board. 

Oscar L. Porter was reared in Portland and 
received his education at the public schools and 
at the Fredonia Normal school and Eastman 
Business College, Poughkeepsie, N. Y. He 
secured a position as clerk with several firms, 
in general merchandising at Fredonia, where 
he remained four years. From Fredonia he 
came to Brocton and re-engaged as a clerk, this 
time with C. S. Ogden, in the same line of busi- 
ness, where he remained until 1887, when he 
saw that there was an opening in Brocton for 
another first-class general store, and embarked 
in that business on his own account. Mr. 
Porter is a sagacious business man and en- 
deavors to keep everything that his patrons 
may desire. He carries a large stock of the 
best goods and enjoys a good trade. A matter, 
too, in which he takes pardonable pride is that 
he has the confidence of his patrons. He car- 
ries everything usually found in a general 
store. Groceries, dry goods, clothing, boots 
and shoes, hats, wall-paper and carpets. 

In 1877, Mr. Porter married Lilian C. 
Ogden, of Brocton, and has three children: 
Edna A., Nettie A. and Ada M. 

He is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church and belongs to the Royal Templars of 
Temperance. Politically Mr. Porter is a repub- 
lican and takes deep interest in the politics of 
his section. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



i^SCAR F. PRICE, the present efficient 
^^ ma_yor of the city of Jamestown, Xew 
York, is a son of Addison -A. and Charlotte A. 
(Green) Price, and was born in that city, Sep- 
tember 11, 1840. The Price family have been 
citizens of the new world for more than a cen- 
tury and a half Our subject's great-grand- 
father, Stephen Price, was born in the State of 
New Jersey, December 28, 1758. He received 
a classical education and pursued the profession 
of school teaching nearly all his life ; in this 
capacity he went to the town of Homer, New 
York, and died there on the first day of June, 
1831. He purchased a farm at the latter place 
and the property remained in the family for a 
great many years. When America had her 
first struggle with England his patriotism im- 
])elled him to enlist in the colonial army, where 
he remained for seven years, serving nntil the 
close of the war. He married Elizabeth Hall, 
and reared a family of eight sous and five daugh- 
ters ; several of the former were engaged in our 
second war with the mother country. His 
father's maternal grandfather, Abraham Neff, 
was a native of Holland, born October 18, 
1772. He came to America and settled in 
Cortland county, New York, where he married 
Eunice Beckwith and reared a large familv. 
Charles Price, the paternal grandfather, was 
born in Clarendon, Morris county, New Jersey, 
April 20, 1786, and moved to Cortland county, 
this State, in 1817. Seven years later he came 
to Chautauqua county and settled in the town 
of Portland. In 1828 he moved to the town 
of Chautauqua, and in 1851 came to James- 
town, where he resided until his death, which 
occurred November 20, 1868. "When a young 
man he followed farming, but later iu life pur- 
sued carpenter work. Charles Price was first 
a democrat, then a whig and finally a republi- 
can. For twenty years he was a member of 
the Baptist churcii. He married Mary Neif, 
who W'as born October 18, 1792, and died No- 
vember 4, 1883. She bore him twelve chil- 



dren, of whom Addison A., subject's father, 
was the second child and the eldest son. 

Addison A. Price, who is now a prominent 
and respected citizen of Jamestown, was born 
in Cortland county, New York, June 26, 1814. 
He learned to be a carpenter, and came to 
Jamestown in 1839, where be has been one of 
our most active builders ever since. In 1866 he 
built the residence which he now occupies. He 
married Charlotte A. Green, a daughter' of 
David Green, of the town of Chautauqua. 
Their union was blessed with six children, the 
oldest being Oscar F. Mrs. Charlotte A. Price 
died some years ago. Addison A. Price erected 
many of the fine buildings in this city. 

Oscar F. Price spent his boyhood days in 
Jamestown and was educated in the common 
schools and at the academy of this city. He 
read law with Smith & Lakin for a time, but 
has given most of his attention to real estate 
transactions. He has been one of the largest 
house-builders in the city, and during the last 
twenty years has erected ujiwards of one hun- 
dred and fifty and sold them upon easy terms ; 
many of the people of Jamestown, who now 
own homes, secured them from ]Mr. Price, and 
upon terms so favorable that the cost was but 
little more than the paying of rent. 

In November, 1875, he united in marriage 
with Lizzie H. Osl>iirn,a daughter of Benjamin 
H. Osborn, of Butler, Penusylvania. His 
family consists of a wife and one daughter, 
Louise O., a young lady eleven years of age. 
He lives in his comfortable residence at the 
corner of Main and Sixth streets. Politically 
Jlr. Price is a republican, and has been un- 
wavering in his fealty to that jjarty since his 
boyhood days. Oscar F. Price has been for a 
number of years prominently identified with 
the official history of Jamestown. He was a 
member of the village board of trustees, serving 
in 1882-83 as its president. About this time 
he was elected for two successive terms a.s mem- 
ber of the State assembly, and when the city 




^^-^h^i^ C^ . CN ^^l/ZJCLc^-'x^-^^ . (/fi , 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



charter was granted, in 1886, he was chosen as 
the first mayor, and has been twice re-elected 
for the term of two years. Recognizing the 
demand for an economical city government, 
which was consi)icuous in the charter drawn by 
the citizens, Mayor Price has not sought for a 
brilliant administration, being content to con- 
duct the affairs of the city along the lines laid 
down by the frainers of the law. He has so 
far succeeded in this that a small indebtedness 
left to the city by the old village of Jamestown 
lias been paid off, and at the date of bis last 
annual message, in May, 1,891, the city was out 
of debt. In answer to a decided public senti- 
ment he rendered important service in helping 
to secure several amendments to the fundamen- 
tal law of ihe city which has enabled the mu- 
nicipality to put in an electric lighting plant. 
While Mayor Price has favored all public im- 
provements he lias been careful not to crowd 
them upon the people in advance of public sen- 
timent, and this intelligent con.servatism has 
inspired the public with the utmost confidence, 
and it is to this fact, largely, that is due to-day 
the strong sentiment in favor of other improve- 
ments. Those who had conceived the idea that 
a municipal administration was essentially ex- 
travagant have been forced to concede the con- 
trary, and they are ready to-day to follow the 
suggestions of Mr. Price in respect to public ne- 
cessities. He is modest, quiet and unassuming, 
but he has played an important" part in the his- 
tory of Jamestown's most rapid advancement, 
and has always stood ready to aid and encour- 
age all lines of private industries. It is con- 
ceded that there is no man more popular before 
the people in the city. He has probably erected 
more houses and done more to give Jamestown 
the name of " the city of homes " than any one 
man in Chautauqua county, and it is said of 
him that he never foreclosed upon a single 
individual except for the purpose of perfecting 
a title. 



22 



JOHN A. WATERHOUSE, M.D., a suc- 

^ cessful physician not now in active prac- 
tice and one of the pi-ogressive, enterprising 
citizens of Fredonia, was born at Pittsfield, 
Warren county, Pennsylvania, August 28, 
18o4, and is a son of Russell and Laura (Ford) 
Waterhouse. Russell Waterhouse comes of 
Englisii-(iuaker stock and is a cousin of Com- 
modore Oliver Hazard Perry, the hero ot 
Lake Erie. He is a native of New York, 
which he left in 1839 to become one of the 
pioneer lumbermen of Warren county. Pa., 
where he was continuously and successfully 
engaged in business until 1888, when be re- 
moved to Fredonia. He married Laura Ford, 
who is a native of Pennsylvania, and their three 
sons are physicians. Their children are : Dr. 
H. M., of Dunkirk; Drs. Thomas W. and 
John A., of Fredonia ; and Maud, wife of Rush 
Abbott, a prominent and leading lawyer or 
Tiffin, Ohio. 

John A. Waterhouse received his education 
principally at the Fredonia Normal school and 
from 1870 to 1874 was engaged in teaching in 
the public schools of New York and Pennsyl- 
vania. In 1874 he went to Portage, \Viscon- 
sin, where he commenced the study of medicine 
with his uncle, Dr. Marvin Waterhouse. After 
completing the required course of reading he 
entered the Eclectic Medical Institute, of Cin- 
cinnati, Ohio, from which he was graduated in 
1879. Immediately after graduation he estab- 
lished himself at Bay City, Michigan, where 
he conducted a good practice until 1884, when 
he removed to Minneapolis, Minnesota, as a 
wider field for the practice of his profession, 
but at the close of one year on account of ill 
health, left a finely established practice to come 
to Fredonia. He soon grew into a good prac- 
tice but on account of ill health he was com- 
pelled to retire from the active pursuit of his 
chosen profession. While at Bay City he 
founded the American Hospital Company whose 
object was to jtrovide houses and pro]ier care 



424 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



for the lumber workers in Michigan, Wiscon- 
sin and jNIinnesota and did one hundred thou- 
sand dollars worth of business in 1882. Dr. 
AVaterhouse is a republican in politics. 

On June 4, 1879, he married, in Detroit, 
Michigan, Rose Kimball, daughter of Edward 
Kimball, of Puritan stock and a native of 
Fredonia. Their union has been blessed with 
three children : John, Edward and Rose. 

For the last four years Dr. Waterhouse has 
been engaged in the oil business in Pennsylva- 
nia where he now owns eight thou.sand acres of 
oil land which is nearly all developed and 
which yields an annual income of about forty 
thousand dollars. The magnitude of the im- 
jiortant business in which he is a successful 
operator is scarcely realized by the public, 
although many millions of Ciijjital are invested 
in the development of the.se oil fields whose 
wells produce yearly hundreds of thousands of 
barrels of oil. Two years ago Dr. Waterhouse 
erected his present neat, tasteful and convenient 
residence, on Central avenue, where he and 
Mrs. W'aterhouse are always happy to welcome 
their many friends. 



sons: John T., Dennis F., Edward, Wil- 
liam J., and James W^., all living at home. 

John Madigan is a member of the Catholic 
church ; and starting as he did, without capital 
and almost friendless in a strange country, has 
aciiieved a successful sunset to an honorable 
career. 



TOHX MADItrAN, a iiromincnt lumber 
^ dealer of Dunkirk, New York, and at 
present Collector of Customs for the Port of 
Dunkirk, is a native of County Limerick, Ire- 
land, a son of Dennis and Hannah (Cusick) 
Madigan, and was born June 25, 1829. Den- 
nis Madigan and his ancestors for generations 
were natives of County Limerick, Ireland. 

John ]\Iadigau was reared in Rathkeale, 
County Limerick, remaining there until attain- 
ing eighteen years of age and receiving such 
education as the schools permitted. 

He is a life-long democrat. His present office 
of Collector of Customs was given him by 
President Cleveland, August 18, 1887. 

In February, 1859, Mr. Madigan married 
Margaret Miers, a native of County Clare, 
Ireland, and they have five living children, all 



O A3IUEr. GKIFFITH is one of the substan- 

*^ tial, intelligent and enterprising citizens 
of the town of Ellington. His parents, Sam- 
uel and Nancy (Lewi.s) Griffith, at the time of 
his birth, March 23, 1808, were residents of 
Madison county, New York. Samuel Griffith 
(father) was a native of Rensselaer county, 
New York, and was born in the same year that 
his country became a free and independent na- 
tion, 1776. His career was marked by a series 
of removals and residences. In 1800 he be- 
came a citizen of Madison county and from 
thence removed to Chautauqua county and loca- 
ted in what is now the town of Busti, but at 
that time an undivided expanse of territory. 

Here he took up land and continued to re- 
side for thirteen years, at the expiration of 
which, he again changed his residence to the 
town of Ellery,' and in LSSo removed to Gerry, 
where he died in 1855, at the age of eighty 
years. Samuel Griffith was a farmer of indus- 
try and hone.sty ; during the existence of the 
Whig party he cast his support in its behalf, 
but when the Republican party was given birth, 
he allied himself with that party. The Grif- 
fiths on the paternal side are of Welsh descent, 
while the wife of Samuel Griffith was of New 
England birth and edusation; she died in 18G0 
at the age of eighty-four years. 

Samuel Griffith was reared upon his father's 
farm in Chautauqua county, where he also at- 
tended school, receiving a fair common school 
education. Upon leaving school he was ap- 
2)renticed to a mill-wright, learned that trade, 
and continued to work at it for ten years. 
About this time he turned his attention to 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



427 



farming, wliich he has continued most of the 
time since. In 1861, subject moved from Ger- 
ry to Ellington, where he now lives in practical 
retirement. 

On February 15, 1841, Mr. Griffith was 
joined in marriage to Miss Eliza Pardee, a 
daughter of Augustus Pardee, formerly a resi- 
dent of INIontgomery county. New York. Tliey 
are the parents of three children, all daughters: 
Emily, Adelaide and Elsie. The daughters 
are still living and married. 

He belongs to the Grangers and has been a 
life-long supporter of the Republican cause. 
In the matter of dealing out offices, he has re- 
ceived his share as well, having served as super- 
visor for a period of six years in the' towns of 
Ellington and GeiTy. Mr. Griffith is an excep- 
tionally well preserved man for his age, which 
to a great extent must be attributed to the non- 
use of tobacco in any form. He, however, be- 
longs to a family remarkable for longevity, 
having one sister ninety-one years of age and 
three others whose ages will average about 
eighty years. Mr. Griffith has an unusual \ 
memory in connection with his past experiences i 
and incidents of early life. He has been a 
careful and continual reader of local and tradi- 
tional history, as well as of contemporaneous 
occurrences and issues, and in these respects 
possesses a fund of information of rare value 
and detail. 



T FR.^lXK SCOTT, an enterprising mer- 
^ • chant in the village of Portland, is a 
son of William H. and Sarah (Beck) Scott, and 
M'as born in the town of Gerry, Chautauqua 
county. New York, April 6, 1860. He comes 
from an old Scotch family, his grandfather. 
Rev. John Scott, having come to America 
from that country in 1818. Rev. John Scott was 
born in 1793. He was educated for the minis- 
try and was ordained in the Methodist Episcopal 
church. Upon his arrival in the new world he 
came to Chautauqua county and had a large 



circuit. He died in 1861, aged sixty-eight 
years. William H. Scott was born in the town 
of Chautauqua, in 1833, where he lived for 
many years, but now makes his home in the 
town of Gerry where he is a farmer. Since the 
organization of the board of trade at Sinclair- 
ville in 1881, he has been its president. Mr. 
Scott identifies himself with the Republican 
party and has been a supervisor of the town of 
Gerry three terms. In 1856 he married Sarah 
Beck, a native of Pennsylvania. She is a 
daughter of John Beck and was born in 1836. 
She is a pleasant unassuming lady and a mem- 
ber of the Methodist Episcopal church. Mr. 
and Mrs. Scott were blessed with four children, 
two sons and two daughters. 

J. Frank Scott was reared on the farm and 
educated in the common schools. He followed 
agriculture until 1878 and then engaged as a 
general clerk in a stoi'e which employed him 
for several years. 1883-84 was spent in Ten- 
nessee where he was lumbering, and in April, 
1889, he embarked in the general mercantile 
business at Portland, which be is still follow- 
ing under the firm name of J. Frank Scott & 
Co. They have a large general stock and en- 
joy a good trade. 

In December, 1878, Mr. Scott married Cora 
Phillips, a daughter of A. J. Phillips, of Cat- 
taraugus county, this State, and they have one 
child: Bessie F., born in 1880. 

J. F. Scott is a republican, a member of the 
Knights of Pythias, Broctou Lodge, No. 284, 
and, with his wife, is connected with the Equit- 
able Aid Union. He is a bright business man, 
progressive, public-spirited and popular. 



TT3IO.S T. MEAD, JR., is one of those 

-■^'- farmers in Portland town who by energy, 
industry and frugality has become enabled to 
enjoy the sunset of life with pleasure and has 
no apprehension for the morrow. He is a son 
of Amos T. and Ann (Purdy) Mead, and was 
born in the town of Marcellus, Onondaga 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



county, New York, September 10,1823. Amos 
Mead (grandfather) was a native of Dutcliess 
county, this State, where he was born in 17G0. 
He moved to Chenango county in 1790, and 
about 1820 or '22 he went to Onondaga 
county, where he died in 1827. The family is 
of French extraction. While living in Che- 
nango county his son, Amos T. Mead (fsther) 
was born in the town of Norwich in 1792. In 
1822 the latter moved to Onondaga county ; 
eight years later he removed to Aurora, Erie 
county, and in 18.'>6 he came to Chautauqua 
county. He arrived at Ellery the day the land 
office was destroyed. Amos T. Mead remained 
in this county until 1845, when he removed to 
Versailles, Cattaraugus county, where he died 
in 1865. Farming had its charms for him and 
he always followed it. Politically Mr. Mead 
was a whig and served in the American army 
during the second war with the mother country. 
He married Ann Purdy in 1818. She was a 
native of Wyoming county, Pa., a member of 
the Baptist church and died in La Porte, Ind., 
in 1873. Her father was Stephen Purdy 
(maternal grandfather), who came from Pennsyl- 
vania to Chenango county, this State. He was 
a Revolutionary soldier and spent his last years 
tarming in Chenango county, N. Y., and died 
March 27, 1812, aged 61 years. He married 
Mary Pellett in 1792. She was at Forty Fort 
during the frightful Wyoming massacre and 
joined in the flight with the rest of the terror- 
stricken people when their men were defeated 
by the Tories and blood-thirsty Indian allies 
under Butler. Mrs. Mead now has part of a 
wedding dress which has been in the family 
over nine generations. It was buried July 4, 
1778, the day of the massacre at Wyoming, Pa., 
lay there seven years and has been handed 
down from parent to child for three hundred 
years, nearly two hundred before the incident 
mentioned above. They have been the parents 
of six children, three sous and three daughters. 
Amos T. Mead, Jr., came to Chautauqua 



county in 1836; was brought up on the farm 
and .secured his education at the public schools, 
supplemented by a course at the Fredonia 
academy. After leaving school he entered the 
office of the Mayvllle Sentinel in 1843. From 
there he went to the JEfie Observer and then to 
the Buffalo Express, following the business for 
about twenty years. In the fall of 1847 
Mr. Mead began the publication of the Con- 
neautville Courier, in Crawford county, Pa., 
which he conducted for one year. It started 
with good health and a strong constitution and 
continues to run with the same name and in- 
creased influence. In 1864 j\Ir. Mead moved 
on to his farm, which is located one mile from 
the village of Portland, where he now resides 
and is engaged in the culture of grapes. 

May 1, 1848, he was united in marriage 
with Achsa Buel, a daughter of John B. Buel, 
of Mayville, and they have been blessed with 
.six children, three sons and three daughters : 
Addle M., wife of Robert Burhans, who resides 
in Portland ; Ciiarles A., who also resides in 
Portland and is married to Minnie E. Hipwell; 
Will B., too, resides in this town and married 
Ella M. Williatiis; and Nettie I. The oldest 
child died Dec. 27, 1850, aged 20 months; the 
youngest child died SejJt. 2, 1888, aged 22 
years. 

Amos T. ]Mead, Jr., is a democrat and has 
tilletl a number of tiie ciiairs of the town execu- 
tives, notable, court-crier and constable. He 
takes an active interest in politics and is a 
member of the Equitable Aid Union and the 
Farmers' Alliance. He is an active, energetic 
man and has several times been a delegate to 
the county convention. 



TAfiLL 31. KOOT. The dairy business in 
-*"*- conneccion with farming has assumed 
mammoth proportions in western New York, 
and Chautauqua county in particular has be- 
come noted for its dairy products. Among the 
leading producers of this class in the town of 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Busti is Will M. Root, who is a son of William 
and Nancy A. (Draper) Root, and was born in 
this town March 8th, 1855. The first man 
named Root to locate in this county was Zed- 
dock Root, the paternal grandfather of our 
subject, of German extraction, who came here 
and bought a tract of laud from the Hol- 
land Land company, was a farnjcr, and died 
at the age of seventy-one. William Root is 
a native of this town, where he now resides. 
He is an extensive farmer and stock-raiser, and 
has passed his sixty-fifth year. He affiliates 
with the Republican j)arty, is stirring and 
energetic, keeps himself well posted upon cur- 
rent events, and has been a very successful 
business man. He married Nancy A. Drajier, 
M'lio was born in Genesee county, tliis State, in 
1S;31. 

Will ^I. Root was brought up on the farm, 
and, like many of our country's best men, was 
educated in the common schools. When he 
attained manhood he continued to do farm- 
work, and is now the owner of one hundred 
and thirty acres of well-improved land located 
three miles west of Jamestown, and upon it he 
pastures a fine herd of cows, from the milk of 
which he makes and prepares for market a 
superior quality of butter. He also handles 
creamery butter, being unable to supply his 
orders with his own product. 

He was married in 1879 to Rhoda J. Wil- 
cox, a daughter of A. P. Wilcox, living in 
Eusti. Their union has been blessed with three 
children— all daughters: Belle V., R. Ethel, 
and Lulu B. Mr. Root is a member of the 
A. O. U. W., and is active in the politics of 
his county. He belongs to the Republican 
party, and is now serving as county committee- 
man from the town of Busti. He is a leading 
citizen, and has the respect of all his acquaint- 
ances. 



J^OEL COLVIIV. The late Joel Colvin was 
a highly respected citizen and a prosperous 
farmer of Ripley. He was born in Danby, 
Vermont, January 29, 18J4, and was a son of 
Benajah and Ruth (Irisli) Colvin. The great- 
grandfather of Joel Colvin was Luther Colvin, 
who was born in Rhode Island about the mid- 
dle of the eighteenth century. He moved to 
Danby, Vermont, in 1765, and was the fourth 
settler in that section. There were no broken 
roads then, but the way was marked by niches 
l)eing cut in the trees and it was by this means 
he accomplished the journey. Upon his ar- 
rival there he constructed a cabin of logs in a 
hasty manner, and the winter coming on much 
suffering and hardship was endured. Pio- 
neer life in the wilds of Vermont during win- 
ter was about the most .severe that man could 
experience and survive, but his vigorous body 
and hardy constitution stood him in good 
stead until more comfortable quarters could be 
provided. The most trouble was the wolves 
that killed and carried off the sheep. To pre- 
vent this constant vigilance was necessary, and 
a strong pen was provided to protect them at 
night. 

Mr. Colvin stood high in the estima- 
tion of his friends and acquaintances, and was 
possessed of the strictest integrity. He mar- 
ried, and reared seven children, three sons and 
four daughters. Stephen Colvin was the grand- 
father of our subject. He was born in Danby, 
and married jNIary Merrithew, when he settled 
on his father's homestead and reared a family of 
eleven children, seven sons and four daughters. 
He died in 1804. Benajah Colvin was born in 
Danby in 1787, and as he developed, showed a 
fine and sturdy physique and a strong and sta- 
ble character. He was a successful man, and 
by careful management and good judgment 
amassed a competence. He was killed in 1867, 
when eighty years of age, while felling a tree 
in the woods. He married Ruch Irish, and had 
four children, three sons and one daughter. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



His first wife died, and he tiien married Han- 
nah Palmer, who bore him one daughter. 

Joel Colviu was educated in the public 
schools, and reared at Danby, Vermont. Tiiat 
he understood theoretical, as \vi\\ as practical 
farming, is shown by the competence he had 
accumulated when the grim reaper took him 
away on March 15, 1882. In 1869 he bought 
the fine property in Ripley where his widow- 
now resides. 

On September 25, 1835, he married Almira 
Staples, a daughter of Ellery Staples, and they 
had five children : Charles, married Mary 
Green, and lives in Vermont ; Ahira, fii'st mar- 
ried Hannah Kirk, and for his second wife 
took jNIary Wisner. He is in the grape-grow- 
ing business ; Albert N., married to Luella 
Cheney, is now a farmer in Ripley ; James, 
married Sarah Hardinger, now dead, lives in 
Ripley with his mother ; and Lizzie, wife of 
Charles Brown, a butcher at Ripley. 

Politically Mr. Colvin was a republican, but 
his gentle disposition and retiring nature much 
preferred the quiet of his home and the com- 
pany of his family, to the bustle and deceit of 
politics and the hilarious companions which 
often accompany it, so that he never entered 
political life. He passed away mourned and 
regretted by his family and a large circle of 
friends. 



JUDGE 1>ANIEL .SHEK3I.\]V. One who 
has held with credit during the last half 
century many offices of trust and responsibility, 
both by election and appointment, is Judge 
Daniel Sherman, the present surrogate of Chau- 
tauqua county. He is a son of Daniel and 
Eunice (Chxrk) Sherman, and was born in the 
town of Busti, Chautauqua county, New York, 
November 29, 1821. Judge Sherman's grand- 
father, Hum])hrey Sherman, was a Quaker 
resident of Amherst, Mass., where he mar- 
ried and roared a family of three sons and 
three dauirliters. The Clarks, like the Sher- 



mans, were of English descent, and the Judge's 
maternal grandfather, Henry Clark, was born 
and reared at Hoosick, N. Y. He was a farmer, 
a whig, a congregationalist. Daniel Sherman 
(father) was born in Amherst, Mass., in 1784 and 
came to what isnow Chautauqua county in 1816. 
He first settled on the site of Lakewood, in the 
town of Busti, where he purchased of the Holland 
Land company 415 acres of land, which he 
owned at his death. He was one of the first 
directors of the Chautauqua County Bank at 
its organization. The town of Busti was or- 
ganized in 1824, and he was its first supervisor, 
and continued to hold that office during six suc- 
cessive years, and was chairman of the Board in 
1828. His eldest daughter, Harriet, married 
Pardon Hazoltine, of Busti, who was super- 
visor from 1836 to 1840. His eldest son, 
Henry C, married Hepsaba Steward of Con- 
necticut, and was supervisor of Busti town from 
1841 to 1846. One son. Ebon G. Sherman, 
resides at Tidioute, Penna. Another son, My- 
ron C, married Harriet Robertson, is a thrifty 
farmer and resides on jmrt of the old Sherman 
homestead at Lakewood, has one son Edward. 
Another son, Humphrey, a physician, died 
many years ago at Stockton, leaving a widow 
residing in Frodonia. Daniel Sherman, Sen., 
was elected on the Anti-Masonic ticket .sheinfl" 
of Chautauqua county, and served as such from 
1828 to 1832. He died April 11, 1834, aged 
fifty years. 

Surrogate Daniel Sherman attended the James- 
town and Fredonia academies, and prepared in 
Burr Seminary, Vermont, for the sophomore class 
in college. Afterwards he read law with Haz- 
eltine & Warren, of Jamestown, was admitted on 
July 4, 1848, at the only general term of the 
Supreme Court ever held in Chautauqua county, 
as an attoruey-at-law, and has been engaged in 
the practice of his profession ever since, except 
when serving in some public capacity. lu 1851 
i he was elected on the republican ticket, as dis- 
trict attorney of C'liautauqua county, served in 




JjOlA^<-^^ <^ tiU^-y-iyi-'t^ /^i^-^ 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



433 



that office for three years and then became at- 
torney for the Seneca Nation of Indians, wliich 
position he iield for twelve years. He also 
served for many years as U. S. agent for the 
Six Nations of New York, by appointment of 
the President of the U. S. In 1882, when in 
the midst of an active practice, he was elected 
surrogate of Chautauqua county, and at the end 
of his term of six years he was i-e-elected for 
an additional term of six years, which will 
expire in 1894. He has conscientiously dis- 
charged the many duties of that office in an ac- 
ceptable manner to the public whose approval 
has been bestowed upon his labors as surrogate. 
April 28, 1852, he married Mary Colvill. 
They had five children : Daniel, who married 
Grace Greenwood, and is a prosperous farmer 
in Minnesota ; Elizabeth and Mary deceased ; 
William, a photographer ; and Julia D. Mrs. 
Sherman is a daughter of William Colvill, Jr., 
who was born in Scotland in 1797, had Thomas 
Carlyle for one of his teachers and came, in 
1820, with his father, to Forest ville. He mar- 
ried Mary Love, of Nashville, N. Y., and 
reared a family of five children, one of whom is 
Gen. William Colvill, receiver of the land office 
at Duluth, Minnesota, by appointment of Pres- 
ident Cleveland. He is a lawyer by profession, 
and went into the last war as captain of one of 
the companies of the 1st Minnesota regiment of 
Vols. He was successively promoted until he 
was brevetted brigadier-general for gallantry at 
Gettysburg, where he was severely wounded in 
the side and foot. On the second day of that 
great battle, just after General Sickles' corps 
had been routed by Longstreet and the latter 
was making his supreme effort to capture Little 
Round Top, the pivotal point commanding the 
field and the Union lines, General Hancock 
noticed where the Federal lines were break- 
ing, and ordered Col. Colvill's regiment to hold 
the breach, which they bravely did by one of 
the most brilliant charges of the war. Col. 
Colvill charged with two hundred and fortj- 



seven men, held the Rebel line in check until 
reinforcements came up, captured the enemy's 
colors, leaving 200 of his regiment killed and 
wounded on the field. The charge is justly 
noted as one of the most famous in history. 
After the war the people of Minnesota elected 
him attorney-general of the State, wliich office 
he held one year. 

Judge Sherman is a republican in polities, 
and an earnest friend of education. He aided 
in securing the annual State academic appropri- 
ation of one hundred and twenty-five thousand 
dollars in 1871 and 1872, served as town super- 
intendent for several years, and was president 
of the board of education of Forestville free 
academy over twenty years. While attorney for 
the Seneca nation, he sucoessfully secured in the 
court of appeals one of the true boundaries of 
their reservation, which had been decided ad- 
versely several times in the lower courts. He 
also acquired, in the same court, for the Seneca 
Indians, their title to the Oil Spring reserva- 
tion, which title had been omitted in the Big 
Tree treaty of 1798, and by this omission had 
passed through Morris to the Holland Land 
company and their grantees. 

In his address, delivered in Jamestown, Jan- 
uary 29, 1885, on "The Six Nations" before 
the Chautauqua Society of History and Natural 
Science, Judge Sherman threw light on many 
obscure points in the history of that won- 
derful Indian confederacy which he so ably and 
clearly traced, and especially in their past and 
present land ownership in western New York. 
In ponchuling his valuable and interesting ad- 
dress, he said : Tiiere is a public sentiment in 
this country that the Indian tribes are fast dying 
out. However this may be true with other In- 
dian tribes, it is not true as to the original Six 
Nations of New York. Statistics show the 
Six Nations in Canada, this State and the 
west to be increasing in population. They 
(statistics) show a vitality in this j)eople, 
emerging from barbarism to civilization, that is, 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



under all the adverse circumstances surround- 
ing them remarkable indeed, if not unprece- 
dented." 

Judge Daniel Sliernian gives untiring at- 
tention to his profession, and every case which 
he has tried always received his full and care- 
ful attention. The grasp of his mind is strong 
and comprehensive, and he is well-known for 
his patience, dignity and perspicuity, while 
his legal efforts are indicative of much re- 
search and discrimination. 



FRAXKLIX J. HOUGHTOX is a promi- 
nent advocate of the third part}' move- 
ment, who believes that practical temperance 
can soonest aud best be realized by statutory 
enactments prohibiting the manufacture, sale or 
use of intoxicants, and whose definition of tem- 
perance is moderation in things useful ; total 
abstinence of things harmful. He is a son of 
Thomas B. and Elizabeth (Lamphere) Hough- 
ton, and was born May 14, 1846, in Constable- 
ville, Lewis county, New York. His grand- 
father was Richardson Houghton, a native of 
Massachusetts, from whence he came to Lewis 
county aud engaged in farming. He aided the 
Whig party and married Sarah Bennett, tiie 
daughter of a prominent Revolutionary officer. 
They had four sons and two daughters. 
Thomas B. Houghton was born in Saratoga 
county, this State, in 1822. From there he 
emigrated to Lewis county about 1840. He 
married Elizabeth Lampiiere about the same 
time, and became the father of two sons and 
five daughters. He was a strong Union man ; 
no .sentiment for State rights found sympathy 
from him, and when the flag on Fort Sumter 
was desecrated by rebel shot and shell, he re- 
sponded to President Lincoln's call for three 
hundred thousand men. He entered Co. H, 
140th regiment, N. Y. Vol. Inf., and served 
three months, when he died of fever, November 
17, 1862. Thomas B. Houghton was a painter 
by trade, but enlisted as a farmer as he had 



been paying more attention to the latter for 
some years prior to entering the service. Polit- 
ically he favored the young Republican party. 
Mrs. Houghton is still living at Soutii Rijiley, 
being sixty-seven years of age. Of the sons, 
Henry R., entered the regular army after the 
close of the war, and was discharged in 1872. 

Franklin J. Houghton was educated in the 
public schools. At the age of eleven years he 
left home and began boating. In 1864 he 
joined Co. D, 89th regiment, N. Y. Vol. Inf., 
and served until sickness compelled his dis- 
charge. Upon leaving the service and recover- 
ing his health he worked at day laboring until 
1867. One year later he came to Chautauqua 
county and located in South Ripley, where he 
still lives upon a farm containing fifty-five 
acres of fine land. Mr. Houghton is a prohi- 
bitionist, having changed from the Democratic 
party some years ago. He has served as jus- 
tice of the peace for four years, and was post- 
master at South Ripley for two years. 

On September 9, 1869, he mai-ried Harriet 
E. Chace, daughter of James Chace, of Miua, 
and their union has resulted in the birth of 
two daughters : Gertrude, who married Fred 
Rundell, of Mina, and has one child, Harriet ; 
and Fannie E., now attending school. 

F. J. Houghton is a gentleman who makes 
many frieuds and posses.ses characteristics that 
retains them. 



TAI'ILLIA^I B. YOUXG has beeu a resident 

-*'*■ of Chautauqua county for nearly three- 
quarters of a century, and his fund of reminis- 
cences, if compiled and placed in hook form, 
would make an interesting volume. He is a 
son of Charles P. and Rebecca (Higbee) Young, 
and was born in tiie town of Chautauqua, Chau- 
tauqua county, New York, August 29, 1817. 
Joseph Young, the grandfather, of subject, was 
a native of Long Island, this State. He was 
an accomplished cabinetmaker and joiner, which 
he followed after his removal to Herkimer 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



county. He was twice married, first to Cliloe 
Griswold, and later to Elizabeth Short, both of 
whom bore him a total of fourteen children. 
They have all passed away excepting one, a 
child by his last wife. All lived to an .advanced 
age, longevity being a family trait. He was a 
member of the Methodist church and died in 
1837. Sylvester Higbee (maternal grandfather) 
came from Connecticut to the town of Ellery, 
where he died, was a deacon in the Baptist 
church and a whig. His wife was Esther Hines, 
by whom he reared fourteen children. Charles 
P. Young (father) was born iu 1790 at Killing- 
worth, Conn., and after a brief residence in both 
Herkimer and St. Lawrence counties he came 
to Chautauqua town iu 1812 and settled a short 
distance from Mayville, but in 1836 he moved 
over into Westfield, and again, in 1845, into 
Ripley, where he has .since lived. His son, 
William, bought a farm of seventy one acres, 
upon which it is supposed an Indian fort had 
stood. From graves and mounds Mr. Young 
secured a collection of Indian relics of extra- 
ordinary value. He was a democrat and served 
the town of Chautauqua two terms as justice of 
the peace. He was a prominent member of the 
Methodist church, and helped to organize the 
first M. E. society at Mayville, being the record- 
ing steward. He was al.so a soldier in the War 
of 1812. He married, first Rebecca Higbee, 
and had eight children who grew to maturity, 
but all are now dead, except four: Julia, mar- 
ried Harmon C. Wade, a farmer at Madison, 
Ohio ; Maria L., lives in Ripley, and is the wife 
of Philip A. Rice, who was formerly a wagon- 
maker but is now a farmer ; Rebecca H., widow 
of Samuel P. Howard ; and William B. For 
his second wife he united in marriage with Polly 
Hammond. He died on January 8, 1883. 

William B. Young was reared on his father's 
farm, and being the oldest son was accorded but 
poor educational advantages, his .services being 
needed at home. Through many adversities he 
mauaged to acquire enough, coupled to his 



natural bright intellect, to carry him successfully 
through life, and then learued the carpenter's 
trade, at which he worked until 1846. He re- 
built a saw-mill, and operated it for twenty-five 
years while timber was plentiful, and then dis- 
posing of it he engaged in farming and growing 
grai>es which he has since ])ursued. The prop- 
erty is beautifully located on the shore of Lake 
Erie, and includes a vineyard of seven and one- 
half acres. 

On December 25, 1846, he married Julia 
Beadle, a daughter of Hoel Beadle, who was 
born March 20, 1820, and died May 10, 1888. 
Mr. and Mrs. Young are the parents of three 
children, one son and two daughters: Julia A., 
born July 12, 1849, married Edwin M. Coidey, 
who is a prosperous and well-known farmer in 
the town of Ripley — they have one son, Charles, 
and two daughters, Bessie and Julia ; Mary S., 
born January 27, 1854; and William A., born 
June 4, 1859. 

W. B. Young has seen many changes in this 
great county. The first census taken after his 
advent into the county showed a population of 
twelve thousand, five hundred and sixty-eight 
souls; to-day it probably exceeds ten times that 
number; then the traveler found himself sur- 
rounded by almost boundless forests, bumping 
over rough and muddy roads with only the 
comforts of an old springless stage-coach ; to- 
day he can glide through the broad acres of fine 
farms on rails as smooth as a glare of ice, enjoy- 
ing the luxuries scarcely afforded by the finest 
palaces. Education has taken the place of 
ignorance, and many virtues have superseded 
old-time vices. Mr. Young is a democrat and 
served as excise commi.ssioner for three years. 
He is a genial and entertaining old gentleman, 
and to visit him is a pleasure. 



JOSEPH ABBOTT is one of the respected 

^ citizens and ^progressive men of Hanover 
town, Chautauqua county, New York ; his 
parents were Stephen and Lois (Spalding) Ab- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



bott. He was boru iu the town of Edmcston, 
Otsego county, New York, October 24, 1818. 
Mr. Abbott's grandfather was also a native of 
New York State, and spent his last days at 
Biillstown, Saratoga county. Grandfather Levi 
Spalding was, however, born in the State of 
New Hampshire, and emigrated to New York 
State, Otsego county, just prior to his death at 
the advanced age of ninety years. He followed 
farming for a livelihood, and during tiie war 
of the Revolution served as a captain in the 
colonial army under General Washington. His 
ancestors were of English birth. Stephen Ab- 
bott was born in Saratoga county. New York, 
and died in Chautauqua county, August 16, 
1864, at the age of seventy-eight years. Bj- 
occupation he was a farmer ; in religion an 
active member of the Baptist church, and in 
politics a Jeffersonian democrat. His wife, 
Lois Spalding, bore him eight children, four 
boys and four girls : Stephen Abbott, Jr., died 
July 13, 1891, at the age of eighty-two years; 
David G., died in June, 1886, aged seventy 
years; Andrew, died 1838, aged thirteen years; 
Ami, Mary, Phcebe and Joseph, now living. 

Joseph Abbott acquired his education through 
the common schools, and iu youtii and early 
manhood labored upon the farm. This he con- 
tinued to pursue, and has been practically a 
life-long farmer and stock-raiser; to the latter 
interest he has devoted considerable time. He 
came to the town of Hanover, Chautauqua 
county, in February, 1865, purchased a tract 
of one hundred and twenty-five acres of land, 
and on this he has built, made improvements 
and lived ever since. 

Joseph Abbott was united in the Ijonds of 
matrimony to Miss Ruth Cooper, who bore 
him three children: Frank J. (married to Arlie 
Brown), a farmer and stock-dealer residing at 
Nashville, Chautauqua county. New York ; 
they have one son, — Julian B. Abbott, born 
April 25, 1890; Evan C. (married to Lotta 
Pratt) now lives with subject, and is a lawyer 



by profession, having, besides reading law, 
been graduated from the Albany Law School 
in 1888 ; Mary R. lives with her parents at 
home. 

Joseph Abbott's political connections have 
always been with the Democratic ])arty, at the 
hands of which he has served as highway com- 
missioner for a number of years. He was also 
elected to the office of magistrate for the town 
of Villanova, but did not assume the functions 
of that office. He is a member of the Equita- 
ble Aid Union. Mr. Abbott has a comfortable 
home, lives a quiet, contented life, and enjoys 
the highest confidence of his neighbors. His 
demeanor toward those with whom he meets is 
kindly and pleasant, while he is still firm and 
resolute when occasion so demands. 



TAMES H. SHAVEK, an active and ener- 
^ getic citizen of Ripley, New York, is a 
son of John and Huldia (Hempstead) Shaver, 
and was born in the village of Ripley, Chau- 
tauqua county. New York, October iGth, 1836. 
He was of Dutch extraction, his ancestors be- 
longing to the early Knickerbocker families of 
eastern New York, whence they had come from 
Holland. His great-grandfather, Frederick 
Shaver, lived during his life-time in the Mo- 
hawk valley, while his son, Henry J. Shaver, 
grandfather of James H., emigrated to Chau- 
tauqua county iu the year 1812, where he 
passed his life and died. He was possessed of 
considerable real estate, voted with the Whig 
party and was four times married. His uncle, 
Calvin Hempstead, was a resident of Oneida 
county, near Rome, the greater part of his 
life, and still lives in Walworth county, 
Wisconsin, aged nearly ninety-three years and 
is enjoying good health. He was a com- 
bined farmer and pioneer lay preacher of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, in which latter 
capacity he exerted a wide influence in that 
early day, organizing churches and generally 
promoting the cause of religion. John Shaver, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



father of subject, was borii in tlie Mohawk valley 
in the year 179ti and died in 1843. He early 
removed to Chautauqua county and plied his 
trade of coopering, turning out the first butter 
firkins ever made in the county. His political 
views were democratic ; liis religious views 
those of the Methodist Episcopal church. His 
marriage with Jliss Huldia Hempstead resulted 
in the birth of three children : Henry J., a 
soldier in the late civil war from the State of 
Wisconsin, where he now resides ; Fanny (dead), 
wife of James Lewis; and James H. 

James H. Shaver benefited by the common 
schools of his day and then learned the trade of 
carriage blacksmithing. At the outbreak of 
the civil war, in 1861, he entered the 4th regi- 
ment Wisconsin Volunteers for three months. 
He was wounded at the battle of Manassas, but 
this did not deter him from re-enlisting. This 
he did and served three years longer in the 
Army of the Potomac and under Gen. Butler at 
New Orleans. 

James H. Shaver was united in marriage to 
Mi.ss Catherine, daughter of Robert and Ma- 
hala (Beaman) Melhuish. (Mr. Melhuish was 
a native of England, emigrated to America 
when about twelve years of age and first located 
in Wyoming county. Pa. He subsequently re- 
moved to Ripley, Chautauqua county, New 
York, engaged in farming and there spent his 
declining years. He had a family of two sons 
and four daughters.) Mr. and Mrs. Shaver 
have two sons : Ulysses Grant, married to May 
Bean and now lives in Wisconsin — a station 
agent ; and John E., at home, a telegraph oper- 
ator by profession. 

Ever since the war Mr. Siiaver's health has 
been very much impaired. He is a democrat 
politically and a regular member of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church. 



^TKPHEX H. YORK, a man who has been 
■^^ variously and extensively engaged in busi- 
ness pursuits in tiie town of Hanover, is a son 



of Warren D. and Sarah (Crumb) York. The 
date of his birth is December 12, 1840, and the 
place Brookfield, Madison county, New York. 
His grandfather, Yeomans York, belonged to 
an old Revolutionary family of Connecticut, 
where he was born and from whence he emi- 
grated to the State of New York. Upon his 
arrival in New York State he took up his resi- 
dence in Brookfield, Madison county, where he 
died in the year 1860 at the age of ninety-three 
years. He cast his vote with the Whig and 
Republican parties and religiously affiliated with 
the Baptist denomination. His brothers, who 
were all older than himself, enlisted and 
served in the Revolutionary war. He was 
twice married ; first to Miss Rogers, by whom 
he had two children ; his second wife was Miss 
Catherine Collins, who bore him a family of 
seven children — six boys and one girl. Warren 
D. York, father of subject, was born in jNladi- 
.son county. New York, in the year 1819, and 
is still living at Barnston, Nebraska. He emi- 
grated to Chautauqua county. New York, and 
settled in the town of Hanover in 1868 ; here 
he engaged in the manufacture of cheese until 
1885, when he went to the State of Nebraska. 
He was a republican and filled the office of as- 
sessor in his town for two terms. His wife, 
who is still living, at the age of seventy-two 
years, bore him a family of six children — four 
boys and two girls — all living: Stephen H. 
(subject), oldest ; Lewis, a farmer, now living 
in Nebraska ; Warren Y., also a farmer, living 
in Nebraska, a partner with his brother in the 
manufacture of cheese ; Selah, who lives at 
Unadilla, Otsego county, and is engaged in the 
manufacture of butter and cheese; Lucy, wife 
of George Crumb, of Madison county, N. Y.; 
and Eliza, married to Frank H. Morrison, of 
Dallas, Oregon. 

Stephen H. York, on January 7, 1866., was 
united in marriage to Josephine Ramsdell, a 
daughter of John Ramsdell, of Madison county, 
New York. 



438 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



He was educated iu the common schools and 
academv, and, like many other successful men, 
gained a good physical basis for his after career 
by working upon a farm. His farming expe- 
rience, however, lasted only three years when 
he abandoned it and went into the manufacture 
of cheese, wagons and lumber at Forestville. 
under the firm-name of House & York. He 
remained in that business about a year, when he 
retired from the firm and joining with his 
father, went into the same business, which, under 
the latter management, became successful and 
lucrative. In 1873 he sold his interest in the 
manufacturing enterprises and engaged in mer- 
cantile pursuits at Yillanova, under the firm- 
name of Maples & York, but at the expiration 
of three years returned to Forestville and again 
engaged in the lumber business in conjunction 
with his cousin. Three years was the limit in 
this business also, and in the spring of 1881 he 
removed to Smith's Mills, built a large store- 
room and again engaged in merchandising, 
which now claims his attention. Mr. York has 
been a life-long re])ul)lican, an earnest advocate 
of its principles, and has been called to fill the 
offices of collector and town-clerk under its juris- 
diction, the latter of which offices he has held 
coutinuou.sly since 1885. He is a member of 
the Equitable Aid Union. Mr. York is a 
pleasant, agreeable man in his general demeanor, 
possessed of good business qualifications and a 
laudable ambition. 



FRANCIS 3IAY. If we were to select an 
example of what a fixed purpose and 
determination will accomplish ; if we wanted 
to point out to the youth of Dunkirk one who 
had begun at the very bottom of the ladder 
and in fifty-six years had reached pretty well 
towards the top ; if a boy, poor in pocket, de- 
sired wealth and would say, "Who shall I 
emulate?" we would say the man whose name 
heads this article, Francis ^[ay, the son of 
Francis, Sr., and Saraii (^SIcMunn) May, wiio 



was born in County Sligo, Ireland, March 26, 
1835. Francis May, Sr., was a son of the 
Emerald Isle, and was a farmer in the histori- 
cal county where his son was born. He was a 
stirring, energetic business man, and a member 
of the Catholic church. He married Sarah 
^IcMunn, who, although born in the same 
county with her husband, belonged to the Epis- 
copal church. She was a woman of ability, and 
to his vigorous parents the son is indebted for 
the traits which secured him his wealth. 

Francis May was reared in County Sligo, 
and was educated at a private school. When 
seventeen years of age he came to America, first 
stopping at Piermont, New York, where he got 
the job of water-boy at a quarry, which he held 
for six months, and was then promoted, if it 
mav be called such, to blowing the bellows for 
the blacksmith, which he did for a year longer. 
He came to Dunkirk, getting work as a laborer 
on the docks. A year or .so later saw him doing 
the same work in the freight house of the Erie 
railway, remaining in the employ of that com- 
pany for eighteen years, and advancing to the 
position of foreman of the local freight house. 
After the Erie docks were transferred to Buffalo 
he left the company and was a clerk in the bank 
of H. J. Miner & Co. Succeeding this he en- 
gaged in the flour and feed business, which is 
being continued to this day. In 1882, with 
other moneyed men of Dunkirk, he organized 
the Merchants National Bank, and is now one 
of the directors. He is largely interested in 
the street railway system, being the second lar- 
gest stockholder in the Dunkirk and Fredonia 
Electric railway. Politically a democrat, he 
served eleven years as a member of the school 
board, and is a meml)er of the Catholic church. 
Mr. Mav is an active, wide-awake citizen, and 
takes an enthusiastic interest in everything to 
enhance the welfare of Dunkirk, in which he 
owns consideraljle real estate. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



439 



"T^HOMAS H. ROBERTS, a leading farmer 
-*- and grape cultiirist of the town of Han- 
over, is a son of William and Filiira (Harmon) 
Roberts and was born in the town of Pom tret, 
County of Chautauqua, State of New York, 
January 31, 1831. His ancestors were of New 
England birth, his paternal grandfather being 
a native of the State of Vermont, in which 
State he passed his life and reared his family. 
Grandfather, Minor Roberts, was by occupation 
a carpenter and joiner. He united in marriage 
with a Miss Smith, who bore him seven chil- 
dren, five boys and two girls. William Roberts 
migrated into Chautauqua county from the 
State of Vermont in IS 17, and located in the 
town of Pom fret. He purchased a farm here 
from the Holland Land company, and devoted 
himself to its cultivation. Considerably later 
(in 1844) he changed his fortunes to Kalamazoo 
county, Michigan, where he likewise (engaged 
in farming. During the war of 1812, he went 
into the service as a substitute for Captain 
Martin. In politics he belonged to the pre- 
dominant party of his time, the Whig party ; 
while in matters of religion, he was a member 
of and strongly attached to the teachings and 
theology of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
His first wife was a daughter of Luther Har- 
mon, of the town of Porafret, whither he had come 
from Vermont, the State of his nativity. His 
arrival in Chautauqua county was cotempora- 
neous with that of grandfather Roberts. Wil- 
liam Roberts (father) and his wife were the 
parents of nine children, eight boys and one 
girl ; Thomas H. being the youngest. Joseph 
H., another son, entered the civil war at the 
first call of President Lincoln for troops, en- 
listing in 4th regiment Michigan Volunteer 
Infantry, as first lieutenant. He served through- 
out the entire war with honor and distinction, 
being with Gen. Butler at New Orleans and 
other famous campaigns. His death occurred 
in 1883. 

Thomas H. Roberts' education was limited 



to the common schools, which at that time, held 
out to the youth comparatively poor advantages. 
Starting with such education as they did give, 
he began the struggle of life upon a farm. 
This he soon relinquished and engaged his ser- 
vices to a railroad company, with the view to 
becoming a locomotive engineei'. After acquir- 
ing skill and confidence in the management of 
a locomotive, he accepted a position on the 
Illinois Central, which he continued to hold 
until the date of his marriage. After this he 
went into farming at Milford near Fredonia, 
New York, where he remained until the autumn 
of 18G5, when he removed to the town of Han- 
over and bought his present farm. i\Ir. Roberts' 
farm consists of one hundred acres of well 
improved and highly productive land, twelve 
acres of which are under grape culture. He 
has a pleasant home with beautiful surround- 
ings and lives a contented life. In June of 
1863 he entered the service of the Union army 
in Co. A., 68th regiment, New York Volunteer 
Infantry, and served three years. He has also 
served a period of seven years in the New York 
State militia. 

In June, 1860, Thomas H. Roberts first 
entered into marriage bonds with Martha Jane 
Clark, daughter of John E. aud Louise Clark; 
and subsequent to her decease, with Helen 
Bunce, who bore him three children : Myram 
H., Harley H., dead, and Roy. 

His first vote was cast as a whig for General 
Winfield Scott. He afterward affiliated with 
the Republican party and has been its devotee 
ever since. He is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church and of tiie A. O. U. W. and 
the G. A. R. 



■|OEXJA3IIX CASSELMAX, a prominent 
^^ farmer and good citizen of the town of 
Ellery, Chautauqua county, New York, is a son 
of Jonas aud Sarah (Horn) Casselman, and was 
burn at Mohawk Flats, New York August 22, 
1820. He is of Teutonic ancestry, whose 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



grandfather, Jonas Casseliuan, was born in Ger- 
many, emigrated to the United States and set- 
tled in Schenectady county, New Yorlv. At the 
time of his emigration he was accompanied by 
his two brothers, one of whom located in tlie 
Dominion of Canada and the other at Utica, 
New York. Jonas Casselman (grandfather) 
was a farmer by occupation and a member of 
the Dutch Reformed church. He was married 
in his native land and had a family of three 
children. Jonas Casselman (father of subject) 
was a native of New York State. In early life 
he worked at various occupations, but devoted 
the greater part of his life to agriculture. He 
was united in marriage to Miss Sarah Horn and 
became the father of thirteen children — five 
boys and eight girls. His political support was 
given to the Whig party during its life-time, 
and, subsequent to its demise, to its successor, 
tlie Republican party. He was a member of 
tlie Lutheran church, where both he and his 
family wei'e regular attendants. 

Benjamin Casselman attended the common 
schools, apprenticed himself to a carpenter and 
joiner and learned that trade, at which he 
worked for some time, and finally purchased a 
farm of two hundred and fifteen acres near Be- 
mus' Point, Chautauqua county, New York. 
To the improvement and cultivation of this 
farm he has since devoted himself, and has now 
made it one of the best kept and most attrac- 
tive places in the town of Ellery. 

On September 1, 1842, he was joined in mar- 
riage to Miss Melissa Wheeler, by whom he 
had nine children : Cassius E., a carpenter and 
joiner by trade, living in the town of Chautau- 
qua, New York; Emma J., wife of Charles 
Mauley, who resides at French Creek and is 
engaged in the grocery business; Cenath A., 
married to Andrew Aikens, of Jamestown, 
New York; Eleanor F., married to Alman 
Coni, a resident of Clyraer and a cooper by oc- 
cupation ; Benjamin F., married to Sarah Jack- 
sou and now living at Jamestown, New Y'ork, 



where he works at the carpenter and joiner's 
trade ; Helen A., wife of A. Tenet, of James- 
town, New York, a farmer ; Lydia M., mar- 
ried to John Kady, a blacksmith living in Co- 
hiuibus. State of Pennsylvania; Orville C, 
married to Mattie Simmons, and now a resident 
of Jamestown, engaged in the carpentering 
trade; and Charles H. Casselman, living in 
the town of Ellery, a farmer. 

Mr. Casselman is a member of the Grange 
and is in every sense a model farmer. He 
keeps fully abreast of the times and is an intel- 
ligent reader upon all subjects relating to the 
field of agriculture. 



Q'0L03I0X B. NORTHAM. One of Rip- 
"^^ ley's venerable tarmer citizens, now nearly 
an octogenarian, is a son of Solomon and An- 
struss (Jenkins) Northara, and was born at Fort 
Ann, Washington county. New Y'^ork, May 28, 
1814. The Northam family was a familiar one 
in Connecticut during the early half of the 
eighteenth century, grandfather Ebenezer 
Northam having been born at Colchester, that 
State, in the month of August, 1760. When 
the fertility of the western lands was being 
heralded throughout New England he gathered 
his family and effects about him, and with a 
team and covered wagon started through the 
semi-settled regions of western Connecticut and, 
although the roads were rough he kept on up 
into the wild and almost unknown county of 
Washington, and made a temporary residence at 
Fort Ann, New Y^ork, then pushed on, about 
1825, to Rijjley, this county. He subdued the 
forests and made grain to grow from which 
with other agricultural products he gained his 
livelihood. Ebenezer Northam married Rachel 
Bascom, a native of Connecticut, born in Leb- 
anon, January 22, 1758, and they reared a 
family of five sons, the eldest being Solomon 
Northam (father). He was a member of the 
Universalist church and of the Jeffersonian 
party. The maternal grandfather was Abiah 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Jenkins, also a native of Connecticut, from 
wiiich he emigrated to Jefferson county, 
where he died after farming for a number of 
years. He was a member of the Baptist 
ciuirch. Solomon Northaui was born on the 
16th of November, 1786, while his parents 
were living in Wasliington county. In 1825 he 
started westward and arrived at liipley in 1825, 
settling west of the village. This place he 
made his home for eleven years following farm- 
ing and land surveying, doing a considerable of 
the latter for the Holland Land company and 
then moved over into Westtield town where he 
farmed until 1858, and died October 3rd of 
that year. The Democratic party furnished the 
principles of his idea for good government and 
he heartily supported its platform, filling the 
office of justice of the peace and some minor 
town offices. Solomon Northam was a valorous 
and patriotic man. When the tocsin of war was 
sounded on the 19th of June, 1812, he re- 
sponded to the first call of President Madison 
for twenty-five thousand men and served with 
credit. He married Anstruss Jenkins, for his 
first wife and siie bore him one child, Solomon 
(subject). She was born June 13, 1784, and 
died October 7, 1817. In 1821 he married for 
his second wife Jane Hopkins, who was born in 
Washington county, March 3, 1792. They had 
five children : Jane, born September 10, 1822 ; 
Wallace, born September 4, 1825; Emmett, 
born November 16, 1828 ; Curran, born in 
October, 1830, now lives on the old homestead 
in the town of Westfield ; and oNIarv, born in 
183.3. 

Solomon B. Northam received a good educa- 
tion at the district .schools and other places of 
learning and began life as a farmer, working [ 
shares. He has had a varied business experi- 
ence. Beginning as a tanner he changed to 
merchandising which he followed in Kijjley for 
fourteen years, holding a commission as jjost- 1 
master at the same time. Then he bought a ! 
farm adjoining his present residence and for I 



some years has given attention to that business, 
but is now growing grapes exclusively. 

Solomon B. Northam has been twice married ; 
first to Mary Ami Wood and then after her 
death to Louise Brayton, a daughter (tf Samuel 
Bray ton. 

Conceding that parties are necessary in the 
conduct of our form of government, Demo- 
cratic principles more fully meet his views and 
he identifies himself with them, while tiie dog- 
mas of the Universalist church are in accord 
with his ideas of true Christianity. 



FRiVJVK G. SPENCER, the only son of 
Gilbert and Eveline (Gay) Spencer, is a 
prominent grape grower of the town of Ripley. 
His vineyard is forty acres in extent. He was 
born near the banks of historic Lake Erie, 
upon which waters Commodore Perry, Sejjtem- 
ber 10, 1813, gained his world-renowned vic- 
tory over Barclay, November 6, 1837, the pre- 
cise location being about one and one-half miles 
northeast of the village of North East, in Erie 
county, Penn.sylvania. His grandfather was 
Orange Spencer, who came to Chautauqua 
county and settled in Sherman prior to 1827. 
He was born in Otsego county, this State, July 
30, 1765. As may be inferred from the date 
of his coming, he was one of the first settlers in 
the town mentioned and took up a large tract 
of land and upon it built the first grist-mill in 
tiiat section. The second saw-mill erected also 
belonged to him, which he operated in partner- 
ship:) with his son-in-law, Eliab Skeels. Orange 
Spencer was an ordained Baptist minister, and 
on August 29, 1827, he organized the first Bap- 
tist church of Sherman with tliirty members. 
He was the first minister that ever preached in 
Sherman and officiated as the first pastor to the 
church he organized. They held their meetings 
from house to house and in the school-houses 
until 1842. In 1844 the charge dedicated their 
new meeting-house. Orange Spencer is said to 
have been a man of great spiritual jjower and 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



preached with fervency that attracted admira- 
tion and carried conviction. In 1830 he re- 
moved to North East, Pa., where he also organ- 
ized a congregation. When a very young man 
he entered the Colonial army and served in tlie 
Revolutionary war. He was a follower of 
Hamilton and Adams in jtolitics, and died 
January 10th, 1843, in North East, Pa. His 
wife was a Miss Bostiek, who left at her death 
four sons and two daughters. The maternal 
grandfather was Rodolphus Gay, of Herkimer 
county, N. Y. Gilbert Spencer was born in 
Otsego county, this State, in 1804, and came to 
Chautauqua county while in tlie prime of life. 
He followed agricultural pursuits, and later 
moved to North East, Pa., where he died in 
187G, aged seventy-two years. The Repub- 
lican party entered the field for public favor 
while Mr. Spencer was in the vigor of his man- 
hood and he allied himself with it. Prior to 
its inception his politics are not mentioned. 
Early in life he joined the church that his father 
did so much to strengthen, and remained its 
votary throughout his life. He married Eve- 
line Gay October 30, 1825. She is yet living, 
aged eighty-two years, in the home her husband 
left at North East. Mrs. Spencer brought to 
her husband two sons, Frank G. and Loomis 
B., who died at the age of seven months, and 
four daughters, Sarah A., first married Jeffer- 
son Hensliaw (now dead), and is now tlie wife 
of Milton Munson, a prosperous farmer living 
in the town of Portland ; Cordelia is the wife 
of Harry INIunson, who follows a like occujja- 
tion in the same town ; Mary lives at North 
East, Pa., where her husband, Milton Colt, is a 
carpenter and joiner; and Anna resides witii 
her husband, Alonzo Lewis, at Fredonia, this 
county. He is a well-known milk dealer there. 
Frank G. Spencer early learned to hold tlie 
plow, and by the time he had reached young 
manhood was qualified to run a farm for him- 
self. He was educated in the district schools 
and acfpiired such education that ct)upled with 



his natural ability has enabled him to secure 
Iiimself a property of sixty-eight acres. He is 
a republican in politics. 

On March 23, 1859, he married Elizabeth 
Newbury, of Ripley, N. Y., who is a daugiiter 
of John A. Newbury, of Ripley. They have 
one child, a daughter, named Lois Ann, who 
was born June 2G, 1879. 



FRED H. GARFIELD, tiie popular and 
energetic division passenger agent of the 
Erie railwav, wiiose headquarters are at James- 
town, was born in the town of Busti, this county, 
November 10, 1853, and is a sou of Benjamin 
and Sarah (Botsford) Garfield. 

The Garfield family for more than two cen- 
turies were residents of the American colonies, 
and our martyred president was a descendant of 
the same family from which our subject came. 
For more than a century tiiey were residents of 
Worcester county, Massachusetts, and the first 
to come to Chautauqua county was Samuel Gar- 
field, familiarly known as Deacon Garfield, on 
account of his upright religious character. 
Deacon Samuel Garfield was born in the " Bay 
State," at the place above mentioned, and in 
1803 removed with his father, Eliakim Garfield, 
to Windham county, Vermont. The father 
was a Revolutionary soldier and served with 
more than ordinary distinction. Samuel Gar- 
field married in the '' Green INIountain State," 
and in 1814 came to Chautauqua county ; lie 
purchased a farm in the town of Busti and se- 
cured a livelihood by farming and doing carpen- 
ter work. He possessed considerable inventive 
genius, his first invention being grain measures, 
nested from a half bushel down ; following this 
he manufactured scythe-snaths and grain cradle 
handles, besides making a large number of 
rakes. Immense quantities of these " crooked 
sticks," as they were called, were manufiictured 
by him and sold to the farmers in his neiglibor- 
hood ; several boat-loads were sent down the 
river to the soutliern markets. He had several 



:k- 







-^. 



C^'/L^y-^^'y- '^'-iy^ 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



brothers, among them Joseph Garfield, Sr., who 
reared a cousiderable fomily. Both Samuel 
Garfield and his wife died a number of years 
ago ; they were the parents of a large family, all 
of whom are now dead excepting Lydia, wife of 
Amos Palmer, and the father of our subject. 
Benjamin Garfield was born in the town of 
Busti and became opulent from the products of 
his farm. In 1880 he moved to Salamanca, 
New York, where he now resides, the proprie- 
tor of the railroad eating-iiouse. He mari-ied 
Sarah Botsford and reared a family of two 
children. Benjamin Garfield is a democrat and 
has filled some of the town offices in Busti; he 
was a man of integrity and upright character. 
Mrs. Garfield was a native of the town of Kiau- 
tone, and is now in her fifty-sixth year. 

Fred H. Garfield was born on his father's 
farm, where he passed his early life and received 
his education in the district school and at the 
public schools of Jamestown. In 1876 he was i 
offered the position of passenger agent of the 
old Atlantic and Great Western railroad, and he 
remained with that company through its various 
changes until 1885, when he was appointed di- i 
vision passenger agent of the Erie railway, by 
whom the N. Y., P. and O. R. R., the successor 
of the Atlantic and Great Western has been 
absorbed. He has immediate charge of the 
passenger traffic of over two hundred miles of 
the Erie R. R., and in the discharge of his duty 
is giving satisfaction to his superior officers. j 

On the 7th day of June, 1882, he married 
Mary Smith, a daughter of George Smith, who 
lived at Wilson, Niagara county ; slie bore him 
a SOD, Robert Marvin, and died in May, 1890. 
Fred H. Garfield is a democrat and takes an 
active part in politics. He is genial and accom- 
modating, and the popularity of the passeno-er 
carrying business of the Erie railway is due 
largely to his personal supervision. 



23 



^ E. RYCKM^AJV, a prominent citizen of 
^^ • Chautauqua county. New York, and the 
proprietor of the celebrated Brocton wine cel- 
lars, is a son of Lawrence F. and Lydia E. 
Ryckman, and was born at Brocton, March 16, 
1835. His maternal grandparents, " Deacon " 
Elijah and Lucy (Belknap) Fay, were natives 
of Westboro, Massachusetts, and in 1811 came 
to what was afterwards Salem Cross Roads, 
Chautauqua county, but where at the present 
time is situated the village of Brocton. Mr. 
i and Mrs. Fay were the first settlers at this 
point, in fact, about half of the present village 
of Brocton is located upon tlieir old home farm. 
Lawrence F. Ryckman, father of G. E. 
Ryckman, came from near the city of 
Albany, New York— where the elder Ryck- 
mans settled, one of whom was a njember 
of the commission appointed by King William 
III to treat with the powerful Six Nations — and 
I located in Chautauqua county at an early day. 
His ancestors were active in the politics of 
eastern New York and held prominent offices 
from alderman to mayor. Deacon Elijah Fay 
j was the first to discover the adaptability of the 
soil and climatic conditions of the northern 
portion of Chautauqua county, borderino- on 
Lake Erie, to the purposes of grape culture and 
in 1824 planted the first vineyard in that part 
of the State. In 1840 he began making wine 
for sacramental and medicinal purposes, and in 
1859 our subject, Mr. G. E. Ryckman, in com- 
pany with Captain J. B. Fay and Colonel 
Rufus Haywood, built the original wine cellars, 
known as the Brocton Wine Cellars, which 
to-day have passed into his hands as the sole 
proprietor, and have been increased in capacity 
to two hundred thousand gallons. 

G. E. Ryckman, in addition to beino- the 
owner of these far famed wine cellars, is also 
owner and cultivator of a bearing vineyard of 
one hundred and forty-five acres. For the 
purposes of manufacture he is forced to buy 
extensively in addition to his own production ; 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



his piircha&e per aunum being over two hunclrerl 
tons of grapes. The wine product of these 
grapes is shipped all over the country and some 
to foreign lands, which fact is proper attestation 
not only of its quality but also of the esteem 
in which it is iield by the commercial world. 
The qualities which have earned for his wines 
such a wide reputation are purity and honest 
value. 



■f^OCTOR E. ISHA3I. Longevity appears 
'^ to run in families to a greater or less 
degi'ee and the Isham family seems to be espe- 
cially endowed with long life. David Isham 
(grandfather) attained to a full century lacking 
one year. One son reached the same age while 
the fether of subject was eighty-nine years of 
age when he died. Doctor E. Isham is a son of 
Joshua and Lucinda (Chamberlain) Isham, and 
first looked upon the blue skies of heaven and 
the green grass of earth near the scene of his 
present home in Westfield, Chautauqua county, 
New York, September 19, 1843. The Isham 
family is one of Scotch extraction. David 
Isham (grandfather) lived in Vermont and died 
when ninety-nine years old. Joshua Isham 
(father) was born in Rutland, Vt., in 1778, and 
remained there until 1840, when he came to Chau- 
tauqua county and soon after settled in West- 
field town on the farm where his son now lives. 
He died in 1867, aged eighty-nine years. Mr. 
Isham was a carpenter and joiner by trade 
which he followed nearly all his life. He was 
a republican and member of the Universalist 
chni'ch. In 1839, he married Lucinda Cham- 
berlain, a native of Thetford, Vermont. She 
died in 1879, aged sixty-eight years, and was 
also a member of the same church. They had 
three children. 

Doctor E. Lsham was reared on a farm and 
then mastered the carpenter and joiner's trade 
which he is now working at o a limited extent. 
His education was received at the public 
schools. When but nineteen years of age. 



August 22, 1862, he enlisted in Co. E, 154th 
regiment, New York Infantry. He served 
until January 22, 1864, and was then dis- 
charged from St. Elizabeth's Hospital, Wash- 
ington, D. C, having been wounded at the 
battle of Chancellorsville. His left foot was 
shot away by a cannon ball on June 3, 1863, 
and he was confined to the hospital from that 
date until discharged. He then returned to 
Chautauqua county and lives upon the old 
homestead two miles east of Westfield village, 
engaged at his trade and grape culture. 

On January 8, 1868, he married Nancy Bush, 
a daughter of Henry Bush of this town. They 
have four children, three sons and one daugh- 
ter : Arlington D., Stella V., Claude E. and 
Earnest J. One child, Clyde, died in infancy 
in August, 1 888, aged nine months. 

Dr. E. Isham is a member of William Sackett 
Post, No. 324, G. A. R., and affiliates with the 
Republican party. 



nOBERT KAXE. Among the descendauts 
of the people whose lives are spent amid 
the beautiful lakes and hills of Ireland, the 
" Emerald Isle of the Sea," we enroll the gen- 
tleman whose name heads this sketch. Robert 
Kane, a son of Thomas and ]\Iary (Conigham) 
Kane, was born on the 10th day of June, 1852, 
his native city being Dunkirk, Chautauqua 
county. New York. Charles Kane (paternal 
grandfather) was a native of Ireland, where he 
lived until summoned to another and a better 
world. The maternal grandfather of Robert 
Kane, James Conigham, was also a native of 
Ireland, where he spent his entire life. Thomas 
Kane (father) M'as born in Ireland, but emi- 
grated to " the land of the free and the home 
of the brave" in 1845, and located where he 
landed, in the city of New Y''ork. He resided 
here a few years, and deciding he could better 
his fortunes by seeking "fresh fields and pas- 
tures new," removed to Dunkirk, this State, in 
1860. For the past few years he has been 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



447 



a resident of Jamestown, his occupation being 
that of a boiler-maker, in which he is accounted 
a skillful workman. Politically he is a demo- 
crat, and in his religious convictions Roman 
Catholic, being a member of that church. He 
married Mary Conighani and has had seven 
children, two of whom have passed away to 
realms above, two reside in this county, one 
.son is a resident of Erie, Pa., and a sou and a 
daughter reside in Colorado. 

Robert Kane was reared in Dunkirk, where 
he received a common school education and 
began the industrial era of his life by learning 
the same trade that has provided a livelihood 
for his father, that of a boiler-maker, and when 
he located in Jamestown, in 1886, he engaged 
in that business in a large building on Seventh, 
Eighth and Monroe streets, manufacturing all 
kinds of boilers, and employing in their con- 
struction sixty men. Mr. Kane is also inter- 
ested in the oil-producing business in Pennsyl- 
vania. He votes and works for the success of 
the Republican ticket, and is a member of the 
Roman Catholic church. 

Robert Kane married, in December, 1881, 
Jennie H. Arthur, of Kane, Pa., and to them 
have been born five children, two sons and three 
daughters : Mary Cecelia, Frank, Robert, Jr., 
Beatrice and Ro.se, all living in Jamestown, 
the paternal home. 



T7i II^I-IAM E. aVXDEE, the well-known 

^•^^ capitalist and secretary-office manager 
for the Martin Anti-Fire Car Heating Co., M'ho 
is also interested in various enterprises which, 
when completed, will materially add to the 
prosperity of our city, was born in Buffalo, 
Erie county, New York, October 14, 18-14, and 
is the son of Fernando C. and Maria W. 
(O'Brien) Candee. Eber Candee (grandfather) 
was a native of Oxford, Connecticut, a carpen- 
ter by trade, and was one of the mechanics who 
helped to build the State House in Hartford. 
He removed to Onondaga county, this State, in 



the year 1800, and again to Erie county, where 
he died, in 1875, at the advanced age of ninety 
years. Fernando C. Candee is a native of 
Onondaga county, this State, but removed to 
Erie county with his fixther, while yet a boy, and 
afterwards went to Buffalo and secured a posi- 
tion as clerk. In 1862 he again moved, this 
' time to New York city, engaging in the ma- 
chinery business, and continued to reside there 
until 1889 when he came to Dunkirk, and now 
: makes his home with his sou, the subject of the 
sketch. Politically he is a republican, a man 
j of strict methods in his business transactions, 
an untiring reader of standard literature, and is 
now seventy-six years old. He married Maria 
^Y. O'Brien, a young woman from ^yilkes- 
Barre, Pa., in 1842, and she is still living, 
having passed seventy-three years of age. 

William E. Candee re,sided with his parents 
iu Buffalo until sixteen years had passed over 
his head, receiving a good education in the 
schools of that city. At the age mentioned he 
came to Dunkirk and secured a jjositiou as 
clerk in the freight department of the Buflfal© 
and Erie railroad, and remained so engaged 
until March, 1863, and then went on the road 
as traveling salesman for the Buffalo Scale com- 
pany, but his heart was full of patriotism, and 
feeling that his services were needed to preserve 
intact his country, in July of the same year, 
although less than nineteen years old, he en- 
listed in Co. I, 16th regiment. New York Cav- 
alry, remaining in the .service until mustered 
out Septemljer 22, 1865, which was three weeks 
before attaining his majority. He was dis- 
charged, having attained the rank of regimen- 
tal quartermaster-sergeant, having enlisted just 
before, Mr. Candee was on duty in New York 
city during the draft riots. When he received 
his discharge he went to New York and secured 
employment as a clerk in the machinery busi- 
ness, remaining until 1867, when, coming to 
Dunkirk, engaged with H. & E. S. Coleman, 
millers and pork packers, as book-keeper, being 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



connected with them until they quit business; 
then, it being 1868, lie went to the oil country 
and staid a year, but returned to Dunkirk 
and entered into partnership with H. Coleman 
& Co., hardware merchants, following this until 
the Centennial year, when he moved on the 
farm, which has a magnificent vineyard on it, 
still owned by him in Dunkirk town, and en- 
tered the Fredonia Chemical company as its 
treasurer and accountant until they disposed of 
their business to R. B. Day, with whom he 
remained until 1888. lu the latter year he 
accepted the position he now holds — one of 
responsibility and trust — secretary and office 
manager for the jNIartin Anti-Fire Car heating 
company. ]Mr. Candee is probably without a 
superior as an accountant ; has helped, and is 
frequently called as an expert in settling and 
balancing the books of banks and corporations. 

In 18(37 he married Gracs Coleman, daughter 
of Harlan Coleman, deceased, of Dunkirk, and 
has one son and two daughters : Jean McGregor, 
Bertram Coleman and Marian Camille. 

W. E. Candee is a member of the Episcopal 
church, is a prominent ^lason, belonging to 
Irondequoit Lodge, Xo. 341, and all the other 
masonic bodies, and a republican of more than 
ordinary influence in the councils of the party. 



TTLSON X. 3IUXSOX. An industry that, 
■**■ although of comparatively recent origin, 
has grown to considerable proportions within a 
few years, is the raising, packing and forward- 
ing of grapes to market. One of the larger 
operators in this industry is Alson JST. Munson, 
of Westfield, who is a sou of Samuel and Pollv 
(Hulburt) Munson, and was born in the town 
of Portland, Chautauqua county, New York, 
April 20, 183-1. Ancestral history is traced to 
the historical character, Captain Munson, of 
two hundred years ago. Samuel Munson, Sr. 
(grandfather), was a native of Connecticut, 
moved to Oneida county, this State, prior to 
1800, and came fmm there to Portland town, 



where he settled in 1818. He was a brick- 
maker by trade, and followed it for years. 
When the war with England, in 1812, made a 
demand for soldiers, he responded to the call 
and went to the front, serving with gallantry 
and distinction. After coming to Portland, he 
began to farm, and followed it until 1841, 
when he died, February 27th, aged seventv- 
nine years. He had eight children, — four sons 
and four daughters. 

Samuel Munson (father) was born in 1803 
in Oneida county, where he lived until fifteen 
years of age. Like many farmer boys of the 
time, his parents thought the tixrm work para- 
mount to "schooling," and his education was 
acquired during the winter months, when there 
was no work to be done at home. He came to 
Portland town in 1818, and, upon attaining 
manhood, bought fifty acres from the Holland 
Land company, and built a home, which is 
now owned by Alson N. Munson. In 1823 he 
married Polly Hulburt, of Ouondaga county, 
and had five children, — four sons and one 
daughter. His entire life was spent as a 
farmer, and none better nor more successful 
was to be found in the town. Good stock was 
his delight, and plenty of it could always be 
found in his barns and pastures. Mr. Munson 
was an active, energetic man, who was anxious 
to advance the prosperity of the community. 
He was a republican, but did not engage ac- 
tively in politics, his taste being more domestic. 
His wife died July 19, 1875, aged seventy-five 
years, and he followed her ujjon the long jour- 
ney June 9, 1S83. 

Alson N. Munson was reared in the town of 
Portland, passing his boyhood and young man- 
hood ui)on the farm. He received a good 
common-school education in the public schools 
of his district, and then engaged in farming in 
his own behalf. He spent the whole of his 
life prior to 1886 farming in Portland town; 
then he moved to Westfield, and occupied the 
pretty farm where he now lives. The residence 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY. 



is a nice frame building exteriorly, and the 
interior is a comfortable, cheerful home. He 
still owns the old homestead iu Portland, and 
on its smooth acres has planted a beautiful 
vineyard, which is producing in large quanti- 
ties. For the past fourteen years he has been 
engaged in buying and shipping grapes for a 
Chicago firm in almost unlimited quantities. 
The first car-load ever shipped from Westfield 
station was credited to him. 

January 1, 18(52, he married Julia Healy, a 
daughter of William Healy, of Chautauqua 
town, and they have one child, — Harlan L., 
who is now a student at Cornell University. ; 

A. N. Munson is a business man of natural 
and trained ability, a fanner of more than or- 
dinary success, and a gentleman witli as many 
friends as he has acquaintances. 



TOHX H. LA.SCELLE.S is the cashier of the 

^^ Merchants' National Bank of Dunkirk, 
and in this capacity has displayed more than 
usual ability. He is a son of Arthur and Ann 
(Tidyman) Lascelles, and was born in Dunkirk, 
Chautauqua county, New York, March 3, 1856. 
Arthur Lascelles is a native of England, from 
whence he came about 1850. He settled at 
once at Dunkirk, where he has lived ever since. 
He was a carpenter by trade and soon secured 
the position of master carpenter on the western 
division of the Erie railway, which he main- 
tained for many years. He now resides in 
Dunkirk, and has retired from active business, 
having passed his sixtieth year. Mr. Lascelles 
is a democrat and has served in the council of 
this city. Mrs. Lascelles is also a native of 
England, and is yet living, aged about sixty 
years. 

John H. Lascelles was reared in Dunkirk, 
and received his education at the public schools. 
He then obtained a place as clerk in a grocery 
store in Sinclairville, where he remained two 
years. Following this he took a position iu the 
freight office of the Erie railway, and later was 



in the office of the division superintendent. He 
was therefor a year only, and on May 11, 1874, 
he obtained a clerkship with the Lake Shore 
Banking Co., with which he remained until 
March 6, 1882, when the Merchants' National 
Bank was opened and he came to them as 
cashier, which position of trust he has filled 
with fidelity. 

In 1885 he was married to Annie ]Moran, 
daughter of James and Mary Morau, of Buffalo, 
his wife being a sister-in-law to Charles F. 
Bishop, the mayor of that city. 

J. H. Lascelles is an active democrat and has 
been city treasurer steadily for eleven years. 
He has been actively identified with the politics 
of the city since becoming of age. He has 
served in the board of education, is a member 
of the Catholic church, and of the Young 
Men's Association, of Dunkirk. He is recog- 
nized as a shrewd, astute business man, and is 
identified with every movement that will benefit 
the city of Dunkirk or advance its interests. 



/^ GORGE 31. AKXOLD is a farmer of Port- 
^^ land town who takes considerable interest 
iu the jjolitical welfare of his town. His parents 
were Hiram and Sally (Eley) Arnold, and he 
was born in the town of Westfield, Chautauqua 
county, New York, September 23, 1833. His 
grandfather, Elisha Arnold, was a Connecticut y 
Yankee, of English descent. He was born in 
1778, and came to Chautauqua county in 1814. 
He decided to make a home in Westfield, and 
engaged in the distilling business which, for that 
day, was one of magnitude, and also owned and 
conducted a farm. He died in 1841, when 
sixty-three years of age. His wife's name was 
Prudence, who came from Herkimer county. 
They had twelve children. He was justice of 
the peace and supervisor of the town for a 
number of years, a whig politically, and a very 
enterprising man. Hiram Arnold was born in 
Chenango county, this State, in 1806, and came 
with his father to Westfield town when eisrht 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



years of age. He lived in tliat town for twenty- 
one years and then bought the farm in Portland 
town now oceui)ied by his son, G. IM., and moved 
upon it in 1835. He was also engaged in the 
saw-mill business and was a prominent and 
important business man in the section. He 
died in 1851. He married Sally Eley, who 
was born in the State of Connecticut in 1811, 
and is still living with her sou, George M. They 
were the parents of five children. 

George M. Arnold was reared upon his father's 
farm and educated in the public schools. When 
of sufficient age he learned the trade of a car- 
penter and joiner, by which he gained his liveli- 
hood until 1866. The subsecpient two years 
were spent in the Corry car-shops where he had 
charge of the machinery. In 1868 he returned 
to his farm of one hundred and seventy-five 
acres, two and one-half miles from the village 
of Portland, where he has since resided. He 
has a vineyard that has averaged the unusual 
yield of nine tons of grapes to the acre. 

In 1861 Mr. Arnold married Mary Pecor, a 
daughter of Benjamin F. Pecor, of this town. 

He is a member of the Congregational church, 
one of its trustees ; belongs to the Lodge, No. 
461, Knights of Honor, is a republican, and 
has held the office of road commissioner, eon- 
stable and assessor. He is the present incum- 
bent of tlie last-named office, and has held one 
or another for twenty-eight years. He is enter- 
prising and substantial — a good citizen for the 
town. 



THE KEVEREXD TH03IAS E. CAL- 
VERT. In the Book of books is re- 
corded the divine command, " Go forth into all 
the world and preach the Gospel." The sub- 
ject of whom we ai-e writing left home and 
friends in Bonnie Scotland to obey the man- 
dates of this behest. Thomas E. Calvert, min- 
ister of the Fredonia Presbyterian Church, is 
a son of William and ]Mary I. (Jeffrey) Cal- 
vei't, and was born in Annan, Dumfriesshire, 



Scotland, February 14, 1858. The family name 
is from the French Col-vert, meaning " green 
hill," the founder of the family in Scotland 
being a French Huguenot who fled to Scotland 
during the persecutions. The paternal grand- 
parent, Thomas Calvert, was a son of Herbert 
Calvert, who held the place known as Orchard 
Farm, which has for many generations been in 
the Calvert family. He was a millwright by 
trade and a dealer in wood. He was born in 
Canonby, Scotland, and married Grace Hope, 
by whom he had nine children : James, Ed- 
ward, Herbert, Thomas, Margaret, Mary, Bar- 
bara, Grace and William (father). He died 
about 1850, and is buried in New Abbey, 
Scotland, and Mrs. Calvert died about 1874, 
and is buried at the same place. Adam Jef- 
frey (maternal grandfather) was born in Annan, 
Scotland, about 1810. He was a tailor and 
clothier of that town, and was popular and 
successful. He married Mary Irving, and had 
five children : John, Richard, Adam, Margaret 
and Mary. This wife dying, he took for a 
second, a Mrs. Henderson, who is now living in 
the town of Moffixt, Scotland. Adam Jeffrey 
died in 1878, and is buried at Annan. William 
Calvert wa-s born in New Abbey, Scotland, in 
\ 1835. While yet young he learned the trade 
of a millwright, and followed it for many 
years, but is now manager for the firm of Nich- 
olson & Anderson, dealers in wood and slate, 
with whom he has been for thirty years. He 
is an elder in the United Presbyterian Church 
of Annan, and is a good and trusted servant. 
Early realizing that a thorough education was 
the best legacy that he could leave his children 
he "-ave them every advantage. He married 
Mary I. Jeffrey on May 1, 1857, and has had 
eight children : Thomas E., Mary, Margaret, 
' William, Grace, Adam, Jeannie and Edward. 
Adam came to America in 1887, and is now one 
of the firm of Calvert & Cowley, druggists, at 
Buffalo, N. Y. None of the others (except- 
ing subject) came to this country. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTi: 



Thomas, when four years of age, was sent to 
the Aiman Female school taught by a Miss 
Brown, who was considered the best lady 
teacher in the county. Thomas being an es- 
pecial favorite, more than usual attention was 
given to his advancement. The text books used 
were grammar, history, geography, arithmetic, 
the Westminster catecliism and the Bible. He 
was under the intellectual and moral influence 
of this grand and noble lady until he had at- 
tained his twelfth year, and it is to the stimulus 
given by her to his expanding intellect that Mr. 
Calvert attributes much of his usefulness. 
Leaving the kind and motherly Miss Brown he 
was sent to the Annan academy and began the 
study of language, mathematics and the clas- 
sics, remaining four years. The paternal Cal- 
vert had decided that his son, Thomas E., 
should be a doctor, so at sixteen years of age he 
was placed in a dispensary to learn medicine, 
but the boy, led by an unseen but plainly felt 
hand, decided that he was called upon to preach 
and kept up his studies at nights while working 
during the day, until 1876, when he went to 
Edinburgh, and matriculated for a coarse in the 
arts, his preceptors being Professors Blackic, 
Greek ; K'elland, mathematics ; Tate, science ; 
Frazer, metaphysics ; Calderwood, moral phi- 
losophy; and Masson, English literature. He 
graduated in 1880, taking the degree of A. M., 
and then took a tutorship in the Highlands 
until the fall, when he entered the United Pres- 
byterian Hall at Edinburgh to prepare for the 
ministry, under the instruction of Prof Dr. 
John Ker, to whom Mr. Calvert pays the high- 
est compliment that tongue can utter ; Rev. 
Cairns, D. D., Dr. Duff, and Professors John- 
ston and Patterson. He was licensed to preach 
by the presbytery of Edinburgh. He taught 
several months iu prominent private families in 
the city, came to America in May, 1886, and 
was first called to preach in the Presbyterian 
Church at Youngstown, N. Y. AVhile there 
he was called to the pastorate of tiie Fredonia 



Presbyterian church, and now has a congrega- 
tion of about five hundred members. Mr. Cal- 
vert is an eloquent and earnest speaker. Large 
congregations listen to his preaching every Sun- 
day, and his sermons are almost entirely care- 
fully prepared expositions of the Word of God. ■ 
On July 31, 1888, Rev. Calvert was married 
to Lillie A. Woltge, a daughter of William and 
Anna (Andrews) Woltge, of Buffalo. They 
have one child, a daughter, named Anna Mary 
Lillie Woltge. Rev. and Mrs. Calvert made a 
wedding tour to Scotland, and upon returning 
they found a home in Fredonia elegantly fur- 
nished, the gift of Mr. Woltge, it being a jires- 
ent and a surprise. Rev. Calvert's social qual- 
ities rank with his oratorical abilities, and dur- 
ing his stay at Fredonia he has made many 
warm and apjireciative friends. 



JOHN F. KEITH, a contractor and well- 
^^ driller of May ville, was born in Thurston, 
Steuben county. New York, ]\Larch ,5, 1848, 
and is a son of Marius and Eliza (Hawley) 
Keith. Warren Keith (paternal grandfather) 
was of New England parentage, being born in 
Massachusetts, but emigrated to Steuben coun- 
ty where he died. His maternal grandfather, 
William Hawley, was also of New England 
birth and i)areutage. IMarius Keith (father) 
was born iu Massachusetts, and came to Steu- 
ben county, where he still lives. In politics he 
is a republican and in religion a member of the 
Christian church. In 1839, he married Eliza 
Hawley and had nine children, five sons and 
four daughters. One of the sons, Merrill, 
entered the army in the late civil war, and 
died at City Point, Virginia, shortly after his 
enlistment. 

.John F. Keith was educated in the common 
schools of his native county, and after leaving 
school entered the lumber business in that sec- 
tion, continuing in it six years. He then went 
to Ohio and other states and engaged in con- 
tracting and drilling wells. He afterwards 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



went into the contracting business in Pennsyl- 
vania, and is now a resident of Mayville. In 
politics he is a republican. 

John F. Keith was married on September 
25, 1872, to Abbie J. Burr, a daughter of 
George W. Burr, of Steul)en county, this 
State. Their union has been blest with six 
children, all sons: Burr, Arthur, Jay, Olney, 
Ellis and Stanley. 



HEKVKY HALL, a leading citizen and 
business man of Kipley, New York, is a 
sou of Hervey and Sarah (Hull) Hall, and was 
born in "Washington county, New York, town 
of Granville, February 15, 1812. His ances- 
tors on both sides were natives of Connecticut, 
near New Haven. Here also was born his 
father, who in early life transferred his fortunes 
from that State to northern New York. Later 
he removed to the city of Erie, Erie county, 
Pennsylvania, where he died in 1863, at the 
age of eighty-two years. His wife died a few 
years later at the age of ninety-two years. In 
his early life Hervey Hall was engaged in the 
mercantile business, subsequently became a 
large farmei-, in connection with which, he ran 
a saw and wool carding and cloth dressing mill. 
Upon coming to Erie county, Pennsylvania, he 
purchased a large tract of land, of eight hun- 
dred and fifty acres, in which transaction he 
was unfortunate, as the title to the land was de- 
fective. Later in life he retired to Erie, Penn- 
.sylvania, where he lived until his death. His 
politics was that of the Whig aud Democratic 
parties, in neither of which parties did he be- 
come an aggressive partisan. He was also a 
member of the Presbyterian church. To his 
wife were born twelve children, nine of whom 
grew to maturity, two died in infancy and one 
at the age of fifteen years. His children were 
Hannah, married to George Hood (deceased) 
aud is now living in Waterford, Erie county, 
Pennsylvania, at the age of ninety years; Olive, 
married to John Hood (botii dead); George, 



died in June, of 1890; Samuel H., a tanner and 
currier, living a retired life in Manchester, 
Iowa; Hervey, subject; Luther, dead; Sabrina, 
(deceased); John H., a physician, died in 1846; 
and Peter, living in Erie, Pennsylvania, where 
he is a pliysieian and wholesale and retail drug- 
gist. 

Hervev Hall was educated in the common 
schools aud the academy at Waterford, Penn- 
sylvania. He remained at home on his father's 
farm until twenty-seven years of age, when he 
bought a farm in the town of Ripley, in 1839, 
and operated it until 1853 when he moved into 
the village of Ripley. His present business is 
that of private banker, though he is practically 
retired. He is a democrat in politics aud 
served some time as supervisor. 

In February, 1839, Hervey Hall was first 
united in marriage to Miss Lavina L. Baird, a 
daugiiter of Silas and Hannah Baird, one of 
the oldest families in Chautauqua county. 
This marriage resulted in the birth of two chil- 
dren : Louisa L., (died at the age of twelve 
years) ; and Alma, died in infancy. In Feb- 
ruary, 1872, he was again married, this time to 
Mrs. Elizabeth B. Norton {ni'c Evans). 



HKXRY 8. MUN.SON is one of those who 
has made a financial success in life without 
a partner ; a practical exponent of the Amphyc- 
tion motto: "Commend a wife but remain a 
bachelor." He is a son of Harris and Minerva 
(Stiles) Munson, and was born in the present 
confines of Westfield town, February 6, 1820. 
Like the other family of INIunsons in this aud 
the town of Portland, he is of English extrac- 
tion and his father came to Chautauqua county 
in the same year, 1818. Harris Munson was a 
native of Connecticut, and was born iu 1791. 
He came to this county aud purchased from the 
Holland Land company a tract of woods from 
which he choi)ped a farm. The present and 
coming generations will never know the amount 
of toil necessary to make a fiirm in a wooded 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



country, trees to deadeu, then to fell, brusli to 
be gathered and burned and stumps to be pulled 
and builded into a fence. Years and years of 
toil were spent that the present generation might 
enjoy the comforts and pleasures of life. Mr. 
Munson conducted his farm until December 9, 
1872, when he died. He had been a life-long 
democrat and held several of the town offices. 
His thrifty habits and simple, frugal routine of 
life made him comfortably fixed with this 
world's goods at the time of his death. Minerva 
Stiles, whom he married, was also a native of 
Connecticut where she was born in 1798, and 
was united to her husband in 1818. She was a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church and 
died February 27, 1862. They were the 
parents of children, all of whom are living : 
Henry S. ; Perry ; Hassel ; John J. ; Harriett, 
who married John Wilson, now his widow is 
living in Iowa ; and Sarah R. 

Henry S. Munson was early acquainted with 
life on a farm, where he helped in summer and 
went to school in the winter, learning his 
knowledge from books as well as tiie practical 
knowledge of life. He now owns sixty-four 
acres of well-improved laud located but one- 
half mile from the corporate limits of West- 
field. He is a democrat and one of the most 
forward of Westfield's citizens when public im- 
provements are suggested. 



^HAUXCY A. LAJNPHERE, foreman of 
^^ the iron and machinery department of 
the world-renowned Eureka Works, at Silver 
Creek, is a son of Chauucy and Sarah E. 
(Reed) Lanphere, and was born August 22, 
1846, in the town of Sheridan, Chautauqua 
county, New York, although at the time his 
parents' home was in Silver Creek. Chauncy 
A. Lanphere is a half-brother to Captain John 
I. Lanphere, postmaster of Silver Creek, whose 
sketch appears elsewhere in this volume. A 
great many years ago a German family came 
from the fatherland and settled in the Colonies; 



from them the Lanphere family has descended. 
The first of whom we have jJositive record was 
: Charles Lanphere, who was our subject's grand- 
father, and he died while serving a term of en- 
listment as a soldier in the war of 1812- 
Chauncy Lanphere was Iiorn at Brookfield, 
New York, in 1807, and while still in the 
prime of life he came to Chautauqua county, 
purchased a farm in the town of Villanova and 
conducted a various business until his death, 
which occurred at Silver Creek, February 1, 
1849. Politically he was a whig and by his 
sterling qualities, social as well as business, he 
occupied a high position in the esteem and con- 
fidence of the people. He was twice married, 
first to Wealthy Ann Carpenter and then to the 
mother of our subject, Sarah E. Reed, who was 
a native of Erie county. New York, lived to be 
sixty-four years of age and died at her home in 
Silver Creek in 1882. 

Chauncy A. Lanphere was reared in the 
village of Silver Creek, educated at the common 
schools, and then served an apprenticeship) of 
three years in a printing office. Having 
mastered this trade, he found it uncongenial to 
his tastes and the ensuing eight summers were 
passed in sailing on the Great Lakes and in 
that business he rose to the dignity of first mate 
on a sailing vessel, being employed in the grain 
trade between Buffalo and Chicago. In 1869 
Mr. Lanphere went to work in Simeon Howes' 
grain cleaning machinery shops, at Silver Creek 
and since the fall of 1878 has had charge of the 
iron and machinery departments. Mr. Lan- 
phere began at the bottom of the ladder when 
he entered these works and advanced steadily 
step by step until he reached his present re- 
sponsible position. 

On January 1, 1869, he united in marriage 
with Sarah Amelia Hammond, the youngest 
daughter of Joseph Hammond of Eden, Erie 
county, New York. Mrs. Lanphere was born 
in Hamburg, Erie county. New York, Decem- 
ber 31, 1846, and on the I4th of April, 1891, 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



after a week's sickness, passed to her fiual 
rest. She was a woman of rare excellence, of 
innate refinement and tlie possessor of a nature 
of deep, religious convictions. For twenty 
years prior to her death she had been a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal cluirch, was attached 
to her home and family with a rare devotion, 
and not only in a social sense but in every re- 
lation which she was called upon to fulfill, ex- 
hibited her lofty sense of womanliness. She bore 
lier husband three cliildren, two of whom still 
survive ; Maud Elizabetii and Helen Amelia. 

Chauncy A. Lanphere is a republican aud 
has served two years upon the board of village 
trustees and for twelve years upon the school 
board, being president of the latter two years. 
In addition to this, he was one of the projectors 
of the Cemetery association, of which he was a 
trustee for three years. He is an enterprising, 
energetic citizen ; has been chief of the Eureka 
fire company since its organization aud since 
his connection with tiie Eureka Works, has de- 
signed several pieces of machinery, for one of 
which, known as the Automatic Key Seating 
machine, he has secured a patent. 



/>-OLOXEL, DAVID S. FORBES, who was 

^^ engaged in business pursuits for nearly 
sixty years in this county, and who commanded 
the Sixty-eighth New York regiment from 1855 
to 1864, was born at the village of Green, Che- 
nango county, New York, February 11, 1817, 
and is a son of Col. John and Statira (Phelps) 
Forbes. The name of Forbes was originally 
written McForbes in Scotland, where the family 
was resident for sevei'al centuries back. Col. 
John Forbes, the father of Colonel David S. 
Forbes, was born in New Haven, Connecticut, 
where he married Statira Phelps and afterwards 
removed to Chenango county, this State. He 
was a merchant, commanded a regiment of New 
York militia, and in 1832 came to Fredonia, 
where he died, aged eighty-seven years, six 
months and fifteen days. 



David S. Forbes received his education prin- 
cipally at Fredonia, to which he came in April, 
1832. He was a clerk for one year -with J. Z. 
Saxton, then two years with J. & A. F. Mor- 
rison, at Forestville. In 1835 he became a 
clerk for his father at Fredonia, and two years 
later became his aud L. B. Grant's partner in 
the general mercantile firm of John Forbes & 
Co. In 1841 this firm established a brancii 
store at Sinclairville of which he became man- 
ager. In 1844 he engaged in the butter and 
cheese business in which he was the first dealer 
in the county to pay cash for those articles. 
From 1851 to 1855 he dealt in flour and grain 
and then was in various kinds of business until 
the breaking out of the late war. At its close 
he again resumed civil pursuits and was engaged 
in different lines of business until he retired 
from active life a few years ago. 

In 1838 he attended a military school taught 
by Colonel Scott, in which he acquired quite a 
taste for militar'y service, although he had served 
as a major in a militia regiment during the pre- 
ceding year. In 1855 the insjiector-general of 
the State induced him to accept a colonel's com- 
mission and raise a regiment. He raised the 
68th New York, which Hon. Reuben E. Fenton 
had failed to accomplish and commanded it until 
1864. His regiment was the first in New York 
to volunteer in 1861, but by means of red tape- 
ism was never allowed to go to the front, al- 
though it was made the nucleus of four regi- 
ments in the field. In June, 1863, his regiment 
was ordered to Harrisburg, Pa., where he ar- 
rived with what remnant of it remained. Here 
again red tape policy prevented it from going 
into active service aud it was sent back to Fre- 
donia, where it was honorably mustered out of 
the service and discharged July 29, 1863. 

In 1842 he married Catharine J. Abell, who 
died in 1875 and left him two children : Mrs. 
Geo. Benton, of Chicago ; and Mrs. Catharine L. 
Gushing, widow of Commodore W. B. Gushing, 
wiiose sketch appears elsewhere in tiiis volume. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



After Mrs. Forbes' death Col. Forbes married 
for liis second wife, Sarah J. Starr, who is a 
native of Gowanda, Erie county. 



/VHARLES H. SH.ERMAX. Ilaih'oading 
^^ has now assumed the first place among 
the chief industries of the world, having more 
capital invested and giving employment to a 
greater number of jjeople than any other one 
occupation in the world. Among those who 
have seen this industry grow from insignificance 
to the pinnacle of greatness is Charles H. Sher- 
man, who was born to Levi U. and Hannah F. 
(Fairbanks) Sherman, at Boston, Massachusetts, 
on August 14, 1818. Levi D. Slierniau was 
also a native of Boston, born in 1784, and upon 
reaching manhood was a contractor until his 
death which occurred when Charles was but 
nine years old. He came of American parents 
and was an orthodox church member. Hannah 
F. Fairbanks, too, was a strict church member. 
They were married in 1809, and reared a family 
of five children. She died in Boston in 1881. 
Charles H. Sherman was reared in " The 
Hub of the Universe," and was educated in the 
schools of that city. After leaving school he 
was apprenticed in a machine shop from which 
he emerged in 1839 a journeyman workman, 
and entered the employ of what now is the 
Boston and Maine railroad, beginning as a fire- 
man, as was customary in those days, and two 
years later was transferred to the right side of 
the cab. He remained in the employ of that 
company as engineer for ten years, but in 1851 
left them and came to the Erie railway, remain- 
ing with it, in various capacities ever since. 
When the road was completed to Dunkirk in 
1851, it was made the occasion of a National 
celebration in which the president of the 
United States, Millard Fillmore, Daniel Web- 
ster and the entire Cabinet and Stephen A. 
Douglas took part and delivered addresses. 
Mr. Siierman was the engineer who pulled the 
train carrying these distinguished people, who 



were saluted with the ringing of bells, the 
booming of cannons and the shouts of an 
assembled multitude. A year later Mr. Sher- 
man was advanced to the position of engine 
dispatcher and round-liouse foreman, and held 
that situation for about seventeen years when 
he was again advanced ; this time to traveling 
foreman and road inspector of motive power, 
retaining it until 1880, since which he has been 
foreman of the engine and car repair shops. 

Charles H. Sherman, on October 9, 1842, 
married Marinda S., daughter of Stephen 
Sleeper, who lived at Fremont, N. H., and they 
have two sons : Clarence A. and William H. 
The former is a machinist in the Dunkirk & 
Warren railroad shops ; and William H., is 
living in Denver Colorado, where he is em- 
ployed in a broker's office. 

C. H. Sherman is a republican and has served 
for several years on the Dunkirk school board 
and as town trustee. He held membership in 
the Volunteer Fire department for many years 
and was its first chief engineer. He also takes 
an active interest in secret societies, is a thirty- 
second degree Mason, a member of the Blue 
Lodge, No. 152, of the Chapter, No. 191, 
Council, No. 25, and Commandery, No. 40, of 
wiiich he was commander for four years. In 
addition to this, at one time, he held the office 
of district deputy for the I. O. O. F., and is 
still a member of Olympia Lodge, No. 602. 
Mr. Sherman is a thorough mechanic, which is 
evinced by the fact that he has remained so 
long with a company who employ none but the 
best. 



rjLBEKT H. OOOAKD. Representative 
■**- among the largest and most reliable 
establishments of Mayville is the grocery house 
of Albert H. Godard, the senior member of the 
well-known firm of Godard & Bond and a suc- 
cessful business man of over twenty-one years, 
experience. He is a son of Anson H. and 
Elsie (^loore) Godard, and was born at May- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



ville, Chautauqua county, New York, July 15, j 
1844. His graudfather on the paternal side, 
Aaron Godard, was one of four brothers who 
came from England and settled in New York 
some time during the last half of the eighteenth 
century. On the maternal side his grandfiither, 
Elijah.Moore, came from Tompkins Co. to May- 
ville, where he followed farming until his death. 
Auson H. Godard (father) was born in Jeffer- 
son county, in 1808, and died at Mayville, 
June 8, 1879. He was reared on a farm, and 
in early life came to Mayville, where he fol- 
lowed tiirming for some time, at the end of 
which he engaged in tallow chandleriug. He 
was an old-line whig in politics when he came to 
Mayville and when that great political organiza- 
tion went down he entered the ranks of its pol- 
itical successor, the Republican party. In ad- 
dition to the management of his farm and con- 
ducting his tallow chandlering, he also engaged 
in the grocery business which he followed for 
many years. He married Elsie INIoore and 
they were the parents of eight children, of 
whom six grew to manhood and womanhood : 
Hannah, William and Caroline, who are dead; 
Martha, wife of James Barrett, a carpenter of 
Mayville; Anson, who died young; Albert H.; 
and Elsie, now deceased. 

Albert II. Godard was reared at Mayville, 
M'here he attended the public schools and was 
carefully drilled in his father's grocery store for 
a mercantile life. After considerable exper- 
ience as a clerk he yet determined to better fit 
himself for commercial life by a full and 
thorough business education, and accordingly 
entered Bryant & Stratton's business college, at 
Buffalo, from which ilonrishing commercial in- 
stitution he was graduated. Although but a 
boy yet, his father had such confidence in his 
business ability as to intrust to him the buying 
of his large stock of groceries, which he did so 
judiciously and satisfactorily, that that imjwr- 
tant part of the business remained, unconditiou- 
allv, in iiis hands as long as his fatlier contin- 



ued the owner of the store. In 1869, he and 
Orlando Bond, succeeded to their present pro- 
prietorship and management of the grocery 
store under the firm name of Godard & Bond. 
They have continually increased their stock and 
trade. They now have a very fine two-story 
business building with basement, 2.5 x 90 feet 
in dimensions, containing office, salesroom and 
storage departments. Their grocery house is 
fully supplied and fitted up with every appli- 
ance and facility for the successful prosecution 
of their steadily increasing business. The stock 
comprises the choicest food products, staple and 
fancy groceries and sundries from the leading 
markets of the United States. Accommodating 
clerks and salesmen are employed and all pos- 
sible attentions are rendered for the comfort 
and benefit of their patrons. Mr. Godard is a 
republican from principle but does not allow 
political affairs to take much of his time from 
his extensive business. He has frequently 
been appointed as an administrator to settle up 
estates and to act as assignee, guardian and ex- 
ecutor. Mr. Godard is a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church of Mayville, of which 
he is a trustee and chorister. He is a member 
of Mayville Lodge, No. 284, Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows, Mayville Lodge, No. 2.5, 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, and May- 
ville Lodge, No. 825, Knights of Honor. 

In 1860, he married Ellen Gleason, daugh- 
ter of Rufus Gleason, of Mayville. She died 
in 1869, and on April 20, 1875, Mr. Godard 
united in marriage with Libbie J. Osborne, a 
daughter of Gustavus and Eleanor Eason Os- 
borne and an adopted daughter of Hon. T. A. 
Osborne, ex-judge of the courts of Chautauqua 
county, and a very prominent democrat as well 
as a leading lawyer. To Albert H. and Libbie 
(Osborne) Godard have been born one child, a 
son named Anson G. Godard, who was born 
Julv 29, 1877. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



n LFRED EATON was an enterprising and 
-**■ intelligent business man, and a quiet, 
earnest, Christian gentleman. He was a son of 
David and Mercy (Groves) Eaton, and was born 
March 4, 1815, in the town of Portland. His 
grandfather was Benjamin Eaton, a shoemaker, 
living at Farrainghara, Massachusetts, who died 
in 1800, leaving among nine other children the 
father of our subject, David Eaton, who was 
born in the town just mentioned, February 2, 
1782. He was the oldest son, and when nine 
yeai's of age was put to work on a bench in his 
father's shop. Nine years later his father died, 
and the support of eleven people fell upon him. 
In 1805, with Nathan Fay, he visited Chau- 
tauqua county and made a tour through it look- 
ing for a desirable location, then returned to 
Massachusetts. April 20, 1806, he married 
Elizabeth Home, and in the following mouth, 
accompanied by his mother and other members 
of his father's family, in a covered wagon drawn 
by a team of horses, he started back to Chau- 
t;uiqua. His wife was suffering from feeble 
health, so that they were obliged to stop at New 
Hartford, where she died. With a sorrowing 
heart he pushed on to Portland where he located 
his land and settled where he lived for sixty- 
seven years. His mother kept house for him 
until 1811, when he married Mrs. Nathan Fay 
nee Mercy Groves, who brought him five chil- 
di'en : Edwin, married Caroline P. Baldridge, 
of Fredonia — he died July 2, 1880 — his widow 
resides in Frewsburg ; Emily became the wife 
of Josiah Wheeler and lived at Frewsburg, both 
are deceased; Alfred; Oscar united with Louisa 
A. Kennedy, and moved to Michigan, and from 
thence to Forest Grove, from thence to Oswego, 
Oregon, and died July 13, 1887; and Darwin 
G., who graduated at the Normal school in 
Albany, became one of its teachers, then was 
offered the chair of mathematics and natural 
sciences in the Packer Institute at Brooklyn, 
New York, where he taught for more than forty 
years. He married Ann J. Collins, of Steuben 



county, October 2, 1850. David Eaton was a 
man of acknowledged integrity and a highly 
respected citizen. He served in the war of 
1812, and was wounded at the battle of Queens- 
town, a description being given in the war 
history. Mr. Eaton was active in politics, and 
gave many years of service to local offices. In 
1809 he was a.ssessor of Chautauqua town; clerk 
of the board of supervisors from 1820-27 and 
1831-32 ; supervisor of the town for six years, 
and chairman of the board in 1815; and for 
many years was justice of the peace. In 1844 
he was appointed superintendent of the poor, 
and held the office for six years. David Eaton 
died October 7, 1872, his wife May 12, 1862. 

Alfred Eaton was reared on the bosom of 
rural life, and receiving an education which in 
those days was called good, at the common 
schools and the Westfield High school, he went 
back to farming, which he followed througli 
life. In 1836 he went to the wild and almost 
unknown State of Wisconsin, and settled in 
Racine county, where he engaged in ftirming. 
This employment he continued at that place 
until 1852 when he returned to the old home- 
stead, continuing his agricultural avocation until 
he died, April 13, 1890, aged seventy-five years. 
During the six years previous to his death, 
ad%aucing years, and the infirmities thereof, pre- 
cluded the active management of his business, 
which he delegated to othei's, and in 1884 he 
moved to Westfield, but returned to his home 
before the grim reaper took him home. 

While sojourning in Wisconsin he married 
Hannah C. Clark, a daughter of Jeremiah Clark, 
of Racine county. To Alfred and Mrs. Eaton 
there were born two sons and three daughters : 
Oscar D. is farming a part of the old homestead, 
his wife is Lovica Brockway, and they have one 
child living, Elizabeth Pearl ; two, Alfred W. 
and Clyde B., are dead; Emily N. joined in 
marriage to Daniel E. Arnold, and now resides 
in Corry, Penna. They have five children — 
Walter G., Lillic H., Charles G. A., Orlando R. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



and Kilbonrn S. ; oue infant, Orin, died ; and j 
David D. married Emma A. Buck, a daughter 
of George P. Buck, of Westfield, is a Methodist • 
Episcopal minister, now stationed at Berryville, ] 
Ne\y York, he has one child, Herbert P. ; one 
daughter, Narrie J., died January 15, 1889, 
aged thirty-one years. She left a husband, 
Theron A. Koosa, and four children : Jennet D., 
Edwin A., Flossy A. and Franklin B. ; Myrtie 
A. lives at home, and is attending the Westfield 
academy and Union school. 

Mrs. Hannah C. Eaton now resides at the old 
homestead, four miles from Westfield, on the 
•south road. She personally manages the grow- 
incr vineyard, which produces a large amount of 
grapes. In politics Alfred Eaton was a republi- 
can, and was earnest and enthusiastic in maintain- 
ino- its principles. He was supervisor of Portland 
for two years, and was a justice of the peace for 
several terms. Devotedly attached to the Port- 
land Methodist Episcopal church, he officiated 
as class leader for many years. Being a man of 
rare good judgment and of learning, many were 
accustomed to come to him for advice, which 
was freely given, and when he died the com- 
munity mourned, each feeling that he had lost 
a personal friend. 



OLIVER STET.SON is now an agriculturist 
living in the town of Ripley, who, while 
yet a young man, was a sailor before the mast, 
and knew the peculiar whistle of a stiff north 
wind as it blew through the rigging. Oliver 
Stetson is the third of his family of that name, 
father and grandfather also bearing it. His 
mother's name was Rhoda Alice Stetson, who 
gave him birth August 25, 1833, in the town 
of Westfield, Chautauqua county. New York. 

Oliver Stetson (grandfather) was a native of 
"Vermont. He came to the town of "W^estfield, 
this county, about 1827, and kept a tavern and 
stage line running from Erie to Buffalo. He 
was a consistent member of the Presbyterian 
church of Ripley at the time of its organiza- 



tion, served as a soldier in the war for Inde- 
pendence, and died in 1839. He married and 
reared a family of eleven children : Delia Ann, 
married John Taylor, and is dead ; Betsey, 
wife of Frank Slater ; Quincy ; Edwin died, 
aged twenty-two ; John, died when seventeen 
years old ; Asenath, wife of Ezra Burrows 
(both she and her husband are dead) ; ISIoses, 
married Fanny Porter, died in 1870, leaving a 
daughter Jennie, now the wife of Henry Bur- 
gess ; Henry A., married Elizabeth Spink, and 
moved to Michigan ; Robert M., married Ann 
Ross; Oliver, and two sons who died young. 

Oliver Stetson (father) was born in Vermont, 
and died in the town of Westfield, having, 
when a young man, served as a soldier in the 
war of 1812, and voted with the Whig and 
Republican parties. He married Rhoda Adams 
and reared a family of four sons and three 
daughters. Three of the former are yet living : 
Oliver, Moses and Robert M. 

Oliver Stetson (subject) was taught the les- 
sons of the early schools, and then Ment on 
board of a ship and learned to be a sailor. He 
j followed a seafaring life for a number of years, 
I and then returned to terra firma and worked 
i with the carpenter force on the railroad, but 
finally abandoned this life for farming. 

In 1858 he married Elizabeth Lay, daughter 
of William Lay, Avho came from England in 
j 1853. Mr. and Mrs. Stetson became the pa- 
' rents of two daughters: Josephine, who became 
the wife of Franklin Rayce, but afterwards 
died ; and Elizabeth, who married a farmer 
named Frank Winters, and now lives in Rip- 
ley. 

Oliver Stetson is a democrat, and belongs to 
Lodge No. 988, Knights of Honor. He is a 
social gentleman of integrity and stability of 
character. 



WARREN GRISWOLD, a well-kuown 
resident of Hauover town, Chautauqua 
county. New York, was born in Homer, Madi- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



son county, New York, January 22, 1814. 
His parents were Warren Griswokl and Lorana 
(Cutler) Griswold. Reuben Griswokl, his pa- 
ternal grandfather, was also a native of New 
York State, county of Madison, but when well 
along in years removed to the western part of 
the State, took up his residence in Chautauqua 
county and there lived until his demise. While 
in Madison Co. he owned and operated a farm but 
disposed of it and came to Chautauqua county, 
where he lived a retired life. He belonged to 
the Jeffersonian contingent of the Democratic 
party, and held membership in the INIethodist 
Episcopal church. His first marriage resulted in 
a family of seven children, four daughters and 
three sons; his second wife was Mrs. McLain. 
Warren Griswold, Sr., was born at a place 
known as Nine Partners, Madison county. New 
York, January 22, 1785. He was reared and 
spent his early life upon a farm, and after locat- 
ing in Chautauqua county, purchased a farm of 
his own, containing one hundred and twenty 
acres, from the Holland Land company. This 
tract was located in the town of Hanover and 
constitutes the Griswold homestead. Mr. Gris- 
wold's political faith was essentially that of the 
Democratic party, though he was anything but 
a partisan. With his family he worshiped at 
the Methodist Episcopal church, and was a 
member of the Free and Accepted Masons. 
His wife bore him a family of seven children, 
consisting of four sons and three daughters. 

Warren Griswold received his mental train- 
ing in the common schools and at the same time 
performed his duties on the farm. When old 
enough to attempt the struggle of life upon his 
own responsibility he very successfully engaged 
in the occupation of his boyhood life — farming. 
He acquired considerable property but of late 
years, owing to his advanced age, has disposed 
of all his real estate with the exception of forty- 
two acres, upon which he now resides in Han- 
over town, near Forestville. Mr. Griswold takes 
quite an active part in political affairs, but with 



no other motive than the good of the party and 
a deep interest in the public welfare. 

On December 26, 1836, he was joined in 
marriage to Miss Emily, daughter of Benjamin 
Smith, originally the owner of the flouring- 
mills at Smith's Mills, which village was named 
in his honor. Mr. and Mi's. Griswold are the 
parents of four children, two sons and two 
daughters : Warren (mari'ied to Ophelia Keech) 
living in the town of Sheridan, the owner and 
cultivator of a farm ; Benjamin (married to 
Sarah Dickinson) a member of the livery firm 
of Griswold & Cook, of Silver Creek, New 
York J Wealthy, wife of W. E. Graves, who 
operates the farm of subject ; and Loana, wife 
of Oran Barrass, of the town of Planover. 



TTLBKKT KIKKLAX1> belongs to one of 

■**■ the oldest families in the town of Han- 
over. His parents were George and Sally 
(Convis) Kirkland, and he was born June 1, 
1833, in the town of Hanover, on the farm upon 
which he now resides. His grandfather, Wil- 
liam Kirkland, came to New York State from 
one of the New England States, first locating in 
Schoharie county, but afterwards in Chautauqua 
county, in the latter of which he died. During 
the war of Independence he enlisted in the ser- 
vice of his country, and bravely did what he 
could to defend it from the tyrannous rule of 
the British monarchy. The result of his mar- 
riage was a family of three boys and four girls. 
The father of Albert Kirkland was ushered into 
life on March 15, 1797, in Schoharie county. 
New York, and died August 26, 1854, in the 
town of Hanover, Chautauqua county. He came 
to Chautauqua county some time prior to the 
year 1821, and was thei-efore one of the pioneers 
of that county. His first purchase of land 
amounted to ninety acres, to which he afterwards 
added fifty acres more, both tracts constituting 
the old homestead now occujiied by his son. 
He was a hard-working, economical man and 
knew fully the representative value of a dollar. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



He lived in stirring pioneer times and was fully 
acquainted with all those experiences which are 
a part of every pioneer's life. His marriage 
resulted in a family of ten children : Sarah, 
Ezra, Mary, Lovisa, Rosiua, Naomi (dead), 
George, Albert, Edwin and Walter (dead). He 
was a whig in politics and a communicant of 
the Methodist churcli. 

Albert Kirkland's childhood days, youth, 
manhood and declining years have all been 
passed upon the old homestead, around which, in 
the autumn of his life, cling many pleasant 
luemories. His early education was acquired 
in the same school which he now helps to sup- 
port, so that it has measured the experiences of 
two generations. He has always followed the 
occupation of a farmer and is the present owner 
of one of the best farms in the county. 

Albert Kirkland married twice. His first 
wife v.'as Nancy T. Giles, a daughter of Abel 
Giles, of Hanover township, by whom he had 
one daughter, Minnie, at present a student at 
the Fredonia Normal school. Subsequent to 
the death of his first wife, March 4, 1880, he 
united a second time in marriage ; this time to 
Annette M. Pei-sons, by whom he had one child, 
Bert, born in 1881, a daughter of Orris Per- 
sons, of Westfiekl, New York. Mr. Persons is 
a farmer and grape-grower and was once mar- 
ried to Melva Shaw, who bore him six chil- 
dren. 

His life is one of independence, contentment 
and peaceful labor, tempered with the benedic- 
tions that come to an honest, conscientious life. 
He is a consistent member and supporter of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, while politically 
he ca.sts his vote with the Republican party. 



Q OELBERT A. XEWBUKY, one of the 

■^*- progressive and shrewd fiirmers of Rip- 
ley town, was born January 13, 1847, in the 
town of Ripley, Chautauqua county, New York, 
and is a son of John A. and Margaret (Oster- 
man) Newbury. The old home which his 



father established so many years ago has shel- 
tered two generations. The paternal grand- 
father was drowned in the Delaware river. 
He married and reared a family of four sous 
and five daughters. Grandfather Osterman 
came to this county, and settled in Ripley. He 
was a farmer and married, and his wife bore 
him two sons and four daughters. John A. 
Newbury (father) was born in Delaware county, 
New York, in 1808, and lived to be eighty- 
two years of age. He came into Chautauqua 
county and bought a farm in the town of Rip- 
ley about 1830. When he came to Ripley, he 
saw nothing but forests. Two or three small 
settlements were scattered about, but they were 
so small as to be hardly noticeable to a migra- 
tory crow passing over them. Mr. Newbury 
set to work at once, and cleared up his farm, 
and erected an immense farm house, which is 
still standing. While primarily a farmer, he 
was also a carpenter, at which he did consider- 
able, and bought and sold real estate. His 
property consisted of two hundred and twenty- 
five acres of fine land. He was high in the 
councils of the Republican party, and was a 
local leader of renown. Many of the town 
offices were filled by him, and the duties of the 
office honorably discharged. When the Bap- 
tist church was organized, Mr. Newbury was 
active in accomplishing it, and has since served 
as a deacon. The latter part of his life was 
passed in Ripley village. He was twice mar- 
ried ; first to Louisa Spencer, who bore him 
two children : William S., now a lawyer at 
Portland, Oregon, and Libbie. His second 
wife was Margaret Osterman, by whom he had 
three sons and two daughters : Sarah, wife of 
Rush R. Brown, a farmer living at Silver 
Creek ; Julia, wife of Frank Griffin, who is 
engaged in the real-estate business in Kansas ; 
Adelbert A.; John, a farmer of this town, 
married Clara Palmer, who is now dead ; and 
Clarence, who died young. 

Adelbert A. Newbury was reared a farmer, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



and secured a country education at the district 
schools. When still a young man, he bought 
the old homestead, and has spent his life upon 
it, engaged in tilling its soil. It now consists 
of one hundred and thirty-five acres, and eight 
acres of vineyard. 

On September 14, 1870, he married Sarah 
Smith, a daughter of Daniel and Cordelia 
(Cusliman) Smith of Silver Creek. Their union 
has been blessed with four children, — three sons 
and one daughter, two of whom are dead : Eva, 
died young ; Clarence ; Arthur, dead, and Allie. 

A. A. Newbury is a republican, and has 
served as assessor two terms, and is a member 
of Council No. 164 of the Royal Arcanum at 
Ripley. He is a very popular man in his lo- 
cality. 

© 

■J'^AYIl) HOUSE, a respected and popular 
^^ farmer of Westfield town, living about 
two and one-half miles east of the village, is a 
son of David, Sr. and Nabby (Saunders) House, 
and was born near the scene of his present resi- 
dence in Westfield, Chautauqua county, New 
York, June 29, 1832. The best blood of old 
England flows in his veins, his mother having 
come fi'om the aristocrac}' of that country. His 
great-grandfather was a respectable gentleman, 
but of somewhat humbler origin than his wife, 
and they decided to come to America, which 
they did about the middle of the last century, 
making the Newport, Rhode Island and Provi- 
dence plantations their home. In 1760 John 
House was born, and became the grandfather of 
our subject, Anterior to the commencement of 
the present century he moved to central New 
York, whore he followed farming until 1816, 
and then with liis family, which were born there, 
came to \yestfield town, where he resided until 
his death, having bought and cleared two hun- 
dred acres of laud. This was divided among 
his children who, with their descendants, still 
live upon it. He was married in 1784, and 
had eight children. 
24 



David House, Sr. (father), was born in Cort- 
land county, N. Y., in 1792, and came here with 
his father in 1816. He married Nabby Saun- 
ders, who came from New Jersey, where she 
was born in the same year with her husband. 
They had ten children : John, born November 
12, 1821; Nancy, born August 28, 1817; 
Julia A., born November 27, 1819; Indiana, 
born Jaiuiary 30, 1843; David, Jr., born 
June 29, 1832 ; Ruth, born October 5, 1827; 
Louisa J., born March 11, 1827; Nabby, 
born September 17, 1824, died in April, 1?34; 
Eliza J., born March 24, 1835; and Edwin, 
born October 11, 1837. Mr. House died May 
20, 1868, aged seventy-si.x years, and was fol- 
lowed by his consort in 1886, when she had 
attained the unusual age of eighty-nine years. 

David House was reared on the farm, and 
received his education in the public schools. His 
life-long occupation has been following the plow, 
sowing and reaping the harvest of his fields, 
together with conducting a fine grape orchard. 

In 1860 he married Mary Ann Caldwell, a 
daughter of Samuel Caldwell, who lived in 
Portland town, and their union resulted in nine 
children, four sons and five daughters : Edwin 
M., James S., living in Nebraska, Nabby S., 
Nancy M., wife of E. D. Mead, who lives in 
Westfield ; Emmit I)., Almedia A , Clara M., 
Arthur J. and Lydia A. 

Politically, ]\Ir. House is a republican, modest 
and retiring, and while not caring to receive any 
political honors, is always willing to advance 
the interests of his party by honest and legiti- 
mate means. Personally he is an agreeable 
companion, courteous and entertaining, and 
enjoys a large circle of friends and acquaintances. 



■j^ETEK G. PHILLIPS, of Westfield, Chau- 
-'- tauqua county. New York, is a son of 
James and Mary (Dafoe) Phillips and was born 
in Hastings county, Canada, on New Years 
day of 1835. His paternal grandfather, James 
Phillips, was a native of Scotland, from whence 



462 



BIOGRAPHY A^'D HISTORY 



he emigrated aud came to Canada about 1800. 
Farming was his avocation and ,he pursued it 
in Hastings county until his death in 1830. 
He left eight children, five boys aud three girls. 
James Phillips, Jr., father of Peter G., was 
born in Scotland, in 1794 and came to Canada 
with his father in 1800, where he spent his en- 
tire life farmiug. He was a pushing, active 
man, a member of the Methodist Episcopal , 
church and a Mason of exalted rank. James 
Phillips died, April 19, 1837, aged forty-three 
years. He married Mary Dafoe, of Newburg, 
Outario, in 1818, and reared a family of nine 
children, si.x boys and three girls. 

Peter G. Phillips was reared on the farm 
where he spent the first si.xteen years of his life. 
He was educated in the schools of the Domiu- 
iou, aud, at the age mentioned, began to learu 
to build fauning-mills. lu that work he con- 
tinued eleven years, when, during the latter 
part of 1861, he came to the United States, 
where, after staying for .a year, he located in 
Westfield some time in November, 1862. Here 
he has made his home ever since. For several 
years he was the general agent in this county 
for the Singer Sewing Machine Co., and trav- 
elled, establishing agencies in the larger cities. 
His sales record was equal to the best and on 
several occasions, during contests, he was the 
recipient of the prize for being the best sales- 
man. In the fall of 1866, Mr. Phillips bought 
a farm containing oue hundred acres, located 
four miles west of the village of Westfield and 
conducted it himself, but in 1882 he moved 
two and a (piarter miles east of Westfield, 
where he now lives and has a very desirable 
place. He has a fine frame residence and the 
farm contains a magnificent vineyard, and an 
extensive truck garden. Mr. Phillips is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
affiliates with the Republican party and belongs 
to Chautauqua Lodge A. O. U. W. 

In 1866 he was united in marriage to Lizzie 
Winsor, of Westfield, who has become the 



mother of one son and one daughter: James W. 
and Mary S. 

Peter G. Phillips is a kind father and a gen- 
tle husband; public-spirited and enterprising 
and enjoys the confidence of all his acquaint- 
ances. 



j^AXIEL HAZELTIXE PO.ST is the son of 

^^ William and Susanna (Hazeltine) Post, 
and was born in the city of Jamestown on the 
17th day of July, 1850. He received his early 
education in the schools of Jamestown and was 
prepared for college in the Jamestown academy, 
and the Jamestown Union school and collegiate 
in.stitute, now the Jamestown High school. He 
was a member of the first class which graduated 
from this latter institution, in 1868. He grad- 
uated from Williams college, Williamstown, 
Mass., in the class of 1874, securing the degree 
of A.B., and five years later the degree of 
A.M. For some months after graduation he 
studied law in the office of his grand-uncle, 
Hon. Abner Hazehine. From 1874 until 1882, 
he was engaged iu newspaper work, being 
regularly engaged on the daily Journal and the 
daily Democrat in Jamestown, besides doing 
work for many other papers aud periodicals, 
including the New York Tribune and Harpers' 
Magazine, to which he contributed an illustrated 
; article. In 1878, he accompanied the late Gov. 
R. E. Fentou to Paris, where he acted as clerk 
of the American Delegation to the International 
Monetary conference, Mr. Fentou being chair- 
man of the delegation. In 1874, Mr. Post 
became a partner in the furniture manufactur- 
ing firm, known as the Jamestown Bedstead 
company, with which he is still connected. He 
is secretary of the Chautauqua Lake railway 
company, a member of the Masonic fraternity 
and a lieutenant in the 13th separate company 
; of the National Guard of the State. 
I On July 16, 1883, i\Ir. Post' was married to 
' Evelyn M., only daughter of Robert and 
Evelyn (Patchin) Newland, of Jamestown. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



4G3 



Mr. Post's father, William Post, was born in 
Pliillipstowu, Putnam county, N. Y., Sept. 23, 
1803. He was the second child of a family of 
■five, three sisters and two brothers. His father 
was Absalom Post, who was born at Phillips- 
town, Nov. 29, 1776, and was married to Annie 
Schofield, who was born at New Rochelle, 
Westchester county, July 12, 1771. Absalom 
Post removed from Phillipstown to Catskill, 
Avhere he lived for some years and in July, 
1842, he removed to Afton, Chenango county, 
where he resided the balance of his life. He 
M'as a whig and a republican in politics, a 
farmer by occupation and a man of intelligence 
and high character. William Post, the son, 
though enjoying but scanty opportunities of 
instruction in his youth, equipped himself with 
a practical education that well-fitted him for the 
duties of life. He lived in Phillipstown, Cats- 
kill, Afton, New York city, Kent, Ohio, and 
Newark, N. Y., before coming to Jamestown. 
He studied medicine, but never practiced as a 
physician. He was engaged in general mer- 
cantile business and in the drug business, the 
greater portion of his life. While living in 
New York city, he was one of the founders of ; 
the artistic society, which afterwards became 
the National Academy. During a portion of 
his residence in Jamestown, he was a member 
of the oil refining firm of Marvin & Co. Mr. 
Post possessed cultured tastes and a large fund 
of general information. He was a republican 
in politics, a man of kind heart and unblem- 
ished character. He was first married to Miss 
Aletta AVestervclt, in New York city, by whom I 
he had one son, Maj. Wm. Westervelt Post, 
■who died in New York, April 5, 1880. Wil- 
liam Post was married to Susanna Hazeltine, on \ 
Sept. 1, 1845, and one son, Daniel H. Post 
was the result of this union. Mrs. Post died ; 
in 1870, and her husband's death occurred at \ 
Jamestown, Nov. 10, 1878. 

The ancestors of Daniel H. Post on the maternal 
side were all identified with the early develop- I 



ment of this region. His maternal grandfather, 
Daniel Hazeltine, was a mau of more than 
ordinary prominence in the early history of 
Jamestown, and one of the founders of her 
present industrial prosperity. He was a native 
of Wardsboro, Vermont, and in 1812, at the 
age of seventeen years, on the advice of his 
uncle, Solomon Jones, he mastered the art of 
cloth-making with the intention of coming to 
western New York, which he did in 181G, 
coming to Jamestown in company with Samuel 
Barrett, who in later years became president of 
the Chautauqua County Bank. Mr. Hazeltine's 
first factory was erected where the Broadhead 
mills now stand, and he was the pioneer maker 
of textile fabrics in this region. His business 
steadily increased until, when he retired in 
1865, it had attained considerable proportions. 
He was regarded as a man of the strictest 
integrity and was highly exemplary in all the 
relations of life. He was one of the nine 
founders of the Congregational church, and 
continued a devout and earnest member until 
his death, universally deplored, which occurred 
August 3, 1867. In 1818, Daniel Hazeltine 
was married to Mehetabel, the youngest daugh- 
ter of William and Mary (Prendergast) Bemus. 
William Bemus was born at Bemus Heights, 
Saratoga county, in 1762, and it was upon his 
father's farm that the "Battle of Bemus 
Heights " was fought. Together with his 
father and brother he was a soldier of the Rev- 
olution, and in the above named engagement he 
fought in the most literal sense for his home 
and fireside. William Bemus came into Chau- 
tauqua county in 1805, and the following spring 
settled on Chautauqua lake, at what is now 
known as Bemus Point. His youngest dauo-h- 
ter was named after her maternal grandmother, 
Mehetabel Wing, who married William Pren- 
dergast, senior. To Daniel and Mehetabel 
(Bemus) Hazeltine were born five children, two 
sons and three daughters. Susanna, the eldest 
daughter, was born April 8, 1822. She was 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



the mother of Daniel Hazeltine Post, the sub- 
ject of this sketch. She was a woman of strong 
and lovable character, kind and benevolent 
and lier death on June 23, 1870, was greatly 
mourned. Mehetabel (Bemus) Hazeltine sur- 
vived her husband and daughter, and died 
Sept. 22, 1889, at the advanced age of nearly 
ninety-five years. She was a woman of many 
strongly-marked but worthy traits of char- 
acter. 



nOBERT NEWL.\:VI>. One of the best- 
known and most universally respected 
citizens of Jamestown is Mr. Robert Newland, 
the venerable ex-president of the Chautauqua 
County National Bank. He was born in Al- 
bany, N. Y., January 24, 1809, and was the son 
of David Newland, a native of Dumfries in 
Scotland, who at the age of eighteen years emi- 
grated to America and settled in Albany, 
where he subsequently married Jane McHarg, 
who, like him, was of Scotch parentage. David 
Newland had a long and honorable mercantile 
career in Albany, where he died in 1855, at the 
age of eighty-two years. His widow who sur- 
vived him only a short time was also an octo- 
genarian at the time of her death. 

Robert Newland, the son of this worthy 
couple, had the ordinary advantages of educa- 
tion afforded by the time, and among other 
schools of the city attended the well-known Al- 
banv boys' academy. On quitting school he 
entered his father's store as a clerk, where he 
remained until he was nearly twenty-five years 
of age. In 1834 he left Albany and came to 
Jamestown, where he became connected with 
the Chautauqua County Bank, a relation which 
has now (in 1891) been continuous for fifty- 
seven years. The history of this banking in- 
stitution is almost coincident witJi the business 
life of Mr. Newland in point of duration, and 
he has been so closely identified with its fortunes 
and good name tiiat a brief sketch of the bank 
is not ina]ipropriate in this connection. The 



bank was chartered April 18, 1831, being what 
was then known as a " safety fund bank," and 
was founded mainly by Albany capitalists, the 
famous "Albany Regency," being largely in- 
terested in the enterprise. The first election for 
directors was held at the "Inn of Messrs. Jones," 
in .Jamestown, June 24, 1831, but the bank did 
not begin business until about January 13, 1832. 
When the bank was started there was no other 
bank in the southern tier of counties west of 
Orange county, and its nearest neighbors were 
the U. S. Branch Bank at Buffalo, and the State 
Bank at Lockport. The first president was 
Elial T. Foote, and one of the first board of 
directors the Hon. Richanl P. Marvin, a brother- 
in-law of Mr. Newland, is still living. The 
first cashier was Arad Joy, who was succeeded 
by Fitch Shepard (father of Col. Elliott F. 
Shepard, of New York city), as cashier pro 
tem. Aaron D. Patchin succeeded Mr. Shepard, 
and he in turn was followed by Thaddeus W. 
Patchin as cashier. Mr. Newland entered the 
service of the bank September 30, 1834, a little 
less than three years after it commenced busi- 
ness, and on May 20, 1840, he was promoted to 
cashier, succeeding Mr. Thaddeus W. Patchin. 
After twenty years of service as cashier ]Mr. 
Newland was advanced to the vice-presidency, 
being succeeded as cashier by his nephew, Gen. 
Selden E. Marvin, now of Albany. In 1862 
Mr. Newland again became cashier, owing to 
the Designation of Mr. Marvin to enter the 
army. In 1872, upon the death of Major 
Samuel Barrett, who had been president for 
thirty- seven years, Mr. Newland was advanced 
to the presidency, another nephew, Mr. David 
N. Marvin, succeeding him as cashier. After 
eighteen years service as president of the bank, 
in 1890 Mr. Newland then in his eighty -second 
year resigned his office of president, though still 
remaining a director of the bank, and each day 
going to the institution and occupying his ac- 
customed seat and attending to certain official 
duties. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



During all these fifty-seven years of service 
to the bank Mr. Newlaud has been a striking 
example of the ideal business man. Punctual, 
painstaking, industrious and watchful his name 
has been the synonym of business integrity and 
lofty character in all the region round about. 
To his executive ability and careful judgment 
the bank owes much of its prosperous career, 
while to his liberal policy toward the infant in- 
dustries and enterprises of the place is due much 
of the growth and progress of the city. 

In his private life Mr. Newland has endeared 
himself to all classes of people by his upright 
character and liis open-handed though unosten- 
tatious benevolence. As has been well said of 
him, " Young men have found him a firm friend, 
public enterprises a wise and liberal promoter, 
the poor and needy a generous benefactor." 

Mr. Newland has always taken an earnest and 
intelligent interest in public affairs and local 
advancement. He was one of the original di- 
rectors of the Erie and New York city railroatl 
(now the New York, Pennsylvania and Ohio 
railway) ; he was an assistant engineer in the 
fire department of Jamestown, he was for 
several terms one of the village trustees, and 
was also president of the village. In politics 
Mr. Newland has been a consistent and consci- 
entious republican since the formation of the 
party, and has always kept abreast of the times 
iu political and general reading. He possesses 
a marked taste for all works of art, and has 
found much pleasure in securing and enjoying 
a large and valuable collection of engravings, 
etchings and water-colors, as well as a large i 
library of works upon general and art subjects. 

Mr. Newland has for many years been a reg- 
ular attendant upon the services of the Presby- 
terian church in Jamestown, and a liberal sup- 
porter of that body of which he is one of the 
trustees. He has also contributed, it is believed, I 
to the erection of every church building in the 
place and the support of every religious society. 

On January 21, 1847, Mr. Newland was mar- ' 



ried to Miss Evelyn Patchin, daughter of Dr. 
Aaron D. Patchin, of Hoosic Falls, N. Y., and 
a sister of Mr. Aaron D. Patchin, the sec- 
ond cashier of the bank. Mrs. Newland died 
on June 17, 1887. By this union there were 
two children — a son, Frank, who died in in- 
fancy, and a daughter, Evelyn M., the wife of 
Mr. Daniel H. Post, of Jamestown. 

It has been well said of the subject of this 
sketch, that "there is probably no one in the 
community in which he lives, who deserves or 
possesses in a greater measure the I'espect, con- 
fidence and esteem of those who know him." 
There is a human heart-throb in the utterance 
of his fellow-citizens when they mention the 
name of that strong, inflexible yet helpful busi- 
ness man, that liberal-handed, kind-hearted 
gentleman, that reserved, yet sympathetic friend 
— Robert Newland ! 



^HARLES SMITH, 31. D., belongs to a 
^^ profession in which for nearly fifty-five 
years he has been iu continuous and success- 
ful practice in administering to the sick and 
maimed. Charles Smith is a son of George and 
Anna (Ellis) Smith, and was born iu Delaware 
county. New York, May 22, 1815. This 
branch of the Smith family is a combination of 
English and German. Grandfiither Smith had 
but one child and died while iu the early jjrime 
of life. Upon his death the mother of subject 
re-married to a Mr. Gay, by whom she had 
one son. She kept a hotel all her life in 
Poughkeepsie, this State, where she died in 
1843, aged one hundred and three years. Gen. 
George Washington was a guest at her house 
many times during the war of the Revolution. 
The maternal grandfather, Noah Ellis, was of 
English extraction, his mother's ancestors being 
passengers on the Mayflower. He was a resi- 
dent of Roxbury, Delaware county, N. Y., 
where he operated a grist-mill and was a justice 
of the peace. About 1825 he moved to Clovers- 
ville, on the Delaware river and ran a mill and 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



foundry, where were cast the first iron plows. 
He gave liis personal attention to this business 
and died about 1845 and was survived by seven \ 
children : Noah, Horace, Charles, Anna (Mrs. 
Smith), Olive (Mrs. Washburn), Elizabeth was 
the mother of Hon. W. B. Morrison, the famous 
Democi'atic chami^ion of tari tt' reform; and 
Amelia. George Smith was born at Pough- 
keepsie, this State, in 1784, and was a farmer 
in Delaware county until 1823, when he moved , 
to Stockton, this county, and bought a farm of 
one hundred and five acres. It was but little 
improved and the only building upon it was a 
log hut, and that was surrounded nightly by 
wolves, so that almost the same amount of labor 
was required to subdue nature as though it hud 
been taken from the virgin forest. They moved 
here in wagons, bringing with them some 
leather which they sold here for cash, to Gen. 
Leverett Barker, who had a monopoly of the 
leather trade, for money enough to buy the 
farm. He was an industrious man and worked 
hard upon his fiirm, but died in June of the 
year after his arrival. He married Anna Ellis 
in 1808, the result of which was seven children : 
Harriet, married John Nye, a farmer of West- 
field who afterwards went to California ; Sallie, 
married Olviu Putnam first and afterwards 
Dr. Joseph E. Kimble, of Sinclairville; George, 
a judge in San Leandro, California, married 
to Eliza Eenner; David, a farmer in May- 
ville, man-ied Rebecca Johnson ; Jane, wife of 
James M. Copp, a farmer living in Sinclair- 
ville ; and Olive, wife of Dr. Chester Ellsworth, 
of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. xVfter the death of 
her husband Mrs. Smith married Israel Smith, 
in 1826, and by him had one son, Edwin, v;\\o 
married a Miss Blancliard, and is a teacher in 
the High school of Quincy, 111. 

Charles Smith was educated in the town of 
Stockton and then attended a select school 
taught by Worthy Putnam and continued re- 
ceiving private lessons for some time. He 
taught school during the winters of 1832-3o- 



34, helping his mother on the farm during the 
summer, and in August, 1835, he began the 
study of medicine with Dr. Watterman Ells- 
worth, of Stockton, again teaching in Pomfret 
in the winter of '35-36. Medical students were 
not then compelled to attend lectures, so young 
Smith, lacking means, studied at home until 
1838, when he passed an e.xaminatiou before 
and received his diploma from the censors of 
the Chautauqua county medical society. He 
completed his studies with Dr. Thomas D. 
Mann, who died about the time of Dr. Smith's 
graduation, and the latter at once assumed the 
jiractice made vacant by the former's death, 
which he conducted for ten years, when, April, 
1848, he moved to Fredonia, where he has 
since practiced and lived. His practice is large, 
and making a specialty of obstetrics and child- 
dren's diseases, he is uniformly successful with 
such cases. (Dr. Smith has attended 3,746 
accouchements up to November 1, 1890.) He 
practiced his profession because he loved it. 
When a call came he responded without a ques- 
tion as to whether his fee was forthcoming. 
Poor and rich were served alike; when his ser- 
vices were needed he went. 

Dr. Charles Smith .served as president of the 
village of Fredonia two terms in succession, 
also as trustee and treasurer for several years, 
always foremost in any and all movements for 
the benefit of the village, namely, the construc- 
tion of the State Normal school, D., A. V. & 
P. R. R., town hall, electric lights and system 
of water works, the best in the State. 

On November 23, 1838, he married Cornelia 
Turner, a daughter of Hezekiah Turner, an 
early settler of Fredonia. They had six child- 
ren, five of whom attained their growth : Mary 
married Callix Dagenais, a carriage painter, 
and lives in Fredonia ; Albert H. is a doctor, 
assisting his fiither ; Olive, wife of Thomas H. 
Towers, who keeps a hotel in Brandon, Mani- 
toba ; Cornelia resides at home; Ella died 
in infancy ; and Anna, youngest, married Chas. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Dunning, of Buffalo. Mrs. Smith died in April, 
1873, aged fifty-five years. 

The secret societies are familiar with Dr. 
Smith's face. Until its suspension he was a 
member of the Fredouia Odd Fellows, and 
Forest Lodge, No. 166, F. & A. M. welcomes 
his appearance at its meetings. Dr. Smith is 
well advanced in years; has passed the allotted 
three-score and ten and six more have been 
added, and during all his long life his reputa- 
tion has been one of strict honesty and integrity, 
and whose only fault, which no one calls a fault, 
is his open generosity. 



TTJASHINGTOX CROCKER. A well- 
^^^^ known agriculturist and grape-grower, 
residing in the town of Ripley is Washington 
Crocker, who is a son of Andrew and Anne 
(Leland) Crocker, who was born in Sardinia, 
Erie county, New York, November 3, 1819. 
Taking up the maternal ancestry the first 
Leland, of which we have record is Henry, 
who was born in England about 1625, married 
Margaret Babcock, came to America in 1652, 
and died in Sherburne, Massachusetts, April 4, 
1680. They had five children. Ebenezer, 
born in 1679 was a direct lineal ancestor of our 
subject, having married Deborah Hunt, by 
whom was born James Leland, the great-great- 
grandfather of the subject of this sketch, at 
Sherburne, in 1687 and died in Grafton, the 
same Slate, in' 1768. His wife was Hannah 
Larned, who was the mother of Thomas 
Leland ; he was born in 1726 and died in 1759 ; 
married ]\Iargaret Wood and had a son 
Thomas, who was the grandfather of our sub- 
ject, and was born in Massachusetts in 1757. 
He removed to Ohio, after having served in the 
Revolutionary war, followed farming until 
1848, when he died. He was a disciple of 
Thomas Jefferson and married Anna B. Raw- 
sou, by whom he reared a large family, con- 
sisting of .seven sons and .seven daughters. 
The oldest of the family was Anne Leland, 



who was born in 1779 and became our subject's 
mother. Andrew Crocker (father) was born 
at Albany, New York, in the year that the 
Declaration of Independence was given to 
the world and removed, in 1S17, to western 
New York, settled in the southern part of Erie 
county and followed carpentering and joining 
until his death. He married Anne Leland 
and reared sixteen children, ten sons and six 
daughters; Washington was next to the 
youngest. 

Washington Crocker was educated in (lie 
common schools and began liie as a farmer, 
which he has followed throughout his useful 
life. He married Nancy Benton, daughter of 
James Benton, of Berkshire county, Massachu- 
setts, where the latter died. Mr. and INIrs. 
Crocker have the following children : Burton 
W., born at Sardinia, in 1848, married Lydia 
Randall, of New York city, and died in Jan- 
uary, 1883 ; and Edward B., born in December, 
1859, married Julia Barker, a daughter of 
George Barker, of Portland ; he has one child, 
Minnie, and lives with his father in Ripley. 
Washington Crocker first came to Chautauqua 
county in 1865, made his home at Dunkirk 
and resided there for thirteen years after which 
he went to the town of Portland, remaining 
there eleven years and in 1890 came to the 
town of Ripley, purchased a farm and in con- 
nection with his agricultural work is engaged 
ingrowing grapes. Politically he is a prohibi- 
tionist and has always been a mem ber of the 
Baptist church. 



"CLISHA K. KILBOURN is the miller 
-*"^ upon whom many of the farmers of 
Cherry Creek depend for their grinding. He 
is a son of William and Lydia (King) Kil- 
bouru, and was born in this town August 24, 
1836. William Kilbourn was born February 
25, 1801, at Sandisfield, Berkshire county, 
Mass., and came to Cherry Creek March 22, 
1824, where he built the first saw-mill in the 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



town, the location being near the present site 
of our subject's feed-mill on Cherry creek. He 
was a miller and farmer, and incidentally made 
linnet wheels and all kinds of spinning wheels. 
Politically he was a whig, and served two 
terms as supervisor of the town ; religiously, 
he was a Second Adventist. William Kil- 
bourn, on October 7, 1824, united in marriage 
with Lydia King, a daughter of Ward and 
Sallie King, who came with ox teams through 
the woods from Hancock, Mass., to Cherry 
Creek in 1817. Lydia King was born at 
Hancock, Berkshire county, Mass., June 11, 
1804. The fruit of their union was six sons 
and two daughters: William R., born June 15, 
1825, died November 26, 1885; Hiram, bcfrn 
October 21, 1827, married Lydia Carr, June 
17, 1849, and is a machinist by trade, and 
served in an Iowa regiment during the civil 
war; Lydia M., born October 10, 1829, mar- 
ried Samuel H. Carr, of Cherry Creek, Decem- 
ber 27, 1848, and died May 27, 1858; Mary 
C, born March 29, 1832, married Ozro A. 
Hadley, of Cherry Creek, February 17, 1849; 
(Mr. Hadley was Governor of Arkansas one 
term after the war, and is now a large ranch 
owner and cattle dealer at Springer, New Mex- 
ico); Leonard W., born August 14, 1834, dead; 
Elisha E. ; Norman G., born January 29, 1839, 
married Piio'be A. Graves, of Ellington ; and 
Benjamin W., born April 3, 1841, died De- 
cember 20, 1<S65. William Kilbourn died 
May 17, 1875, and his wife followed him Sep- 
tember 23, 188G ; both are buried in Cherry 
Creek. 

Elisha E. Kilbourn was educated in the 
common schools and brought up in the mill, 
thereby becoming a thorough, practical miller. 
He spent from 1860 to" 1883 (excepting the 
period from 1862 to 1865) in other towns in 
this covmty and in Pennsylvania, being em- 
ployed by Sellew & Pople, who own extensive 
iron works at Dunkirk and other cities. Mr. 
Kilbourn returned to Cherry Creek in 1883, 



where he has since resided and built a feed-mill 
near the site of his father's old saw-mill, and 
is operating the former. In addition to this, 
he has a small farm, which he has brought 
into a high state of fertility. 

Elisha E. Kilbourn is a square-dealing, 
higiily-respected business man and citizen. 
Kilbourn's Hills are two mound-shaped piles 
of earth which were islands in a lake that once 
occupied the site where the village of Cherry 
Creek now stands, and marks of the waves are 
distinctly visible on the sandy beach skirting 
the base of the hills. Mr. Kilbourn was a ser- 
geant in Company A, Sixty-eightii Regiment, 
New York A'oluuteers, served throughout the 
war, and is a member of Bullock Post, No. 
304, G. A. R., of Cherry Creek, and has been 
its commander for one term. He also belongs 
to Lodge No. 54 of the Equitable Aid Union 
and Cherry Creek Lodge, No. 42, Ancient 
Order of United Workmen. He is a repub- 
lican. 

On May 4, 1856, he married Philetta M. 
Gage, daughter of Reuben and Nanc}' Gage, of 
this town, and they have had one son and one 
daughter: Xenophon E., born September 21, 
I860, is in business with his father; and Nel- 
lie B., born June 7, 1867, married Braduer H. 
Slawson, of Dunkirk. Mrs. Kilbourn died 
February 25, 1S90, aged fifty-seven years. 



"I^ROr. ANDKKW YATES FREEMAN. 

'-^ The children of to-day are the statesmen 
of to-morrow, and as Providence has given us 
no way to foretell the future, we educate them 
all alike. A. Y. Freeman, the subject of this 
sketch, is engaged in this work. 

He is the oldest son of Edmund and Rosetta 
(Young) Freeman, and was born in North 
Pitcher, Chenango county. New York, January 
29, 1848. 

Samuel Freeman, his grandfather, was born 
in Mansfield, Conn., about 1785. In tlie early 
part of this century he moved to Chenango 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



county, and in 1806 married Huldah Barrows, 
by wiiom he had eleven children. He farmed 
summers and taught winters, teaching twenty- 
four terms in all. During that time each 
one of the eleven children had the rare oppor- 
tunity of being taught at school by their 
father. 

Edmund Freeman, the seventh child, was 
born at North Pitcher, August 16, 1821. He 
worked on the farm summers with his father, 
and attended his school winters. In 1866 he 
moved to Sherburne and purchased a farm of 
ninety acres where he now resides. In 1846 
he married Rosetta A. Young, by whom he had 
four sons : Andrew Yates ; Harlan Page, who 
was assistant cashier in the Sherburne National 
Bank ; Edmund Byrd is a shoe merchant in 
Oxford ; and Charles Storrs operates his father's 
farm. Harlan Page Freeman died in 1884. 

A. Y. Freeman received his education, until 
twenty-one years of age, at the district schools, 
with the exception of six weeks at the Norwich 
academy. He began to teach when seventeen 
years old, teaching winters and working sum- 
mers. He also taught one term of select school, 
after which he took the classical course in the 
Brockport Normal, from which he was graduated 
in 1873. He has since been continually in 
educational work. The two years succeeding 
his graduation were spent in Spencerport, where 
he was principal of the school. In 1875 the 
voters of Chenango county elected him school 
commissioner for a term of three years. (_)n 
August 16, 1876, he married Emma W. Hall, 
■who was preceptress of the Union school at 
Union Springs, this State, but was called upon 
to mourn her death eight months later, April !), 
1877. At the expiration of his term of office 
Mr. Freeman returned to Spencerport and taught 
two years, when, in the fall of 1880, he was 
elected princijial of the intermediate department, 
and later superintendent of practice at the State 
Normal school, at Fredonia, where he has since 
remained. He is a popular instructor, giving 



satisfaction in whatever capacity he has been 
called upon to act. 

On June 23, 1886, he married Kate E. Hen- 
dee, daughter of Joel E. and Catherine (Pang- 
born) Hendee, and they have a family of three 
children : Harlan Page, Andrew Yates, and 
Edward Hendee. 

Prof. Freeman owns a valuable tract of 
twenty acres, planted with choice varieties of 
grapes, on Central avenue, where he lives ; a 
farm of fifty-nine acres at Cordova, and one of 
one hundred and forty acres at Sherburne. 

Prof. Freeman is an elder in the Presbyterian 
church, and -has for many years been superin- 
tendent of the Sabbath school. He takes a deep 
interest in all Christian and temperance work, 
and is highly respected by all who know him. 
His life has been spent in imparting knowledge 
to the youth of his locality, and while the nation 
has not yet advanced to the plane where such 
services are rewarded with honors like those 
conferred upon warriors and statesmen, the world 
knows that the education of the children is of 
greater importance than the winning of battles. 



TTi ILLI.VJVI COVILL, a thrifty farmer and 
^-^*-^ an ex -justice of the peace of the town 
of Sherman, is a son of David and Eliza 
(Krouskop) Covin, and was born in Delaware 
county. New York, March 28, 1826. His pa- 
ternal grandfather, Simeon Covill, was a native 
of Canada, and lived in the United States for a 
few years, after which he returned to Canada, 
where he followed farming until his death. He 
married and had five sons, two of whom, Si- 
meon and Henry, deserted from the British 
army during the war of 1812, and served for 
some time in the American forces operating 
against the Canadian border. Another son, 
David Covill, (father) was born about 1802, 
and made a visit to Chautauqua in 1823, before 
permanently .settling in it in 1825. He was a 
f\irmer and an old-line whig and republican and 
died in November, 1878. He was a member 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



of the Methodist Episcopal church, and mar- 
ried Eliza Krouskop, by whom he had three 
sons: William H. ; George, who married Olive 
Xewell ; and John. Mrs. Covill was a daugh- 
ter of William Krouskop, of German descent, 
who lived in Delaware county. He married 
!Xancy Sands, who bore him three sons and five 
daughters, and who was a lineal descendant of 
Samuel Sands, who was born in 1622 in Eng- 
land, and settled with his family in the Colony 
of Massachusetts in 1658 or 1660. 

William Covill received an academic educa- 
tion, taught school for one year in Kentucky 
and then returned to Chautauqua county, where 
he learned the trade of carpenter and joiner, at 
which he worked for about twenty years. He 
Avas an oil jjroducer for a short time, and then 
engaged in farming, which he has followed ever 
since. He owns a nice farm of one hundred 
and fifty-three acres of good land near the vil- 
lage of Sherman, and is a member of Grange 
No. 36, Patrons of Husbandry. 

On February 21, 1850, he married Julia 
!Xewell, a daughter of Jesse Newell, of Con- 
necticut, who came to Cayuga and subsequently 
to Chautauqua county. Mr. and Mrs. Covill 
have two adopted children : Lament and Hen- 
rietta, wife of Edgar O. Buss. 

He and his wife are members of the Method- 
ist Episcopal church. Squire Covill is a repub- 
lican, and served the town for six years as as- 
sessor, and for ten years as justice of the peace. 



-i^EXTER .XXFORD is a well-known and 

^"^ highly respected farmer and real estate 
dealer of Ripley, who comes from old New 
England stock that gave full proof of their 
loyalty and patriotism by service in the Revo- 
lutionary, 1812 and Black Hawk wars, in 
which their country has been involved. Dex- 
ter Alford is a son of Martin and Sarah (Ad- 
ams) Alford, and was born in Waterford, Erie 
county, Pennsylvania, June 1, 1831. Oliver 
Alford, the paternal grandfatiier, was a native 



of Vermont, who emigrated to Crawford coun- 
ty, Pa., in 1814, where he .sojourned until 1841, 
and then followed the setting snn as far as 
Paiuesville, Ohio. Wiiile he owned a farm, 
and was nominally a farmer, he was a minister 
of prominence in the Baptist church. He was 
a democrat of eTeffersoniau simplicity and Jack- 
.sonian intensity, and was ever ready to defend 
the tenets of that party. During the war of 
1812 his farm, which lay on Otter creek, Ver- 
mont, a few miles from its mouth, was used as 
the site of a fortification thrown up for the 
protection of Vergennes, which lay farther up 
the creek. Oliver Alford married Lavina Por- 
ter, and they reared a family of six sons and 
four daughters. Oliver, Jr., Ira and Hiram 
served in the war of 1812. The maternal 
grandfather was William Adams, who was a 
native of the old Bay State, and came from 
that family of Adams who furnished two pres- 
idents of the United States, and who were re- 
nowned as scholars and statesmen. William 
Adams came from ^lassachusetts to Chautau- 
qua county in 1815, and settled in Westfield. 
From there he went to French Creek and died. 
He was a soldier in the struggle for Independ- 
ence, and to hi.s death boi'e two scars of ugly 
wounds received in battle. He married Annie 
Atwater, who became the mother of si.x sons 
and two daughters. Martin Alford (father) 
was born in the Green Mountain State in 1804, 
and died, in 1884, in the town of Riplej. In 
1832 he went to Michigan, then a territory, 
and served as a private in the Black Hawk 
war, thus keeping up the chain of military ser- 
vice which his flither had begun. In 1835 he 
came to French Creek, where he lived for 
eighteen years, and, in 1853, he moved to a 
farm near the village of Ripley, where the 
subject now lives. Martin Alford was a farmer 
and owned a place of one hundred and forty 
acres. He affiliated with the whigs, but later 
became a republican, and was elected to several 
of tiie town offices. ]\Ir. Alford was a consci- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



471 



entious and Christian man who early associated 
himself with the Baptist church. Sarah Adams 
was born in March, 180<S, and is still living. 
She married Martin Alford in 1824, and bore 
him eleven children, all except one living. 
Frank Alford, a brother of Dexter, served 
three years in suppressing the Rebellion, and 
at the close of his enlistment re-enlisted as a 
veteran, and served to the end of the war. 

Dexter Alford was reared a farmer and 
taught to work. He was educated in the com- 
mon schools of his district, and then walked 
out to battle with the world, commencing as a 
farm laborer. He worked by the month at 
this occupation for two years, and taught school 
in the winters. 

On September 6, 1859, he married Lucy A. 
Fisher, a daughter of Sanuiel Fisher, who came 
from Randolph, Mass., about 1860, and made 
his home in the town of French Creek, where 
he purcha.sed a home with the accumulated 
savings of his two years of toil in field and 
school-room. Later he sold this farm aud 
went down to Erie county, Pa., w-here he fol- 
lowed carpentering for about eight years. In 
1870 he bought the old homestead from his 
father and now lives upon it, but since pur- 
chasing it he bought a property of one hun- 
dred and six acres in Erie county, aud lived 
upon it for one year ; spent a season in French 
Creek. 

Dexter Alford is a farmer, but does large 
transactions in real estate. He owns, besides 
the properties mentioned, a tract of one hun- 
dred and thirty acres in Amity township, Erie 
county, Pa. He is known as a leading repub- 
lican of Ripley, and has been a notary public 
during the past three years. The Knights of 
Honor claim him as a valued member, and the 
Baptist church recognizes him as a generous 
and upright supporter. Such men as Dexter 
Alford make a progressive and wide-awake 
commuaitv. 



HOLLIS FAY ELLIS, the genial and popu- 
lar depot and express agent at Brocton, 
was born April 8th, 1844, in the town of Portland 
and is a .sou of Edmund (deceased) aud Roxana 
(Fay) Ellis. The Ellis ftimily are of Scotch 
descent, while the Fays are from old Puritan 
stock. The maternal grandfather, Hollis Fay, 
was a native of Massacdiusetts, being the de- 
scendant of Puritan fathers. He came to Port- 
land prior to 1811 and located first in Brocton 
village but afterwards, in 1815, removed to 
West Portland. At this time lie was unmarried 
and lived alone on his farm for three years. In 
1818 he went back to Massachusetts and mar- 
ried Phcebe jNIixer, when they returned with an 
ox-team and lived on their farm in Portland un- 
til 1851 and then went to Concord, Erie county, 
Pennsylvania, where Mr. Fay died in July, 1868 ; 
his wife followed him in October of the same 
year. They had three children, only one of 
whom — Roxana E. — survived infancy. Mr. 
Fay was a soldier in the war of 1812 and was 
present at the burning of Buffalo ; and subse- 
quent to leaving his farm in 1851 he owned aud 
operated a saw-mill at Concord. Both himself 
and wife were memljers of the Baptist church. 
Edmund Ellis was born in Orleans county. New 
York in 1820 and emigrated to Portland, 
where he followed farming until his death, 
which occurred in 1857, when but thirty-seven 
years of age; and a as a member of the West 
Portland Baptist church. He married Roxana 
E. Fay, the only child of Hollis Fay, in 1842. 
They had five children. Mrs. Ellis is still living, 
aged sixty -nine years, and is at present in De- 
troit, INIichigan. She is a member of the Bap- 
tist church, in which she takes an active interest. 
Hollis Fay Ellis was reared on his father's 
farm and received his education in the public 
schools, supplouieuted by two years in the Corry 
High school, his mother, at tlie time living with 
jier parents in Concord, Pennsylvania. After 
leaving school Mr. Ellis spent a year in the oil 
country and then ran his mother's .saw-mill for 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



five years. Succeeding this, he went back to 
the farm and staid four years. In 1872 he tooii 
a position as switchman on the L. S. & M. S. 
R. R. His worth, however, was appreciated 
and a few months later he received the appoint- 
ment of second clerk at Brocton. Eight months 
after the position of first clerk was offered and 
accepted. He filled this place acceptably until 
1878 when a vacancy occurred in the ticket of- 
fice and he was advanced to the agency of the 
L. S. & M. S., W. N. Y. & P. and the Chautau- 
qua Lake railroads. When the American Ex- 
press company entered Brocton, the agency of 
that company was given him. All of these 
agencies Mr. Ellis still holds. 

In 1866 he was united in marriage to Jennie 
A. Springstead, daughter of John Springstead 
of Portland. They had two children, Louis 
E. and Josie B. 

H. F. Ellis is a republican and a member of 
Brocton Lodge No. 8, A. O. U. W. and Brocton 
Lodge No. 084 Knights of Pythias. He is a 
companionable, pleasant gentleman and enjoys a 
host of friends. 



TOItST \V. FELTOX, a prosperous young 

^ farmer and grape-grower of Westfield, is 
the son of Barnard us and Amelia (Lictus)Feltou, 
and was born in the town of Cly mer, Chautauqua 
county, New York, June 25, 1859. The pa- 
rents of our subject are thrifty and industrious 
people from Holland. They came from their 
native land in 1855, and settled in the town of 
Clymer, where they resided and where INIr. 
Felton farmed for a few years, but in 1865 re- 
moved to Sherman, where he has since lived 
and pursued the same calling, being now sev- 
enty years of age. Mr. Felton joined his sym- 
pathies with the Republican party as soon as he 
became acquainted with the political system of 
this gi'eat country, and has identified himself 
with it ever since. In 1862, when the second 
call for trooj^s was made by President Lincoln, 
he enlisted in the 154th regt., N. Y. Vol., 



and served as a private until the suspension of 
hostilities. His wife died February 5, 1888, 
when sixty-four years of age. She was pos- 
sessed of an earnest Christian character and 
passed away consoled by the faith of the United 
Brethren church. She was the mother of six 
children, three sons and three daughters : Gar- 
ret J., John, Nat, Mary and Ann, living in 
Clymer, married to G. W. Lictus. 

John W. Felton was reared on bis father's 
farm and was educated at the public schools of 
Clymer and Sherman towns. He has spent his 
whole life farming, and now owns a pretty 
place three miles east of Westfield, consisting of 
forty-six acres, sixteen acres being planted to 
grapes. 

June 5, 1882, he married Mary A. Inwood, 
a daughter of William Inwood, a resident of 
Sugar Grove, Warren county. Pa., and they 
have one child, a sou, Henry, living. William 
Inwood was a native of England, and came to 
the United States in 1842. He came to War- 
ren county. Pa., and, buying a farm, engaged in 
farming. He married and reared a family of 
seven children, four sons and three daughters : 
Isaac, resides in California ; Thomas, lives in 
Westfield town, this county ; "William, makes 
his home at Freehold, Pa. ; Michael, is living 
in Harmony, this county; Hattie, married 
Charles Crouch and they are citizens of Sugar 
Grove, Pa. ; Annie, wife of Leonard Gilford, of 
W^estfield town ; and Mary A., united to our 
subject. Mrs. Inwood was born in England 
June 6, 1814, and died at her husband's home 
March C, 1888. When a young woman she 
was in service with the family of the Duke of 
Norfolk. Mr. Inwood died March 7, 1890, 
aged seventy-three years. 

Mr. and Mrs. Felton are members of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. 



CYRUS HOUSE. Among the best of the 
descendants coming from English settlers 
who made America their home more than a 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



century ago, the House family, of which West- 
field towu contains several representatives, 
stands prominently to view, and are recognized 
as leading farmers and grape-growers in their 
locality. Cyrus House is a son of Daniel P. 
and Lavina (Saunders) House, and was born 
where he now resides, in Westfield town, Chau- 
tauqua county, New York, February 10, 1825. 
Grandfather John House, was born in ]Morris- 
town, X. J., in 1760. 

John House moved from the State of Rhode 
Island to Cortland Co., N. Y., early in the pres- 
ent century, and in 1816 became to this county, 
purchased one hundred acres of land from the 
Holland Laud company, and the same amount 
from another source. Upon the latter Cyrus 
House now lives. John House served in the 
Continental army through the Revolution, being 
in the transportation department. He married 
Joanua Pridden, and had eight cliildren, three 
sons and five daughters. He died in 1838, aged 
seventy-eiglit years. 

Daniel P. House was born at Homer, Cort- 
land county, N. Y., in 1799, and came to West- 
field town when seventeen years old. His 
father's farm of two hundred acres, upon whicii 
were standing giants of the forest, furnished 
sufficient work to engage his own and his broth- 
er's labor for many years. He occupied a 
prominent place in the Methodist church, officiat- 
ing as class-leader for some years. The latter 
years of his life brought him ill health, and he 
relinquished the active management of his busi- 
ness some years before his death, which occurred 
in 1864. 

Levina Saunders, whom he married in 1822, 
was born in Homer, Cortland county, this 
State, in 1802. She bore her husband five 
children, two sons — Daniel and Cyrus — and 
three daughters : Joanna, married David Jones, 
died 1870; Mary A., died 1844; Lavina M., 
married G. A. Fay, died June 20, 1891. Mrs. 
House was a member of the Methodist church, 
a geutle Christian woman, and attained the age 



of seventy -seven years. She died in 1879 con- 
soled by her trust in the Lord. 

Cyrus House was reared a farmer, and has 
remained near the scene of his birth-place 
through life. The common schools, that boon 
of the American youth, furnished him his edu- 
cation and fitted him for life's active work. 
His home is but two and one-half miles east of 
Westfield, and is a comfortable, pleasant place. 
Grape culture is given considerable attention, 
and his vines are as productive as the best. Mr. 
House is a steward in the Methodist Episcopal 
church, to which he is deeply attached. He 
identifies himself with the Republican party, 
but differs from them on the liquor question. 
Believing in practical temperance he advocates 
prohibition, not as a third party man, but thinks 
that the Republican party should realize its re- 
sponsibility and engraft it on its platform. He 
has never voted for license in any form. Being 
a public-spirited man he is anxious to see im- 
provements, in which he is always ready to 
assist. 



y>R. ERA M. SCOFIELD was born in the 
'^ town of EUery, Ciiautauqua county. 
New York, December 23, 1857, and is the son 
of Seth and Rua E. Scofiekl, both of whom 
were born in the town of Ellery. Seth was a 
sturdv farmer, a democrat politically and a 
member of the Christian church. He also 
belonged to the Grange and the Royal Templars 
of Temperance. He died in Ellery at the age 
of sixty-four. William Seely Scofield, grand- 
father of Era M., was of English and Scotch 
extraction and was born in Westchester county. 
New York, November 3, 1787. As early as 
1821 he migrated into Chautauqua county, 
New York, town of Ellery, and became a con- 
joint farmer and hotel-keeper. He was a vig- 
orous and ardent supporter of the early Dem- 
ocratic party, and in religion belonged to that 
body of believers called Universalists. He died 
at the age of eighty-four. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Era M. Scofiekl was reared in the town of 
Ellery, gained his education from the schools of 
his native town and prior to his study of medi- 
cine, worked upon the farm and assisted in 
operating a cheese factory. In the fall of 1882, 
after having spent some time under a preceptor, 
he went to Buffalo and there entered the 
Buffalo INIedical College, from which he was 
graduated on February 2G, 1884, after having 
pursued a thorough course in theoretical medi- 
cine and practical clinics. After his graduation 
he located in Gerry, at which place he has been 
actively engaged in the practice of his profes- 
sion, with a very commeudable degree of suc- 
cess for the past seven years. lie belongs to the 
Allopathic school of medicine. In politics he 
is an enthusiastic democrat and for three years 
past has been treasurer of the county committee. 
He has recently been elected health officer for 
the town of Gerry. 

Era M. Scofield, on May 13, 1874, was 
united in marriage to Louisa M. Brownell, 
daughter of William O. Brownell of Ellery, to 
whom has been born one child, Ellis Xelson. 

In the fraternal world Dr. Scofield is a 
jjrominent Mason, a member of the A. O. U. 
W., Royal Templars of Temperance, in which 
he has been an officer for the past seven years, 
and of the Patrons of Husbandry. 



nICHARD HUYCK, a very prominent man 
in agricultural and business circles 
throughout the town of Sheridan until his 
death, was a son of Richard and Catharine 
(Huyck) Huyck, and was born in Columbia 
county, this State, in 1789. His family were of 
Dutch extraction, the paternal 'grandfather 
having come from Holland. Richard Huyck, 
Sr., was a native of Kinderhook, Columbia 
county, New York, and was closely related to 
the Van Rensselaer family, distinguished Hol- 
landers. Catherine Huyck, a distant relative, 
became his wife and bore him three children, 
two sons and one dausrhtcr : John went to 



Michigan, settled there and died ; Catherine 
married Silas Wood, a lawyer by profession, a 
native of Long Island and who served several 
terms in Congress. 

Richard Huyck was educated at the common 
schools, and, although the course was not 
thorough nor the instruction advanced, by his 
deep application he managed to get a knowl- 
edge that, at the time, was considered superior. 
He worked with his father until 1831 and then 
came to Sheridan in wagons and purchased a 
farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres. 
He lived upon it and from the money saved he 
continued buying until he owned six hundred 
acres, which shows his economy and business 
tact, as it all came from the products of his 
original farm. 

Richard Huyck married Xancy Chapmau, a 
daughter of Andrew Chapman, of Rensselaer 
county, and reared to maturity nine children ; 
Andrew C. (dead) ; Louise married Lyman 
Brownell, a sou of Benjamin Brownell, also 
from one of the old families of the county ; 
Jane; William, entered the civil war and 
served for a short time ; he is now farming in 
Michigan ; Ansell (dead) ; Silas (dead) ; Cath- 
erine married Frank Chapin, a farmer in 
Nebraska ; Elizabeth is the wife of George 
Eacker, a farmer in Sheridan, this county ; and 
Susan, who married Philander Warren, a car- 
penter residing in Silver Creek. 

Richard Huyck was an honest, industrious 
and charitable man, and although never a 
church member, he was a liberal contributor 
towards their support. Politically he was a 
republican and an anti-secret society man. 



HORATIO G. BROOKS, deceased, late 
head of the Brooks' Locomotive Works, 
Dunkirk, New York, was a man of somewhat 
unusual career and one of the most prominent 
in the province of manufacturing in the State of 
New York. Forty years ago the possibilities 
of both the man and the town were as yet uu- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



tried and undeveloped. As the town grew in 
numbers and importance, the man kept pace 
with it and has impressed upon it an individu- 
ality of rare energy, business qualities and ex- 
ecutive ability. Rising rapidly from engineer 
through the grades of shop foreman to master 
mechanic, and thence to division superintendent 
and superintendent of motive power on the 
Erie Railroad, he, while in the latter position, 
was confronted in October, 1869, with an order 
from the president of the road to permanently 
close up the shops at Dunkirk. Scarcely an 
hour's thought was necessary to conceive a 
plan to avert this stunning blow to the interests 
of Dunkirk, and the proposition was at once 
made by Mr. Brooks for the lease of the shops. 
This was accordingly granted, a new company 
was formed, of which he assumed the presidency 
and superintendency and work was at once 
commenced. The capacity of the enterj)rise in 
its infancy was but one locomotive per month, 
but under the wise direction of its founder, it 
had increased to six per month in 1872. The 
financial crisis of 1873 caused a great depression 
in business and it was a half dozen years before 
the re-action fully .set in. When business re- 
vived Mr. Brooks arranged to increase the out- 
put and in 1882 over two hundred locomotives 
were completed and each succeeding year addi- 
tions have been made in tools, machinery and 
buildings, with every needed device to simplify 
and lessen the cost of production in order to 
compete with older companies. 

In 1883 the works were j)urchased from the 
Erie Railroad Company and operated as an in- 
dependent enterprise. The grounds have an 
area of twenty acres, and with constant additions 
and improvements in buildings and machinery, 
it has now attained a capacity of two hundred 
and fifty engines per year. The superb office 
buildings were erected about five years ago, 
have handsome and elaborately fitted apart- 
ments for the principal officers on the ground 
floor and a large fire-proof vault and convenient 



desks for about fifteen clerks and book-keepers. 
The second floor is used for draughting rooms, 
where several mechanical engineers are em- 
ployed ; and the third story is fully furnished 
with seats, library &c., as a school-room for ap- 
prentices. 

Several years ago Mr. Brooks organized a 
technical school for apprentices, where a < 
thorough knowledge of theories can be obtained 
to fully prepare them for practical application 
in the shops. The room will accommodate 
sixty or more students, has every needful ap- 
pliance for the successful teaching of the 
mechanic arts and is in charge of a corps of 
competent instructors. 

The Brooks Works have, in addition to their 
acres of ponderous machinery, a one hundred 
and fifty incandescent and sixty arc electric 
light plant with their intricate connections 
and subtle agencies to be looked after. The 
number of men employed is about one thou- 
sand ; the pay-roll foots up a sura of twelve 
thousand dollars per week, and the annual 
output of the plant is valued at about two 
millions, five hundred thousand dollars. The 
excellency of workmanship and the general 
character of the engines as pieces of modern, 
well-constructed mechanism is unsurpassed by 
anv similar works in the United States. 



TOHX HOl'SK is one of the reliable citizens 
^^ and substantial farmers of the town of 
Westfield. Pie was born on the farm he now 
occupies, near the village of Westfield, Chau- 
tauqua county, New York, November 12, 1821, 
and is the son of David and Nabby (Saunders) 
House. His grandfather, John House, was an 
Englishman by descent, of patrician birth, and 
was united in marriage to the daughter of an 
English nobleman. He emigrated to America 
and settled in Morristown, New Jersey, where 
John, Sr., grandfather of subject was born. His 
childhood and infancy were passed in the State 
of his nativity, where he also acquired an edu- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



cation in the common schools. Upon the out- 
break of the Revohitionary war, he joined his 
sympathies with those of his countrymen, entered 
the colonial army, and served as a teamster 
under Lafayette. He united in marriage with 
Joanna Pridden, the daughter of a prominent 
Revolutionary colonel, and after leading a roving 
life for several years, he, in 1816, settled in 
Chautauqua county, where he purchased two 
hundred acres of land, aud upon which his 
grandson now resides. He continued to improve 
aud cultivate his farm until his death in 1838. 
He was the father of eight children. David 
House, Sr. (father), was born in Cortland county, 
New York, in 1792, and came with his father 
to Ciiautauqua county in 1816. He was married 
to Nabby Saunders, a native of New Jersey, 
who bore him ten children : Nancy, born August 
28, 1817; Julia A., born November 27, 1819; 
John, born November 12, 1821 ; Ruth, born 
October 5, 1827; Nabby, born September 27, 
1824, aud died April, 1839 ; Louisa, born March 
11, 1829; David, Jr., born in 1832; Eliza J., 
born March 24, 1835 ; Edwin, born October 11, 
1837; and Indiana, boru January 30, 1843. 



lUTAHSHALL BKOWX, a well-known man, 
4 who for many years of his active life 

was a farmer aud lumberman, is a son of Mar- 
shall and Lucy (Tower) Brown, and was born 
in the town of Hanover, Chautauqua county, 
New York, January 5, 1827. Both grandfathers 
were natives of New England, the Browns 
coming from Vermont. Marshall Brown (father) 
was born in the Green Mountain State, M'here 
he married, and started with his family for 
Chautauqua county, N. Y., in 1812. They 
came by wagons to Buffalo, and were witnesses 
of the burning of that city by the British, the 
head of the family being impressed into the 
army as a guard. As soon as he was discharged 
the family continued their journey to this county, 
bought a tract of fifty acres from the Holland 
Land company, the site of Silver Creek being 



then a forest with only a blind trail through it. 
He was a carpenter by trade, ^yhich he followed 
in conjunction with his farming. Politicallv he 
was a democrat, but refrained from office seek- 
ing. Mr. Brown was twice married ; first to a 
lady who bore him two sous that never left 
Vermont, and after her decease he united with 
Lucy Tower, who became the mother of two 
sons aud four daughters. Marshall Brown, Sr., 
died upon his farm which he first made his home 
in this county. 

Marshall Brown (subject) was educated at the 
common schools, and has followed lumbering 
and farming throughout his life. He is a pro- 
nounced democrat and a hard party worker. 

He married Susan Van Vlack, a daughter of 
John and Maria (Teneyck) Van Vlack. Her 
father was a native of Dutchess county, and 
came to Chautauqua county in 1855. He took 
an enthusiastic interest iu the politics of his 
locality, aud served a term as sheriff of Dutchess 
county. He reared a family of four daughters, 
aud his wife was of Dutch extraction. 

Marshall Brown is a man of strong character- 
istics, honorable and upright, aud he is recognized 
as a responsible man in his community. 



TA>ILLI.V3I T. FALCOXEK. The Falconers 
■**• who have added to the stability and 
growth of Jamestown are direct descendants of 
Robert Falconer, of North Scotland, who, on 
leaving Oxford university about 1800, came to 
New York and engaged with William Stewart 
in shipping cotton between Charleston aud 
Liverjjool. He afterwards became a dealer and 
speculator in real estate in eastern Pennsylvania, 
finally removing with his family to Warren 
county, Penna., where he embarked in the 
banking business aud became the first president 
of the Lumbermen's Bank, of Warren. Robert 
Falconer was a man of marked intelligence and 
good business capacity. He was also noted for 
his uniform kindness, his strict integrity, and 
his interest in the material and intellectual 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



477 



development of his county, which qualities made 
him cue of the foremost citizens and most 
respected iuen of Warren county. His death 
occurred in 1850. 

His three sons, Robert, Patrick and M'illiam, 
survived him ; the former lived at Sugar Grove, 
Penna., and was the father of two sons : Natiian- 
iel, of Warren, Penna., and Robert, of James- 
town, New York. Patrick and William were 
formerly the owners of extensive lumber and 
mill interests at Kennedy and Falconer, New 
York, and were numbered among the useful 
and solid men of their respective towns. Patrick 
died in 1887, leaving two sons, William and 
Allen, the former of whom is now carrying on 
large manufacturing interests at Falconer, New 
York, while the latter is a clerk in the James- 
town National Bank. William, Sr., youngest 
son of Robert Falconer, died at Kennedy, New 
York, in 1880, leaving two sons, Archie and 
Frank, both of whom reside in Jamestown, 
but are at present students in a ^Michigan col- 
lejie. 



TKREMIAH 3IAHLE, a soldier of the Ar- 
^ my of the Potomac and a grape culturist 
of the village of Ripley, was born at Fryburg, 
Clarion county, Pennsylvania, March 17, 1844, 
and is a son of Helwig and Frances (Recken- 
brode) Mahle. His paternal grandfather, Hen- 
iT Mahle, was born in Germany, came about 
1816 to Lancaster county, Pennsylvania, which 
he soon left to settle in that part of Venango 
which is now in Clarion county, Pennsylvania, 
where he followed farming and distilling, sup- 
ported successively the Whig and Republican 
parties and reared a family of four sous and 
four daughters. His maternal grandfather, 
George Reckenbrode, was a native of Germany, 
which he left to come to Lancaster county, 
Pennsylvania, but shortly afterwards removed 
to Clarion county, of the same State, where he 
tilled his farm, and in political matters was 
first a democrat and afterwards became a repub- 
25 



lican. Helwig Mahle (father) was born in 
Germany and at four years of age was brought 
by his jiarents to Lancaster county, Pennsylva- 
nia. He afterwards was taken by them to 
what is now Clarion county, where he followed 
farming until his death, in 1804. He was a 
democrat and later a republican in politics, and 
a Lutheran in religious belief, and married 
Frances Reckenbrode. They had four sons and 
seven daughters, of w'hom Clemmens, of Corry, 
Pennsylvania, is an inventor of several valua- 
ble and successful machines ; and Christian, 
who is engaged in agricultural pursuits in Clar- 
ion county. 

Jeremiah Mahle was reared in Clarion county 
where he received his education in the common 
schools. At eighteen years of age, on August 
28, 1862, he enlisted in Co. G, 155th Pennsyl- 
vania Infantry and served in the Army of the 
Potomac until June 6, 1865, when he was hon- 
orably discharged from the United States ser- 
vice. He was in the great bajtles of Fredericks- 
burg, Chancellorsville and Gettysburg, the ter- 
rific Wilderness fights, the bloody assaults at 
Spottsylvania Court-house, Cold Harbor and 
Petersburg and the series of conflicts in front of 
the Confederate capital which terminated the 
existence of the Southern Confederacy. Re- 
turning home in 180 5 he managed his father's 
farm until after his mother's death in June, 
1870, when he purchased it. From 1870 to 
1875 he followed farming and the lumber busi- 
ness at Fryburg. In the last named year he 
came to the town of Ripley, where he resided 
until 1888 when he removed to the village. 
He has been engaged in the culture of grapes 
since 1885 and owns a farm of eighty-two acres 
at Ripley Crossing, on the L. S. & M. S. rail- 
road, of which thirty acres are in vineyards. 

On May 2, 1871, he united in marriage with 
Elmira Henlen, of Clarion county, Pennsylva- 
nia, and their union has been blessed with one 
child, Grace E., born March 17, 1880. Mrs. 
Mahle was engaged for eight years in teaching 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



in which she took great delight and won an en- 
viable reputation for success as a teacher. Her 
grandfathers on both sides of the house, Chris- 
topher Henlen, of French extraction, and 
George Kapp, of German descent, were natives 
of Lancaster and became two of the first three 
settlers of Clarion county, Pennsylvania, where 
they bought land of the Holland Land com- 
pany. They and their families crossed the 
mountains in wagons drawn by oxen. John 
Henlen, sou of Christopher Henlen and fatlicr 
of Mrs. liable, was born in Lancaster county, 
in 1816, removed with his parents when quite 
young to Clarion ccunty, in 1839, and married 
Elizabeth Kapp; they reared a family of two 
sons and four daughters. 

Jeremiah Mahle is a republican in politics. 
He and his M'ife are members of the Ripley 
Presbyterian church. He is also a member of 
Summit Lodge, No. 219, F. & A. M., of West- 
field, Ripley Grange, No. 65, Patrons of Hus- 
bandry and William Sackett Post, No. 324, 
Grand Army of tlie Republic. 



Q AVIL.SOX DODS, M. 1)., a leading 
■^*-» physician of Fredonia, was born at 
Dingwall, Dumfries county, Scotland, January 
27, 1854, and is a son of Thomas P. and Cathe- 
rine (Wilson) Dods. John Dods, (great-grand- 
father) was born in the same place about the 
year 1770. His son, Marcus Dods, was born 
in Dumfries county, about 1800 and was edu- 
cated at the University of Edinburgh, where he 
attained the degree of A.M. He removed to 
Belford, England, and was pastor of the Pres- 
byterian church until his death, which occurred 
in 1837. He married Sarah Palliser, between 
1817 and 1820, and had three sous and four 
daughters, five of whom are still living. The 
maternal grandfather was Abraham Wilson. 
He tilled the soil and was commander of a 
company of militia in his native town and 
married Mary Tod, about 1811, who became 
the mother of three sons and four dauoh- 



ters. One of each is dead. Mr. Wilson was 
a strict member of the Scotch Presbyterian 
church. Tiiomas P. Dods was born at Belford, 
Northumberland county, England, March 2, 
182.3, and moved to Edinburgh, Scotland and 
studied at the university and later farmed at 
Edington Main, Scotland, afterwards going to 
Wigtonshire, Scotland, and engaging as land 
agent for an estate. He was married to Kathe- 
rine Wilson, who was born in Edington Main, 
Scotland, June 3, 1819, in 1848, and had six 
children, three sons and three daugliters: Mar- 
cus (dead), A. Wilson, John (dead), Mary Tod 
(dead), Sarah P. (dead), and Katherine W., at 
home. Mr. Dods has been engaged as a land- 
agent, lawyer, valuer and farmer all his life, 
part of the time having charge of the Aylesby 
estate at Lincolnshire, England, and now lives 
at Northumberland, England, politically a lib- 
eral unionist, and an elder in the Presbyterian 
chni'ch. 

A. Wilson Dods came to America when 
eighteen years old. The first year was spent 
working on a farm at AVest Charleston, New 
York, and in November 1873, he came to Fre- 
donia and attended the Normal school, doing 
farm work through vacation. He graduated in 
June, 187-5, and went to the Syracuse Medical 
University for one year, and in 1876 was a 
student in Dr. Couch's office. During 1877 he 
attended the lectures of the New York Homeo- 
pathic Institute, and graduated at Hahnemann 
Medical College, Chicago, in Feb., 1878. Dr. 
Dods then settled at Silver Creek, this county, 
and practiced until 1885, when he went to 
Scotland and took a post-graduate course in the 
! Edinburgh I\Iedical university, and was assistant 
i to Dr. George S. Woodhead, pathologist of the 
Royal Infirmary. He returned to Fredonia in 
June, 1886, where he has since been practicing. 
December 12, 1878, Dr. Dods married Aura 
j S. Porter, daughter of John N. Porter, of 
j Brocton, and has four children: Thomas P., 
dead, born in 1879; John P., born in 1881; 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Katherine W., born iu 1883; and Marcus, 
born in 1890. 

Dr. A. W. Dods is a democrat, a member of 
the Presbyterian ciaurcii and is the Worthy 
Master of Forest Lodge, No. 66, F. & A. M. 
He- is a member of tiie American Institute of 
Homeopatliy, the Homeopathic Society of west- 
ern New York, the American Society of Micro- 
scopists and the Butfalo Microscopal Club. He 
is deeply interested in research of all scientific 
matters, is a fine physician, has the confidence 
and esteem of his patients, and the respect and 
admiration of his professional associates. 



Q'HERM.AJV S. AVEKY, a citizen and prom- 
*^ inent lawyer of Forestville, New York, 
was the son of Dr. Amos R. and Lucina (Allen) 
Avery and was born in Forestville, Chautauqua 
county. New York, November 4th, 1850. His 
grandfather Avery was a resident of east central 
New York and was a victim of the memorable 
Wyoming massacre at which his entire family, 
consisting of eight persons, were taken prisoners 
by the Indians, but at the expiration of eight 
days, after having been subjected to the most 
cruel treatment, were released. The father of 
Sherman S. Avery was born iu Brookville, 
Madison county, New York, in 1805, of New 
England parentage. He was a physician by 
profession and in the year 1833 came to Forest- 
ville, New York, where he established a resi- 
dence and pursued his practice until his death in 
1881. For some years prior to his death he was 
the oldest practicing physician in Chautauqua 
county. Dr. Avery was graduated at Fairfield 
Medical College, was learned in the various 
branches of medical science and enjoyed the 
high esteem and respect of all those with whom 
he came iu contact. Religiously he held mem- 
bership in the Methodist Episcopal church of 
Forestville, which he warmly supported. 

His marriage resulted in the birth of two 
children : Agnes, wife of J. E. White (de- 
ceased), who prior to his death was engaged 



in the real estate business, and Sherman S. 
(subject). 

Sherman S. Avery received his education in 
the public and high schools and later in the 
universities of Michigan and Cornell, from the 
latter of which he was graduated in a classical 
and scientific course. Upon the completion of 
his academic and collegiate education, he went 
to Franklin, Penna. and entered the law office 
of Lee ct Dodd, with a view to fitting himself 
for the profession of the law. While he was 
pursuing his law studies, he was in the employ 
of C. D. Angel, so that only a part of his time 
was devoted to his studies. He was admitted 
to the Venango county, Penna. bar, where he 
opened an office and practiced until 1872, at 
which time he formed a law partnership with 
Hon. George H. Bemus, an ex-member of the 
Legislature, and opened an office at Fairview, 
Penna. By this time Mr. Avery had become 
well and favorably known to the business men 
of the oil regions and H. L. Taylor, the lead- 
ing operator of Butler county, sought his services, 
and tendered him the position of cashier of the 
Argyle Savings Bank, which he accepted and 
held for about one year. He had now convinced 
his employers, H. L. Taylor ct Co., whose busi- 
ness had become very extensive, lucrative and 
complicated, that his services would be more 
valuable to them as their confidential legal ad- 
viser, than as cashier of their banking house, 
and he was accordingly promoted and soon 
afterwards admitted as a member of the firm, 
and continued such until his death — which oc- 
curred July 9, 1879. In the legal world, as 
well as in the business world, he was regarded 
as a young man of brilliancy and ability. Polit- 
ically he allied himself with neither of the great 
parties, holding it to be a special prerogative to 
cast his vote and give his support independent 
of party creeds. During Horace Greeley's can- 
didacy for nomination to the presidency of the 
United States, he took the stump in his behalf 
and did very efficient service. Mr. Avery was 



480 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



a promiuent secret society man, belonging to tlie 
Free Masons, A. O. U. W. and Kniglits of 
Honor. 

On June 2(jth, 1873, Mr. Avery united in 
marriage with Mary Swift, a daughter of 
Herman and Betsy (Jackson) Swift of Forest- 
ville, Chautauqua county, New York. Mr. and 
Mrs. Avery had four children : Agnes, Bessie, 
Hascal and ]Marv Sherman. 



QLBERT AV. HULL, a prominent member 
*^^- of the Chautauqua county bar, is a son 
of Sylvester and Selina (Reed) Hull, and was 
born in Oneida county, New York, on De- 
cember 10, 1825. His grandfather, Eli Hull, 
was a native of the eastern part of this State, 
and was one of the earliest settlers of Oneida 
count}', where he resided until his death, which 
occurred September 24, 1838. He was of 
English e.xtraction. Sylvester Hull (father) 
was a native of Oneida county and a farmer by 
occupation. He moved to Chautauqua county 
in 1837, at the time of the great national e.\- 
citement concerning the United States Bank in 
Philadelphia, and, purchasing an eighty acre 
farm in Cherry Creek, cultivated it until his 
death, which occurred October 29, 1854, at the 
age of fifty-four years. He was a democrat, 
and an exceedingly well-jDosted man, subscrib- 
ing for and diligently reading several news- 
papers. February 1, 1824, he married Selina 
Reed, who was a native of Oneida county, 
where she spent her entire life. They were the 
parents of three children. ]Mrs. Hull died 
October 21, 1830. 

Albert W. Hull was reared on the farm in 
Cherry Creek and received his education in the 
common and select schools of that section. He 
learned the carpenter's trade and followed it for 
a livelihood in connection with contracting and 
building until 1868, when he commenced the 
study of law in the office of John G. Record, 
of Forestville. He was admitted to practice 
before the supreme court of the State of New 



York on June 6, 1870, and later on before the 
United States District court. Since his admis- 
sion to the bar he has built up a fine law prac- 
tice in this vicinity. He was elected to the 
office of justice of the sessions for this county 
in 1885, which he held one year, and has been 
justice of the peace for eight years. He is a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church, 
and of Hanover Lodge, No. 152, F. and A. 
M., and Forestville Chapter, No. 136, of 
Royal Arch Masons, and politically is an ac- 
tive democrat. Mr. Hull is a gentleman ot 
sound judgment and is held in high respect 
throughout this section. 

Albert W. PIull, on January 31, 1885, 
united in marriage with Lydia F. Webb, 
daughter of David M'ebb, of Forestville. 
They have two children living: Albert W., 
Jr., who married Grace Thompson, of For- 
estville, and is in the insurance business in 
New York city ; and Carrie L., wife of Car- 
ter Robie, of Bath, this State, where they now 
reside. 



y^ELOS J. KIDKK, a resident of the town 
'^ of Hanover, is a son of Robert D. and 
Lucy (Spencer) Rider, and was born in Her- 
kimer county, New York, August 27, 1824. 
Zadock Rider (grandfather) was a native of 
Dutchess county, this Slate, but removed to 
Plerkimer county, where he took up residence 
and lived until his death. He followed farm- 
ing for his livelihood and always shaped his 
lite in conformity with the highest principles 
he knew. His marriage with Naomi Seers 
resulted in the birth of a family of five chil- 
dren, three sons and two daughters. The 
maternal grandfather, Gideon Spencer, was a 
native of Connecticut, removed to Herkimer 
county, and finally, in 1833, made his home 
in the town of Yillanova, this county, where 
he died at the age of 92 years. He united 
in marriage with Sal lie Warner, and reared a 
family of four children, two sons and two 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



daughters. In hi.s religious belief he was a 
member of the Universalist church, and a firm 
believer in the moral efficacy of obedieuce to 
natural law. His occupation was that of 
farming. Robert D. Rider (father) was born 
in Herkimer county, September 8, 1799, and 
emigrated to this county in 1833. His first 
place of settlement in the county was in the 
town of Sheridan, near Silver Creek, where 
he purchased sixty acres of laud, only two 
acres of which were then cleared. Here he 
spent five years of his life, then moved to 
Arkwriglit, and died September 19, 1867. 
He voted with the Whig and Republican 
parties, under both of which he was elected 
to and held town offices. Religiously he be- 
longed to the Baptist church and held the 
office of deacon for a number of yeai-s. jNIr. 
Rider was married first to Lucy Spencer, by 
whom he had three children : Theron A. 
(dead); Delos J.; and Sarah T., married to 
Harry S. Faulkner (deceased). His second 
wife was Almira Rogers. 

Delos J. Rider was joined in marital bonds 
to Esther C. Emmons, a daughter of Summer 
Emmons of the town of Arkwright, this 
county. One daughter was the fruit of this 
marriage, Naomi T., wife of Charles C. Cole, 
present supervisor of the town of Arkwright. 
After the death of his first wife he united in 
marriage with Clarissa S. Skinner, a daughter 
of Ralph Skiuner, by whom he had two chil- 
dren : Elmer E., at home ; and Frank A., 
married to Hattie Powers, is a farmer living 
in the town of Hanover. 

D. J. Rider was educated in the common 
.schools and at Fredonia Academy, taught 
school some sixteen years, and has since that 
time devoted himself to the care and man- 
agement of his farm of three hundred and 
ten acres. Politically ho is a republican, and 
as such has held the office of supervisor for 
the town of Arkwright and other places of 
trust. He is also a member of the Grange. 



FKEDERIOK D. GARDNER, a citizen of 
Hanover town, and a farmer of promi- 
nence, is the son of Edwaid and Anna (Dixon) 
Gardner, and was born in Ireland, Mayo coun- 
ty, December 19, 18^4. His entire ancestry 
has been confined within the borders of the 
Emerald Isle. His grandfather, Robert Gard- 
ner, was a farmer and a member of the estab- 
lished church of England. He was married 
and reared a family of four sons and three 
daughters. Maternal grandfather, John Dixon, 
was likewise a native of Ireland, a farmer and 
an Orangeman. He was married to Etta Lang, 
who bore him a large family of children. Ed- 
ward Gardner, father of Frederick D., was 
born in Ireland in 1789, and died in 1846. 
He was reared upon a farm, but soon relin- 
quished the occupation of farming, went to the 
city of Dublin, and became a member of the 
police force. He was united in marriage to 
Anna Dixon, who bore him nine children, six 
sons and three daughters, subject being the only 
one who emigrated to America. Religiously he 
joined his interests with those of the Episcopal 
Church. 

Frederick D. Gardner received his education 
in the common schools of his native country, 
and at the exjjiration of his school life, when at 
the age of seventeen, he received a position on 
the police force, which he held for ten years in 
the city of Dublin, Ireland. In 1850 he re- 
signed the position of police officer, came to 
America, and located at Bath, Steuben county, 
New York, where he engaged in farming. 
Some years later he removed to Smith's Mills, 
in the town of Hanover, Chautaucpia county, 
and became foreman of a gang of section men 
for thirtv-four years on the Buffalo & South- 
western R. R. When somewhat advanced in 
life he quit railroading and purchased a farm of 
fifty-niue and three-fourth acres, south of 
Smith's Mills, town of Hanover. He is a 
democrat in politics, but has never held any 
official position. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



On February 6, 1849, Mr. Gardner was first 
married to Elizabeth Slush, who bore him eight 
children: Edward D., married to Jennie Her- 
naudez, now living at Renovo, Penna., and in 
the employ of the railroad comi)any ; James 
T., married to Miss Judd, now living in Mich- 
igan, city of Mackinac, and is general man- 
ager of the Michigan R. R. ; Lizzie N., of 
Dunkirk, New York ; Frederick, a railroad 
clerk at Bufiiilo, New York ; Mary J., living in 
Buffalo, New York. Subject's second wife was 
Ann Woods, by whom he had four children, 
two sons and two daughters : Robert L., mar- 
ried to Signora Rasmusen, now living in St. 
Paul, Minnesota, a train dispatcher ; Dora, 
Richard and Eftie Y. 



COMMANDER WILLIAM BAKKKK 
CUSHIXG, U.S.X. The three supreme- 
ly great names in the naval history of the 
American Republic, are those of John Paul 
Jones, Oliver Hazard Perry and "William 
Barker Cushing. Cushing is as completely the 
representative of the highest naval strategy and 
the type of the greatest individual daring of 
the Great Rebellion as was Perry of the second 
war of Independence and Jones of the Revolu- 
tionary struggle. 

William Barker Cushing was born in Wis- 
consin, November 24, 1842, and was the young- 
est son of Milton B. and Mary (Smith) Cush- 
ing. He was descended from an old Puritan 
family of New England and his paternal 
grandfather, Judge Zattu Cushing, who was 
born at Plymouth, Massachusetts, became a 
pioneer settler of Chautauqua county and over 
its courts of justice presided from their organi- 
zation in 1811 until 1824; he was a Baptist, 
served in the war of 1812, and it is said of him, 
" That in those qualities which fit a man for his 
duties, social, civil and religious, he was not 
excelled by any of his fellow-citizens." His 
son, Milton B. Cushing, the father of AVilliam 
B. Cushing, married ]\Iary Smith, a near rela- 



tive of Rear-Admiral Smith, and removed to 
Wisconsin wdiere he died and left four sous in 
their childhood. Mrs. Cushing returned to 
Fredonia so that her children might enjoy good 
educational advantages and after the late civil 
war went back to the west where she died on 
March 2(5, IS'Jl. 

William Barker Cushing received his early 
education at Fredonia and in 1857 was appoint- 
ed to the U. S. Naval academy, at Annapolis, 
Maryland, but resigned on March 23, 1861. 
In May of the same year he volunteered and 
was appointed master's-mate on the U. S. ship 
Minnesota, and on the day of her arrival at 
Hampton Roads captured the Delaware Fanner, 
a tobacco schooner, the first prize of the war. 
He was attached to the North Atlantic block- 
ading squadron, during the war, served part of 
the time on the South Atlantic coast and re- 
peatedly distinguished himself by acts of 
bravery. 

He was commissioned lieutenant July 16, 
1862, and in November of the same year he 
was ordered to capture Jacksonville, Florida, 
intercept an important mail and destroy the 
New Juliet salt works. He cai)tured the mail, 
took prizes and shelled a Confederate camp, but 
was unable to cross the bar to Jacksonville. 
He then served on the Blackwater and in the 
sounds of North Carolina where he distin- 
guished himself upon several occasions. Dur- 
ing 1863, he added to his reputation for daring 
bravery and good judgment by an expedition up 
the Cape Fear and Little rivers and his opera- 
tions on the Nansemond. 

It is impossible to give in detail in this 
\ sketch all of his brilliant exploits, distinguished 
services and hair-breadth escapes. His most 
brilliant exploit and which made world-wide 
his then, already, national reputation, was the 
destruction of the Confederate iron-clad ram 
"Albemarle" on the night of October 27, 
1864. This vessel had successfully encountered 
a strong fleet of Union gun-boats and fought 



^^ % 



...J' 




COMMANDER WILLIAM B. CUbMiNG 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



for several hours without sustaining material 
damage. There was nothing able to cope with 
her iu the sounds and grave apprehensions 
were entertained of the Union iron-clads being 
able to prevent her from sweeping everything 
before and shelling the principal northern sea- 
port cities. Gushing volunteered to destroy 
her and banish the nightmare of terror which 
her presence cast upon the Union fleets. With 
a steam launch and a volunteer crew who full)' 
realized the importance and danger of the mis- 
sion upon which they were going, he ascended 
the Roanoke river, towing an armed cutter. 
The river was lined with Confederate pickets 
to guard against just such an attack as this ; but 
Cushing's phenomenal good luck did not desert 
him, and he was within a few yards of the 
" Albemarle " before he was discovered. Cast- 
ing off the boat which he had in tow with 
orders to attack a picket post near by, he drove 
the launch straight at the huge bulk of the iron- 
clad, whose crew rushed to quarters and at once 
opened a heavy fire on their advancing foe. 
The launch rej^lied and effectively with her 
howitzer for a few moments until Cusliiug 
reached a raft of heavy logs which had been 
built around the ram. Over this the launch 
was driven, and by the time she received her 
death wound from the "Albemarle's" guns, 
Gushing had cooly swung the torpedo boom under 
the great ship's overhang and explodetl the charge. 
A large hole was blown in the iron-clad's side; [ 
she sank at her moorings and was never raised. 
Directing his companions to seek their safety, 
Gushing left his sinking raft and swam down 
stream one-half mile where he reached the 
river bank thoroughly exhausted ; when lie re- 
covered strength he plunged into a dense swamp 
and after hours of tedious wading, came out on 
the shore of a creek where he found a Union 
picket boat. He and only one other of his 
companions escaped. For the sinking of the 
" Albemarle " he received the thanks of Con- 
gress and was sliortly afterwards elevated 



to the rank of lieutenant-commander, his com- 
mission being dated October 27, 1864. At 
Fort Fisher he buoyed out the channel in a 
small skiff and completed his work in six 
hours. In the final assault on its frowning 
walls he led a force of sailors and marines from 
the Montkcllo iu an attack on the sea front of 
the fort and amid an unceasing fire at short 
range which cut down his men iu windrows lie 
crossed one hundred rods of sand, rallied his 
men and gave such efficient support to the 
land forces that before midnigiit the fort was 
surrendered. 

During the war he received five commenda- 
tory letters from tlie Secretary of the Navy and 
at the close of the struggle was appointed to 
the command of the Laneader in the Pacific 
squadron. In 1868 ho was placed in command 
of the Maumee, and for four years was attached 
to the Atlantic squadron. ( )u the return of the 
Maumee to the United States, Lieutenant-Com- 
mander Cusliing was advanced to the rank of 
commander to date from January 1, 1872, and 
he was the youngest officer of that rank in the 
navy. He was allowed leave of absence but 
his health which had been impaired by over- 
exertion failed completely and he died of brain 
fever in Washington City, on December 17, 
1874. 

On February 22, 1870, lie united in mar- 
riage with Catherine Louise Forbes, daughter 
of Colonel D. S. Forbes, of Fredonia. To 
their union were born two children : Mary 
Louise and Catherine A. Mrs. Gushing is an 
intellectual woman of taste and refinement, 
residing now at her pleasant home in Fredonia. 

The memory of William B. Gushing has 
been honored by the various Grand Army 
Posts in Wisconsin and other states of the 
Union named after him ; while on the water 
the sea-going torjtedo boat Gushing suggests by 
its character the daring of him for whom it was 
named. A thousand pens have written of him 
and his deeds, and among the just and deserved 



486 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



tributes recorded in honor of his achievements 
we select these two : 

" A country and the navy may well be proud 
of this most adveuturous of their heroes," and, 
"Gushing bv repeated daring and successful 
achievements, has rivaled the fame of Paul 
Jones and Perry, and associated his name with 
theirs in immortality.'' 

That intense earnestness of purpose, that 
wonderful spirit of daring and that supreme 
contempt of death which characterized the 
heroes of the Great Rebellion as well as the cool 
and deliberate calculations of its great leaders 
and master-spirits, were qualities possessed by 
Gushing in the highest degree ; while in addition 
to all this he was gifted with a military ability, 
a fertility of invention and all powerful-will, 
which places him among the greatest naval 
heroes of all time. 

No Cleopatra of ease ever lured Gushing 
from any Actium of life, and no thought of 
death ever cast a shadow of fear upon any 
enterprise however dangerous which he had 
conceived. He was always in the battle where 
the iron hail fell tiie thickest and his place in 
the picture was where the blaze of the cannon 
was the brightest. 



GEORCiE K. BACOX, a public-spirited and 
enterprising citizen of Ripley, New York, 
who has been emphatically the architect of his 
own fortune, is a son of James and Eliza J. 
(Ketcham) Bacon. He is of New England an- 
cestry, and was born in the town of Portland, 
Ghautauqua county, New York, on January 7, 
1834. His grandfather Bacon was a native and 
a life-long resident of the State of Massachu- 
setts, and in that early day belonged to the old- 
line Whig party. He married and reared a 
large fiimily of children. His maternal grand- 
parents claimed the State of New York as the 
place of their birth. James Bacon (tather of 
George R. Bacon) was born in the town of 
Springfield, Worcester county, Mas.sachu.setts, 



in the year 1805, and is still living. About 
1S26 he changed his place of residence to the 
State of New York, locating with his family in 
the town of Portland, Ghautauqua county. 
While in Massachusetts he was the superintend- 
ent of a cloth manufactory at Lowell. In earlier 
life he had learned the trade of a mechanic and, 
when he came to Ghautauqua county, engaged 
in carpentering. He was a constant reader and 
a close student of books and general literature, 
which coupled with his wonderful memory and 
innate love of study, gave him great mental 
j)0wer and enabled him to acquire a good prac- 
tical education. In matters of religion he was 
a mau of profound reverence and deep convic- 
tions, and devoted not a little time to the .study 
of the Bible, church liturgy and ritual and the 
lives of the church fathers. lie was first united 
in marriage to Miss Olive Persons, by whom 
he had two children, one of whom is dead. His 
second marriage was to Eliza J. Ketcham, who 
became the mother of seven children, five sons 
and two daughters, three of whom (two sons 
and one daughter) are yet living. Their child- 
ren were : Samuel M., entered the Union army 
at the beginning of the civil war as a volunteer 
in the 64th regiment, served until wounded, re- 
enlisted and was killed at the battle of the Wil- 
derness ; Jasper il., now living at Silver Greek, 
New York. He entered the 112th regiment, 
New York volunteers, as a private at the be- 
ginning of the war and served until its close; 
•lames F. M., also enii.sted at the beginning of 
the war and served until the battle of Gettys- 
burg, when he was taken prisoner, carried to 
Andersonville and Libby prisons, in the latter 
of which he died ; Ira J., now living in Gin- 
cinuati, Ohio, where he is superintendent of the 
largest sheet-iron mill in the United States; 
Louisa died at the age of fifteen years ; Alice 
D., wife of E. A. Kelsey, of Gorry, Pa. ; and 
George R. 

George R. Bacon acquired his preliminary edu- 
cation in the common .schools, l>ut afterward sup- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



plemented it by continual independent study and 
reading. He learned the trade ot" carpenter, 
became foreman on the old Butfalo and State 
Line R. R. in 1854, and has been continued in 
that capacity through all the various changes in 
the ownership and management of the road ever 
since. Aside from his main business, Mr. 
Bacon has dealt somewhat in real estate and 
devoted his spare time to the care of his five- 
acre vineyard. 

George R. Bacon was married to Miss ]\Iary 
A. Lay, daughter of William and Elizabeth 
(Rowe) Lay. Her father was a native of Corn- 
wall, England, and emigrated to the village of 
Ripley, Chautauqua county, in the year 1853. 
He lived in Ripley until his death, March 13th, 
1871. Mr. Lay's education was such as is 
given by the common schools, and his occupa- 
tion an engineer and a farmer. In politics he 
was a republican ; religiously a member of the 
jSIethodist Episcopal church. His wife bore 
him six children : William, Jr., of Ripley, a 
stone-mason by trade ; Thomas H., married 
and living in the State of Kansas ; John R., of 
Ripley, a grape-grower ; Jane, wife of Hart 
Endy (dead), of Ripley; Elizabeth, wife of 
Oliver Stetson, a grape-grower of Ripley ; and 
Mary A. Having lost two infant children, they 
in 1874 adopted au infant girl. Bertha Isabel, 
who is fully adopted and is as such considered 
one of their natural children. 

G. R. Bacou is a supporter of the Republican 
party and a member of the Royal Arcanum. 
He is an upright man, straightforward in his 
business dealings and stands high in the estima- 
tion of Ripley's best citizens. 



I^ELSON RAXDALL, an influential and 
•^ *■ useful citizen of Ripley and an ex-grand 
master of the Ancient Order of United Work- 
men of the jurisdiction of the State of New 
York, was born at Dauby, Vermont, A])ril 11, 
1825, and is a son of Caleb and Lydia (Conger) 
Randall. He traces his paternal ancestry back 



four generations to William Randall (great- 
grandfather), a Scotch Quaker, who was one of a 
party of (Quakers who came from Scotland to 
Massachusetts Colony before the Revolutionary 
war. William Randall in all probability died 
in Massachu-setts. His son. Snow Randall 
(grandfatiier), was born in 1752, in Scotland. 
Before coming to America he became acquainted 
with Hannah Sherman, who was born in 1759. 
After their arrival in Mas.sachnsetts they 
attended quarterly meetings in this State, where 
they were married and removed a few years 
later to Dauby, Vermont, at which place Mr. 
Randall followed the clothing business until his 
death. His children were : Caleb, Lydia, 
Hannah, Isaac, Stephen and Sadie. Caleb 
Randall (father) was born in 1781 and was 
taken by hi.s parents to Danby, where he died 
in 1857. He was an old-line whig and a 
Methodist and married Lydia Conger, who was 
born In 1782 and died in 1871, at Ripley, at 
the residence of the subject of this sketch. Mr. 
and Mrs. Randall were the parents of nine 
children : Dr. Alvey, born in 1800 and died 
at Cold Water, Mich., where his son Caleb has 
been president of the First National bank for 
twenty years; Enoch, born in 1803 and died 
at Collins Centre, N. Y., in 1878 ; Maria, born 
in 1805, married Smith Hill, of Pawlet, Vt., 
and died in 1881 ; John, a farmer of Collins 
Centre, who was borxi in 1808 and married 
Mary Nichols ; Robert G., a retired farmer of 
Lansing, Mich., who was born in 1811 ; Maria, 
born in 1813, married Thomas Griffin, and 
died at Ripley in 1870; Ellwood, born in 1816 
and died in the Union service in 1863 as a 
soldier from Missouri ; and Galon L., born in 
1820 and died in 1863. Mrs. Randall was a 
daughter of Enoch Conger, a farmer who was 
born at Danby, Vt., in 1758, married Ruth 
Irish, who was born in 1759, and had five 
children : David, Lydia, Free Love, Nora and 
Hiram. 

Nelson Randall received an academic eduea- 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



tion at Poultney, Vt., followed fanning for some 
time, was elected first constable of Dauby and 
afterwards served for eleven years as under 
sheriff of Rutland couaty, that State. In 1859 
he came to the town of Ripley, where he fol- 
lowed farming until 1863, when he was com- 
missioned by Gov. Seymour as a recruiting 
officer and was sent to Yicksburg to muster 
Southern Union men into the Federal army. 
He was afterwards captured by Forest near 
Memphis, Tennessee, but soon escaped and 
served as a recruiting officer in Chicago until 
near the close of the war. From 1865 to 1874 
he served as deputy sheriff of Chautauqua 
county, and during that time was appointed 
deputy United States marshal of the district of 
northern New York, which office lie held for 
six years, besides holding a position in the secret 
service under Capt. Wood. At the breaking 
out of the Fenian war he was sent by the United 
States government to watch the Fenians and 
report any information of them and their move- 
ments that would be useful to the authorities at 
Washington City. While engaged in the secret 
service he had some very narrow escapes and 
interesting experiences. In 1874 he embarked 
in the mercantile business at Ripley, which he 
followed until 1889, when he retired from active 
business life and has since then devoted some of 
his time to the management of his vineyard and 
some little -general business not yet closed up. 
He is a member of the Odd Fellows and the 
Royal Arcanum. 

November 28, 1849, Mr. Randall married 
Priscilla Eddy, who is a daughter of Sand ford 
Eddy, of Vermont, and was born August 12, 
1826. Their children are: Maria E., born 
May 4, 1854, and wife of E. C. Porter, a mer- 
chant of Ripley; Frederick N., who was born 
January 7, 1856, married Hattie Mason and is 
engaged in the general mercantile business at 
Ripley; Edward C, born July 19, 1860, was 
graduated from Meadville college, read law 
with Judge Lambert, admitted to the bar in 



1881 and is a successful lawyer of the city of 
Buffalo ; and Hattie S., who was born April 
14, 1865, and married Elgin Mifflin, a mei- 
chant of Lansing, Michigan. Mrs. Randall 
died April 6, 1873, and on July 27, 1874, Mr. 
Randall married Eunice E. Beagten. 

Nelson Randall is an active republican, al- 
though no aspirant for office, and has frequently 
been importuned to run for sheriff. He intro- 
duced the Ancient Order of United Workmen 
in New York and was the first grand master 
of that order in the State. He represented 
New York for seven years in the Supreme 
Lodge during the early years of the order and 
in 1890 was sent as a representative to the 
Supreme Lodge then meeting at Boston, Massa- 
chusetts. 



HARKY J. XEW3IAN, senior partner in 
the manufacturing firm of H. J. Newman 
A Co., was born in Franklin, Venango county, 
Pennsylvania, January 31, 1865, and is the son 
of Jared R. and Harriet A. (Pike) Newman 
and grandson of James Newman, a native of 
Vermont, who was one of the early farmer set- 
tlers of Cattaraugus county. New York. He 
married, reared a family of eightchildren and died 
in Cattaraugus county in 1857. Jared R. New- 
man, the father of subject, was born in Cat 
taraugus county in 1832, and while still a young 
man traveled through the north-west. Among 
other places visited was Fon du Lac, Wisconsin, 
when it was a very small village, and the In- 
dians were more numerous tiian the whites. He 
returned from his western trip and finally located 
in Franklin, Pa., where, embarking in the fur- 
niture business, he conducted it successfully until 
1876, when, disposing of it, he came to James- 
town. Sooii after this he began furniture 
manufacturing, which was continued to the time 
of his death, when a company, of which his sou 
is the head, succeeded him. He married Harriet 
A. Pike, who bore him one son, the subject of this 
sketch. A republican in politics and a member 



OF CIIAVTAUqUA COUNTY. 



of tlie Methodist church, he also had the dis- 
tinction of being among the first members of 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen, the 
fourth on the charter of tlie tiiird lodge in 
Pennsylvania. He died May 19, 1887, the 
funeral being largely attended by tlie lodge and 
his many friends. 

Harry J. Newman received a good early 
education, and was taught the principles of bu- 
siness by his father, whom he succeeded at his 
death. Beginning in 1887, the business grew 
until at present it requires a building 112x48, 
two stories high, located on Holmes street, to do 
the work. At the death of his father he asso- 
ciated others with him, and the business requires 
now about forty men. He united in marriage, 
July 5, 188G, with Mary Eva Fisher, a daughter 
of Z. W. Fisher, who was one of the earliest 
settlers of McKeau county, Pa., where he lived 
until the oil excitement, finally locating in James- 
town, where he now lives a quiet life. Mr. and 
Mrs. Newman have one child, ^Nlary !M. 

In politics Mr. Newman is like his father, 
identified with the republicans, and is a Mason, 
being a member of Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 
145, of Jamestown, and is enthusiastic in their 
work. He is recognized as a sagacious business 
man, proot of which is plainly shown by the 
success of the business house of which he is the 
head. With a large circle of friends Mr. and 
Mrs. Newman have a pleasant future in view. 



/>-LAYT()N D. LEONAHD is a gentleman 
^^ who has secured and is now maintaining 
an excellent reputation for the quality of the 
cheese he manufactures. He is a son of James 
P. and Clarinda (Scribner) Leonard, and was 
born at Gowauda, Cattaraugus county. New 
York, March 3, 1852. Simeon Leonard, tlie 
paternal grandfather, was born in Oneida 
county, this State, in 1791. He was a farmer, 
and moved to Gowanda, N. Y., and from 
thence to Angola; then to Tidioute, Pa., where 
he died in 1873, leaving four daughters. 



James P. Leonard was born at Gowanda in 
1826 ; he was a shoemaker, and married Cla- 
rinda Sci'ibuer in 1847, by whom he had one 
sou, our subject, and one daughter, Ella, born 
at Gowanda in 1849; she married Lorenzo E. 
Avery, a bookkeeper of Angola, Erie county, 
N. Y., and has a son, Guy L., born in 1874, 
and au infant daughter. James P. Leonard 
died in 1855, and his wife followed him in 
1860. 

Clayton D. Leonard was educated in the 
common schools and at the Griffith academy in 
Springville. His father died when he was but 
three years of age, and he lost the counsels and 
love of his mother when but eight. In 1867, 
when but fifteen years of age, he began to 
learn cheese-making at East Otto, Cattaraugus 
county, and remained there two years. He 
then went to West Otto and Collins, where 
he followed the same business. He came to 
Cherry Creek in February, 1879, and since 
that date has been engaged in making full 
cream cheese. He is sole proprietor of the 
Linwood combination of cheese factories. Tiie 
average production has been six thousand boxes 
or about four hundred thousand pounds per 
year, and the market has been found in the 
New York wholesale hou.ses. Mr. Leonard 
also handles a great deal of cheese on commis- 
sion, and is considered one of the best buyers 
in the State. His cheese is made fpom milk 
furnished by farmers. Mr. Leonard keeps the 
books, each farmer's account being sejjarate, 
sells the cheese, and receives one dollar and 
twelve and a half cents per hundred pounds for 
his work. He has taken care of himself since 
he was fourteen years of age, and is known as 
a hustler in business circles. Politically he is 
a democrat, and has served on the County 
• Democratic Committee since 1887; is the Wor- 
shipful Master of Cherry Creek Lodge, No. 
384, F. & A. M., and also holds membership 
in the Equitable Aid Union and I. 0. O. F. 

On July 9, 1874, he was united in marriage 



490 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORy 



with Harriet L. Peck, a daughter of Reuben 
and Mary Eleanor fRaynor) Peck, of Warren 
county. Pa., and lias liad four sons : Harley 
L., born December 10, 1875; Harry L. (dead); 
Roger L., born June 24, 1880; and Morris 
M., born July 29, 1888. Mr. Leonard is a 
generous-hearted, companional)le gentleman, a 
number-one business man and a good citizen. 



T . ESTKK K. 1>EWEV, a comfortably sitn- 

-'"^ ated farmer and successful dairyman of 
the town of Sherman, is a son of Capt. Lester 
R. and Fanny (Patterson) Dewey, and was born 
in the old homestead house, in the town of 
Sherman, Chautauqua county. New York, in 
May, 1837. His paternal graudfother, David 
Dewey, was a native and farmer of New Hamp- 
shire, M'ho came to Herkimer county and sub- 
sequently removed to Madison county where he 
died. His son, Capt. Lester R. Dewey (father), 
was born in Herkimer county, July 24, 1802, 
and in 1832 settled on lot Xo. 39, in the town 
of Sherman, but subsequently removed to the 
village where he died, December 5, 1872. He 
was a whig, and a member of the Universalist 
Church, and served his town several times as 
assessor, highway commissioner and supervisor. 
He commanded a company of militia for some 
years and on March 23, 1825, as mentioned by 
both " Young's History" and the New York 
State Gazeteer, he married Fanny Patterson, 
who was born in Pompey, N. Y., October 6, 
1802. This was the first marriage in the town 
and was solemnized by Otis Skinner, the first 
justice of the peace of the town. Mr. and 
IMrs. Dewey were the parents of eight children, 
six sons and two daughters : Calista A., wife of 
Charles Hall ; Talcott P., who married Mary 
Benson, Ijy whom he had three pair of twin 
daughters, and died in Iowa in 1874 ; Perry 
C, of Nebraska, who married Sarah Gill, and 
after her death, Matilda Goldsmith, and served 
in the Union army in the southwest ; Alfred 
B., who married Maria Hubbard, who died in 



1880, and in 1881 he married Mrs. Marcia 
Paddock; Margaretta K., wife of Merritt Wol- 
cott ; Lester R. ; Chauucey M., who died in 
infancy ; and Tyler T., who married Ellen Wil- 
cox, served in Co. E, 9th New York Cavalry, 
was captured at Bull Run, spent twenty-two 
(lays in Libby prison, and now lives in Sherman. 

Lester R. Dewey attended the common 
schools of his day, and has always been en- 
gaged in farming on the old homestead except 
two years spent in the oil regions and two years 
during which he was in the West. He owns a 
farm of one huudred and ninety acres of land, 
which is five-eighths of a mile from the village 
of Sherman. He is now making a specialty of 
dairying, keeps twenty-five Jersey cows, and 
makes butter by the Cooley system. 

On December 25, 1860, he married Laura 
Benson, a daughter of Caleb Benson, who mar- 
ried a IMiss Putnam, and came to the town of 
Westfield about 1825. ]\Ir. and Mrs. Dewey 
have had four children, one sou and three 
daughters : Jerushia A., who died young ; Mary 
E., wife of W. B. Whitney, who has been a 
butter-maker at Sherman for the last eight 
vears ; Edwin C, as-sistant cashier of the Sher- 
man bank ; and Eflfie B. 

In politics Mr. Dewey is a rejiublican, and 
has held several offices of his town. 



JAMES TAYLOIt, who was a noted hunter, 
came from Greenbriar county, Va., to 
Greenfield, Erie county. Pa., in the year 1803, 
and from there to the town of Ripley in 1812. 
He subsequently took up one hundred acres of 
land at State Line, and was engaged in agricul- 
ture till the time of his death, which occurred 
in 1840. He had a family of six children, four 
sons and two daughters. Of the sons, John 
and Daniel owned adjoining farms at the State 
Line; Daniel removing to North East but a 
few years previous to his death, and John re- 
siding on his farm until the time of his death, 
in 1881. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



John Taylor was nine mouths old when 
his father came from Virginia, and the coun- 
try being new, and tlie roads few and poor, 
his mother brought him on horseback. The 
saddle on which she rode is still in existence 
and in a very gqod state of preservation. It 
was given by him to Olive M. Taylor, wife of 
his son Seymour. He was both farmer and 
merchant, and for many years post-master at 
State Line. He was an honest, upright man, 
and respected by all who knew him. He was 
twice married. His first wife, Delia Stetson, 
daughter of Oliver Stetson, descended from an 
old and highly respected family of Scotch ex- 
traction. By her he had four children, three 
sons and one daughter : James, Seymour, George 
and Rhoda. His second wife was Almaretta 
Morey, by whom lie had two children, Har- 
court and Etta. James, Seymour and George 
engaged in farming. Harcourt is freight agent 
at Dunkirk. Rhoda married Thomas Coveney, 
present post-master at Sherman, New York. 
Etta married Clinton Gulick, superintendent of 
construction for the Western Union Telegra])h 
company, and resides at Minneapolis, jMinn. 

Seymour A. Taylor, sou of John and 
Delia (Stetson) Taylor, was born at State 
Line, town of Ripley, Chautauqua county. New 
York, in 1833. He was educated in the schools 
of his day, and spent tiie first nine years of his 
manhood farming in the State of Illinois. Ho 
then came back to State Line and engaged 
in agriculture, which pursuit he followed dur- 
ing life. He was the owner of two farms, was 
a man of large acquaintance and of unques- 
tioned character and probity. His death, which 
occurred in 1884, left many true frieuds to 
mourn his loss. 

In 1864 he was married to Olive M. Pull- 
man, daughter of David and Ann (Bailey) Pull- 
man, of North East, Pa., formerly of Washing- 
ton county. New York. Of this union there 
was one child, a son, Edgar S. Taylor. 

Edgar S. Taylor is a graduate of the West- 



field Academy, and is at present superintendent 
of the farm, and engaged in viticulture. He 
married Emily B. Tracy, of Ripley. 



JULIUS L. SNYDER was born February 
14, 18.30, on the Atlantic Ocean. He 
was the son of Captain Lewis L. aud Jane R. 
Snyder. His father was a sea captain and sailed 
for many years between New York and Liver- 
pool, being accompanied on all his voyages by 
his wife until his children were large enough to 
attend school wlieu they resided in Brooklyn, 
N. Y., until the year 1865. Captain Snyder 
then left the sea and with his family removed 
to West Pithole, Venango county, Pa., where 
he began operating in the oil business. In 1867 
Captain Snyder died, leaving Julius L., the 
eldest of six children, and the main support of 
his mother. 

Julius began operating for himself at once 
and was very successful, so much so that at the 
age of twenty-one he had acquired quite a com- 
petency. April 10, 1871, he was married to 
Jennie, daughter of the late Wm. Gorman, of 
West Hickory, Pa. 

September 4, 1872, his house caught fire from 
natural gas and burued to the ground, his wife 
perishing in tiie flames and Mr. Snyder was 
burned .so badly that his life was despaired of. 
After recovering from his burns he left Venango 
county and went to Clarion county, where he 
met with good success ; from there he went to 
Karns City, Butler county. Pa. April 20, 
1874, he was married to Lillie M., daughter of 
the late Jeoffrey Thornton, of Charlotte Centre, 
N. Y. The following autumn he lo.st every 
dollar he had in the world through the rascality 
of a business partner. He then went to con- 
tracting for other parties aud soon accumulated 
enough to buy a small interest in a well in But- 
ler county, which he sold in 1879 and went to 
Bradford, McKean county. Pa., and began 
operating again for himself He met with good 
success in the Bradford field. In 1881 Mr. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Snyder went to Sinclairville, Chautauqua county, 
N. Y., and purchased a place, where his family 
have resided more or less ever since. In 1 887 
Mr. Snyder left Bradford and went back to Ve- 
nango county to operate in the same place that 
he had operated in fifteen years before, and 
where he is at present operating with very good 
success. 

Mr. Snyder is of German-English descent, 
and is the father of two sons, George M. and 
Julius L., Jr. In politics he is a republican, 
and is a Freemason, as was his father before him. 



JOSEPH A. 3I'GIXNIES is one of the most 
prominent young Irish-Americans living 
in the village of Rijiley. He is a son of 
William and Eliza Ann (Lightbody) ISIcGiu- 
nies, and was born in County Down, Ireland, 
November 7, 1861. His ancestors were prom- 
inent in Irish and Scotch history, the pater- 
nal great-grandfather being a native of Scotland. 
During the political uprising which occurred 
in the latter place about 1740, he emigrated 
into Ireland, where he followed farming until 
he died. Grandfather, Daniel McGinnies, also 
took a prominent part in this affair. The 
maternal grandfather, John Lightbody, was of 
Scotch-Irish stock, and died in Ireland at the 
advanced age of ninety-five years. He was 
coachman and superintendent for Lord Kier, 
of Ireland, and performed tlic duties of those 
positions until the infirmities of age compelled 
him to relinquish them. William McGinnies 
was born in 1840, and removed to America 
in 18(52, locating in the town of Ripley, 
Chautauqua county, New York, where he 
still lives, and has followed the vocation of 
railroading ever since coming to America. 
He married Eliza Ann Lightbody, who is yet 
living, aged fifty-five years. They had three 
children : Subject is the oldest ; William, mar- 
ried Ina D. Grow and is now in the mercan- 
tile business at Gunni.son, Colorado; and Sam- 
uel E. 



Joseph A. McGinnies was educated at the 
common schools, and at the Ripley High school, 
the curriculum of the latter being in every re-spect, 
equal, excepting languages, to a college prepara- 
tory couree. In 1876 he embarked in the drug 
business at the village of Ripley, and has fol- 
lowed it continuously to the present time; he 
also owns a vineyard of six acres adjoining the 
village. 

J. A. McGinnies married Anna B. Brock- 
way, a daughter of Henry Brockway, coming 
from one of the oldest families of Chautauqua 
countv. Politically Mr. McGinnies is a dem- 
ocrat, and has held some of the towu offices ; 
from August, 1885, to August, 1889, he .served 
under the Cleveland administration as post- 
master of Ripley. He takes an active interest 
in the politics of this locality and the success of 
his party, and is very popular in it, as is at- 
tested by the fact that in the campaign of 1890 
he was nominated by his party as its choice to 
represent this district in the Assembly, and al- 
though the district is usually republican by 
twenty-six hundred majority, he succeeded in 
reducing his opponent's plurality to five hun- 
dred and one, a very flattering exposition of 
his friends' appreciation. The McGinnies are 
Presbyterians, and he has always affiliated with 
that church, is an attendant of it and contrib- 
utes to its support. In addition to this he is a 
member of the Knights of Honor, and for four 
years was rej)orter of the Ripley Lodge. 



T . AFAYETTE XEAK, a life-long resident 
-'■^ and comfortably situated farmer of the 
town of Ellicott, is a son of John C. and Fan- 
nie (Lowusberry) Near, and was born on the 
old Near homestead, in the town of Ellicott, 
Chautauqua county, New York, April 7, 1843. 
At the opening of the great Revolutionary 
struggle the paternal great-grandfather of La- 
fayette Near came from Germany to the new 
world with the intention of entering the British 
army, but after having the situation of the col- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



493 



onies explained to him by some of his country- 
men then residing in New York, he enlisted in 
one of the Continental armies and was killed in 
a battle on the Mohawk river, while bravely 
iighting in the cause of this fair land of civil 
and religious freedom. His son, Conrad Near 
(grandfather), was seven years of age at the 
time of his father's death, and was captured 
along the Mohawk river by seven Indians, who 
carried him to Montreal, Canada, where he was 
held as a prisoner until the close of the Revolu- 
tionary war. He then returned to New York, 
and in 1833 came to the town of Ellery, which 
he afterwards' left to settle in Livingston coun- 
ty, where he followed farming until his death. 
He was an old-line whig, and married a ISIiss 
Fox, by whom he had two sons and seven 
daughters. One of these sons, John C. Near 
(father), was born in the town of Palatine 
Bridge, Montgomery county, and, after residing 
at various places, came, in the year 1833, to the 
town of Ellicott, where he bought from the 
Holland Land company a farm of sixty-three 
acres of laud, which he afterwards increased by 
purchase to eighty acres. He was a republican 
and a member of the Christian church. He 
married Fannie Lownsberry, who bore him two 
.sons and seven daughters. 

Lafayette Near grew to manhood on the farm, 
aud, after attending the common schools, en- 
gaged in farming, which he has made his life- 
work. He now owns a farm of three huudrcd 
acres of laud, and is comfortably situated to en- 
joy life. In 1869 he married Luciuda B., 
daughter of Henry Shaw, to which union have 
been born five children, three sons and two 
daughtei's : Hercules L., born March 17, 1871; 
Nellie F., born May 10, 1873; Ora M., born 
September 16, 1877 ; Charlotte, born March 
23, 1881 ; and Hilda J., who was born June 
20, 1888. 

In politics Mr. Near was formerly a republi- 
can, but of late years has been an independent, 
and now favors the principles of the Farmers' 



Alliance. He is interested in the improvement 
of the farming classes, and has been for several 
years a member of the Patrons of Husbandry. 



TU8TIN WATKOUS, the proprietor and 

^ manager of the popular Smith's Mills 
House, is the son of Austin and Ann (ChrLsty) 
Watrous, and was born in the town of Hano- 
ver, Chautauqua county. New York, September 
23, 18-50. Archibald Watrous, the paternal 
grandfather of Justin Watrous, was born in 
Clinton county about 1795, and came to the 
towu of Hanover about 1820, where he died in 
1870 at the age of seventy-five years. He 
.served as a baggage-master in the war of 1812, 
was an ardent Baptist, and purchased two hun- 
dred acres of land from the Holland Land 
company. He was a whig and republican in 
politics, and married Sallie Wati'ous, widow of 
his brother Ezra, by whom he had thirteen 
children, eight sons and five daughters. His 
son, Austin Watrous (father), was born in 
Clinton county, March 27, 1819, and was 
brought by his parents to the town of Hanover, 
where he died. He owned a firm of one hun- 
dred and thirty-five acres, was a republican in 
politics, and served for many years as deacon 
in the Baptist church. On April 20, 1833, he 
married Ann Christy, and reared a family of 
three children : Francis H., deceased ; Hen- 
rietta, also deceased ; and Justin. Mr.s. Watrous 
is a granddaughter of John Christy, a whig and 
Quaker of English descent, who followed farm- 
ing in Dutchess county, New York. His son, 
Leonard Christy, the father of Mrs. Watrous, 
was born in Dutchess county, where he owned 
a farm of one hundred acres. He died in 1865 
at the age of seventy-five years, was a republi- 
can and married Ruth Hall, by whom he had 
ten children. 

Justin Watrous received his education in the 
common schools, and commenced life for him- 
self by engaging in farming, which he has 
followed ever since. 



BIOGRAPHY ASn HISTORY 



September 17, 1874, he united iu marriage 
with Melva, daughter of Benjamin Hiller. 
They have four children, three sons and one 
daughter : Artiuir D., George W., Lizzie M. 
and Benjamin A. 

Justin Watrous is an active republican, and 
has served as assessor of his town for three 
years. He has an interest in a valuable farm, 
situated one-half mile from Smith's Mills, 
where he owns and conducts the well-known 
hotel. !Mr. ^^'atrous has had good success as a 
farmer, and well understands keeping a first- 
class hotel and holding a large patronage. 



TJNDREW LOWN is a substantial and pro- 
"**• gressive farmer living in the town of 
Ellery, who has risen to a position of affluence 
by industry and good management. He is a 
son of John and Mary (Tompkins) Lown and 
was born iu the town of Gerry, Chautauqua 
county, New York, June 13, 1830, and is now 
in the sixty-second year of his age. The fam- 
ily, as the name implies, was of German extrac- 
tion and his grandfather was llobert Lown. 
John Lown w-as a native of Lyons, Wayne 
county, New York, and came to Chautauqua 
county, settling iu Gerry, iii 1820. He pur- 
chased a tract of one hundred acres from the 
Holland Land company and resided upon it 
until his death. Politically he was a whig ; 
and married Mary Tompkins, who became the 
jnother of three sons and five daughters — all of 
the former aud one of the latter are yet living: 
Sebastian, married Phcebe Hollenbeck and now 
lives in the town of Gerry, a retired farmer; 
Eobert, first married Mary A. Hollenbeck, and 
afterwards Susan IMason, and is now a farmer 
living in the town of Ellery, tliis county; Jane, 
united with Elisha Pickard, who is a farmer 
residing in the town of Ellici)t; and Andrew. 

Andrew Lown was educated in the common 
schools and followed farming from boyhood. 
He has amassed a fine property, consisting of 
one hundred acres iu the town of Gerry and 



seventy acres iu Ellery, and is in very good cir- 
cumstance.s. Politically he is a republican and 
is a representative of the best class in his party. 

In 1857 he united iu marriage with Fannie 
Rhodes, and is now the father of three children : 
Charles, lives witli his father aud owns and 
operates a creamery with financial success — a 
difficult thing to do where much competitiou is 
encountered; Bertha; and John. 

Andrew Lown is a mau who realizes that the 
sure road to success is strict attention to i)usi- 
ness and feeling that the Grange Association is 
improving the welfare of the farmers, he has 
associated himself with it. 



/^-HARLES G. MAPLES was the son of 

^^ Josiah and Esther (Hedges) Maples and 
was born in the town of Milo, Yates county, 
New York, on February 20, 1818, and died 
May 29, 1886. His grandflither, Stephen 
Maples, was a native of New London, Connec- 
ticut aud served throughout the old Revolu- 
tionary war. His sou, Josiah (father of Charles 
G.) emigrated to Yates county, New York and 
afterwards to the town of Ellery, Chautau(iua 
county, where he pursued the occupation of 
farming. He was successively a whig aud 
democrat in politics, a member of the Baptist 
church and was twice married ; first to Diadama 
Comstock, by whom he had seven children; by 
his marriage to Esther Hedges, he had eleven 
children, all of whom grew to manhood and 
womanhood. 

Charles G. Maples was married to Ruth Bar- 
ney, a daughter of Luther and Ruth (Garrison) 
Barney, an old soldier of the Revolutionary 
war. Their union was blessed with the birth 
of seven children: Mary A., (died young); By- 
ron, (deceased); Frank L., (deceased) ; Florella, 
(dead); Florence, married to Samuel M. Whit- 
cher (deceased). He entered the Civil war in the 
9th New York Cavalry and served three years 
and one month, with the rank of lieutenant. 
His death occurred at Corry, Penusylvania; 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Charles M., a student of Cornell university at 
Ithaca, New York; Florelle; and Frank L. 

Charles G. Maples was educated in the com- 
mon schools and Aurora academy, commenced 
life as a farmer in the town of Ellery in 1838, 
and has since been mainly engaged in agricul- 
tural pursuits. He was elected a justice of the 
peace in 1848, which office he filled for a num- 
ber of terms, obtaining at the same time a 
practical legal knowledge, which he utilized in 
settling up estates and making distribution of 
funds that were thereby plac:ed in his hands. 
He received the appointment of United States 
assistant assessor of internal revenue and for a 
number of years prior to 1870, satisfactorily 
discharged the duties of that office. Later he 
was elected surrogate of Chautauqua county, in 
which capacity he served for twelve years, mov- 
ing to Mayville in 1871, where he lived until 
the time of his death. He was a republican in 
politics, a member of the county committee and 
of the State Board of healtii. He also belonged 
to the Ellicott Lodge, I. O. O. F., of James- 
town and was a member of the Baptist church. 
Mr. Maples was a man well known, by reason 
of his public career, throughout the county. 
His life was a bu.sy one and all the years of 
his long life were fully taken up in what he 
conceived to be his public and private duty. 
He was a man of unblemished character, hon- 
est in his business transactions, and generous iu 
disposition, with a wide charity for the dis- 
tresses and wrongs of mankind. 



STEPHEN CULVER, a citizen of the 
town of Ellery in good standing, is a son 
of Asahel and Abigail (Brown) Culver, and 
was born in the town of Ellery, Chautauqua 
county. New York, October 6, 1826. The 
Culvers were originally of English extraction 
and came to the United States during the period 
of New England colonization. His paternal 
grandfather, Jesse Culver, was a native of 
eastern New Y^ork, where he passed his life and 
2() 



finished his career. He was a farmer by occu- 
pation and a (Quaker in his religious profes- 
sions. A.sahel Culver, father of Stephen, was 
• also a native of eastern New York, but removed 
at an early period to the town of Ellery, Cliau- 
tauqua county, where he purchased a farm, im- 
proved and cultivated it and finally died. The 
date of his death is the year 1842. Simultane- 
ous with his farm work, he carried on the trade 
of blacksmithing, which he had learned in 
early manhood. In politics he was an old-line 
whig, while in religion he was hereditarily a 
Quaker. Mr. Culver was twice married, the 
subject being his son by his last wife. His wife, 
Abigail Brown, was born in the town of 
(iueensbury, Warren county. New Y^ork, and 
died in the town of Ellery, Chautauqua couuty, 
in 1862, at the ripe age of seventy-five. She 
was a woman possessing many good qualities 
of mind and heart, of Quaker ancestry and 
prominently identified with all forms of relig- 
ious and moral advancement. 

Stephen Culver garned his education through 
the instrumentality of the j)ublic schools, 
learned the trade of blacksmithing and has 
since devoted himself to the hammer and forge 
with a marked success. He at present owns 
and operates a shop in the village of Ellery, 
where he has a good and increasing trade. He 
also owns a pleasant home in the village and is 
surrounded with many of the comforts of life. 
Mr. Culver throws his support and influence 
toward the Republican party, iu the welfare of 
which he takes a deep and active interest. His 
wife, by his first marriage, was Caroline M. 
Barnes, by whom he had three children : James, 
Olive, (deceased) and Fred (deceased). His 
wife by his second marriage was Ida Eoman, 
who bore him cue child : H. Leah Culver, now 
living. 

Stephen Culver is a man of moral and relig- 
ious nature, though not a member of any 
religious denomination. He belongs to the 
order of the Equitable Aid Union and is well 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



and widely known through his charitable and 
generous disposition. 



TT LEX.A^N'DER SIMMONS is a sou of Walter 
■*^ and Roxaua (Lyons) Simmons, and was 
born in Jamestown, New York, April 16, 1818. 
His grandfather, William Simmons, a desceud- 
ant from an old New England family, was a 
native of Rhode Island, and came to Chautau- 
qua county while yet full of the ambition and 
energy of youth. He lived the remainder of 
his life in the county and now rests in the burial 
ground at Fluvanna. He learned the trade of 
carpenter and joiner, which he continued to fol- 
low through life. His wife was a Miss Swain, 
who bore him six children — three boys and 
three girls. When by reason of tyrannous op- 
pression and most unjust treatment at the hands 
of Britisii rulers the Colonies were forced to a 
declaration of war and revolt against the mother 
country, no one was more ready to take up arms 
for their vindication than William Simmons. 
He .served throughout the entire war with a 
valor and zeal, upon whic.i any descendant 
might look back with pride. Grandfather 
Alexander Lyons was of an old New England 
stock also, emigrating to Chenango county, New 
York, in the last decade of the eighteenth cen- 
tury, where he pursued farming and milling. 
He chose for his life companion Olive Bergy and 
reared a family of fourteen children. Father 
of subject was born in New England, but early 
removed with his family to Chautauqua county. 
New York, near Jamestown, where he ran a 
carding-maehine — the first work of the kind 
done in Jamestown. Two years later he went 
to Broken Straw, where he engaged in the same 
business. Later he retired from the cjirding 
business, i-emoved to Jamestown and began dis- 
tilling, which he followed for many years. 
Walter Simmons was joined in marriage to 
Roxana Lyons and was the father of twelve 
children, eight boys and four girls. He be- 
longed to the Democratic ])arty. 



Alexander Simmons was educated in the dis- 
trict schools, worked on his father's farm until 
he reached his majority, then commenced life 
for himself as a farmer. He has lived on his 
present farm of one hundred and forty acres for 
the past eighteen years and has always lived 
in the county of Chautauqua. Mr. Simmons 
is a man, who through industry, frugality and 
careful, economical business habits, has become 
possessed of a ]>leasant home and a comfortable 
competency. He is a man held in respect and 
esteem by his neighbors, because of his sterling 
qualities and straightforward conduct in his 
various relations. The Republican party claims 
him as an earnest, hearty supporter of its prin- 
ciples and a steadfast devotee of its cause. 

Alexander Simmons was married to Laura 
Ann Clark, daughter of Arvin Clark, who was 
a native of Ontario county, New York, but I'e- 
moved to the town of Ellery, Ciiautauqua county, 
in 1824. (Mr. Clark is a farmer by occupation, 
a republican in politics and had four children, 
three boys and one girl). Mr. and Mrs. Sim- 
mons have but one child, a daughter Jane, mar- 
ried to Aaron Haskins, who lives with the sub- 
ject on the old homestead, and is the happy 
parent of three children : Hattie, Allie and Bell. 



T ^Y3IAN BEXXETT, justice of the peace 
■*"*• and a large hardware dealer of the village 
of Ripley, is a son of Lyman, Sr. and Cliloe 
(Wood) Bennett, and was born at the village of 
Ripley, Chautauqua county, New York, June 
15, 1838. Benjamin Bennett (paternal grand- 
father) was a native of Connecticut from which 
he removed to the town of Milton, in Saratoga 
county, where lie remained until 1828, when he 
came to the town of Ripley in which he died in 
1841. He was a blacksmith by trade, served as 
an orderly sergeant in the Revolutionary war 
and married Eunice Ferry, by whom he had 
three children, one of whom, Truman, was 
killed in the war of 1812. David Wood, (mater- 
nal grand fatlier) was a farmer and resided in 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Saratogacouiity where he died. He was a soldier 
of the war of 1812 aud married Druey Jennings, 
by whom he had two sons and three daughters. 
Lyman Bennett, Sr., was born in Saratoga 
county in 1798 and removed in 1828 to Chau- 
tauqua county -where he died in the town of Rip- 
ley, April 7, 1855. A carpenter by trade and 
a farmer by occupation, he was a democrat iu 
politics and a universalist in religion. He held 
several town offices during his life-time and mar- 
ried Chloe Wood, who was born in October, 
1802. They were the parents of three sons and 
two daughters. Of the former one died at 10 
years of age, the second, David W., is a retired 
farmer of Ripley, and the other is the subject 
of this sketch. 

Lyman Bennett received his education at the 
Ripley High school and for several years after 
leaving school was engaged in teaching during 
the winter and farming during the summer sea- 
sons. In 1875 he engaged in the general mer- 
cantile business which he followed for fourteen 
years and then established his present hardware 
store. He carries a first-class stock of everything 
in his line of trade and enjoys a large patron- 
age. Mr. Bennett is a democrat and has served 
as a justice of the peace continuously for the 
last ten years, besides having held the office of 
supervisor of his town for four years. He is a 
member of Summit Lodge, No. 219, Fi-ee aud 
Accepted Masons, of Westfield, aud ranks high 
as a successful business man. 

On October 1st, 1866, he united in marriage 
with Eliza Hall, a daughter of George J. Hall, 
and to their union were born two children : 
Bertha E. and George H. 



TA>II.LIAJ>I B. PEKRY, one of the old 

^^ aud efficient justices of the peace in the 
town of Ripley, was born in the town of North 
East, Dutchess county, New York, September 
10, 1821, and is a son of Samuel and Minerva 
(Mather) Perry. His paternal grandfather, 
Benjamin Perry, a miller by trade, was born in 



Connecticut but died at Kinderhook, Columbia 
county, this State. He married a widow Spen- 
cer, of Georgia, by whom he had three sons and 
four daughters. On the maternal side AVilliam 
B. Perry is descended from the celebrated Cot- 
ton Mather, the distinguished divine who took 
so prominent a part in the early history of the 
New England Colonies. One of his descendants 
was John Mather who was the father of Charles 
Mather (grandfather). Samuel Perry (father) 
was born in Connecticut iu 1794, removed to 
Dutchess county and on June 16th, 1833, came 
to Chautauqua county where he purchased a farm, 
lived, and died October 4, 1856. He was a car- 
penter and joiner by trade, a democrat in poli- 
tics and a universalist. He belonged to the 
Masonic fraternity and married Minerva Mather, 
who was born in Saratoga county, in 1798. 
Their family consisted of four sons aud two 
daughters ; of the former Ciiarles M., was form- 
erly a merchant but is now a farmer in Michi- 
gan ; James H., taught school for some years, 
now resides in Utica, Winona county, Minne- 
sota, and is one of the commissioners of the 
county ; and Lee H., who died in 1860. 

William B. Perry received his education in 
the early common schools of New York, and at 
Westfield academy. Leaving the fountains of 
theoretical knowledge he learned the carpenter's 
trade at which he worked during the summer 
seasons for eighteen years and spent the winters 
in teaching. He then purchased a farm that he 
sold some time after and then bought the small 
place upon which he now lives and has cultivated 
and managed it ever since. 

In 1846 he married Martha McHenry, who 
was a daughter of Alexander McHenry, an 
early settler of Ripley, and she bore him five 
children : Ella S., married Fletcher Dawson 
and is now dead ; Charles (deceased) ; Florence 
is the wife of Clai'ence Mason, who is engaged 
in grape culture ; aud Ida A., who married G. 
W. Hitchcock. Mr. Perry then united in mar- 
riage with Helen J., a daughter of Dr. Shaw, 



498 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



of Kennedy, and by this marriage came one 
son — William S. William B. Perry married 
for his third wife Dora M. (Kistead) Whitman, 
who is yet living and has borne one child — 
Harley Chapin. 

Politically William B. Perry is a democrat. 
He has held the offices of town clerk and asses- 
sor, and has served continuously since 18G0 as 
a justice of the peace, excepting one term of 
four years. He is a member of the Universal- 
ist church and is a highly esteemed citizen. 



OTTO L. 1JL003IQUIST, a member of the 
leading furniture manufacturing firm of 
Kennedy, is a son of Jonas P. and Hattie 
(Zacharias) Bloomquist, and was born on the 
Island of Gothland, town of Wisby, August 17, 
1864. His paternal grandfather was Herr 
Vigert, a native of Smiilaud, Sweden, but de- 
scended from German ancestors. He lived and 
died in Sweden. On the mother's side, grand- 
father Johannes Zacharias was a native of 
Sweden, where he was born in 1799. By oc- 
cupation he was a hotel-keeper, living in the 
province of Smaland, and was at one time a 
member of the Reichstag, and in maturer 
life became possessed of large estates. His later 
years were devoted to the management of his 
properties and keeping a government hostelry. 
Mr. Zacharias was a member of the Lutheran 
church, and his wife bore him six children. 
Jonas P. Bloomquist was born in his father's 
native town, about 1820, and in 1854 removed 
from that province to the Island of Gothland, 
in the Baltic Sea. He remained there until 
1880 and then emigrated to America and set- 
tled in Jamestown, New York, where he now 
resides. In 1842 he married Hattie Zacharias 
and the result of the union has been eleven 
children, eight of whom still survive, six sons 
and two daughters. All are married, except 
two sons, and are residents of the Empire 
State. Jonas P. Bloomquist is a contractor 
but originally learned stone-cutting. For many 



years he was a Lutheran but is now a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
He is a very energetic man, whose conscience is 
of the Wesleyan mould and which cannot be 
contorted to suit occasions. Firm in his convic- 
tions, he stands steadfast in the right as he sees 
it and is upright in every line of his character 
Otto L. Bloomquist was in his young man- 
hood when he left his native land, and acquired 
the major portion of his education there in the 
common and high schools, which rank well for 
excellence and thoroughness. Simultaneously 
with his book training, he learned ornamental 
painting and we find him in Jamestown in 1881. 
He worked at hardwood iinishing and pursued 
that manual labor until 1886, and then went to 
Kennedy, where he has resided since and is 
now a member of " Carlson, Bloomquist & 
Snow," manufacturers of furniture. Theirs 
is the leading industry of the village and em- 
ploys about thirty men. Politically he is a re- 
publican and is a member of the First Presby- 
terian church of Jamestown. 



HOX. WILLIA>I BOt)KSTAVER, an ac- 
tive business man and mayor of Dunkirk 
citv, one of the commercial centers along the 
great lakes, is a sou of Abuer and Ann (Shear- 
er) Bookstaver, and was born at Montgomery, 
Orange county. New York, December 28, 1833. 
He is of Dutch lineage on his paternal side, 
while his mother was of Irish descent. Mayor 
Bookstaver is a lineal descendant, in the third 
generation, from Jacob Boochslaber (as spelled 
in the old church records of the colony of New 
York), who came from Holland to Orange 
county. New York, in 1732. He was the first 
deacon in the German Reformed church in the 
new world. His sou was the grandfather 
of subject, and married and reared a family 
of children, one of whom was Abner Book- 
staver, the father of the subject of this sketch. 
Abner Bookstaver was born in Orange county, 
where he followed merchandising at Montgom- 










0, L. bLOOMQUISl 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



501 



ery fur iiuiuy years. He afterwards removed 
to Syracuse, and died well advanced iu years. 
He was an elder of the Reformed cimrcli, and 
married Ann Shearer, a native of the north of 
IiHiland. 

William Bookstaver received his education 
at Montgomery academy, from which he was 
graduated iu 1852, and in which he was a 
teacher during 1853. Iu April, 1855, he came 
to Dunkirk and read law with a Mr. Brown 
and his brother, David Bookstaver, who was 
formerly mayor of Syracuse, where he now 
resides. He was admitted to the Chautauqua 
county bar, in 1858, but afterwards relinquished 
the practice of his profession to engage in the 
real estate business. He had faith in the de- 
velopment of Dunkirk as one of the great lake 
cities, and accordingly invested largely in real 
estate in different parts of the village. The rapid 
growth of Dunkirk from a village to a metro- 
2)olitan city within the last quarter of a century 
has fully verified ]\Ir. Bookstaver's early ex- 
pectations of its future importance as a success- 
ful rival of Toledo and Buffalo as a manufac- 
turing and commercial centre. He now owns 
one hundred and fifty acres of land within the 
city limits which embraces valuable business 
blocks and excellent manufacturing locations as 
well as a large number of houses, and residence 
and business lots. He also owns his fine resi- 
dence on Central avenue, is the largest individ- 
ual tax-payer in the city, and has acquired all 
of his property by his eiforts and judicious 
investments. He is president of the Dunkirk 
Savings and Loan association, which erects 
buildings and sells or advances money to pur- 
chase buildings, and receives monthly payments 
which do not exceed one or two dollars more 
tiian the rent of these buildings, thus enabling 
the buyer to secure a home for a very small 
sum above what he would pay iu rent in six or 
seven years. 

In politics Mr. Bookstaver is a democrat. 
He served for thirteen years as county .siiper- 



vi.sur, and was appointed, in 1S.S7, by Governor 
David B. Hill, as a member of the prison labor 
reform committee, of which he served as chair- 
man. He was elected mayor of Dunkirk, and 
at the expiration of his term of office was al- 
most unaniujously re-elected for a second term, 
which he is now -serving, with no abatement of 
the popular favor. 

He united in marriage with Mary A. Leonard, 
of Maine. Their union has been blessed with 
one child, a daughter, Mabel, who is now in 
Paris, France, but will spend the most of the 
following year in Italy. 

/>'HL\l{Li:s VIXCENT BEKIJK is a gentle- 
^^ man in whose veins runs the assertive 
blood of the sons of Albion, and that of the 
conservative Teutons, and pos.sessing all the 
best business qualifications of both races, has, as a 
matter of course, been a successful business man. 
He is a sou of James and Eva A. (Vincent) 
Beebe, and was born in Cassadaga, Chautau- 
qua county, New York, on November 11th, 
1837. Charles Vincent was born in Mad- 
ison county, this State, where he afterward 
owned six hundred acres of land and several 
lumber mills, and was one of the wealthiest and 
most respected citizens of that section, being 
elected judge of Madison county and justice of 
the peace. He finally moved to this county 
and settled at Milford, just west of Fredonia, 
where he purclia.sed a small piece of land and 
lived a retired life. Charles Vincent married 
and had thirteen children, among them being 
Jefitrson, Madison, Sallie and Cornelius. James 
Beebe (father) was born in Buffalo, Erie county. 
New York, in 1807, and moved to Chautauqua 
county with his parents in 1810, and worked 
on his farm, attending the public schools mainly 
iu the winter, and afterward taught school sev- 
eral terms. For a few years he worked as a 
clerk in John Dewey's .store ui Cassadaga, and 
then established a wagon-manufactory in Fre- 
donia, employing a half dozen men, which 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



business he continued twenty years, when he 
was succeeded by his son, F. H. Beebe, wlio 
still carries on the business. In 1855 he built 
a hotel in Fredonia, which he continued four 
years in connection with a small farm that he 
owned, and then sold the hotel to James L. 
Walters, turning his attention to the growing of 
small fruits, in which occupation he continued 
until his death in August, 1888, aged eighty- 
one years. He was an inveterate reader, his 
favorite subject being ancient and modern his- 
tory, in which he was exceedingly well posted, 
be.sides being an expert mathematician, Jiaving 
had difficult problems sent him from all parts 
of the United States and Canada, none of 
which he failed to solve. In politics he was an 
uncompromising Jackson democrat, his first 
vote being cast for Gen. Andrew Jackson. He 
was highly respected by all who knew him. 
James Beebe was married in 1834 to Eva A. 
Vincent, a daughter of Charles Vincent, by 
whom he had six children, four sons and two 
daughters : James M., a farmer and breeder of 
Jersey cattle in Cassadaga, this county, who 
married Lucy J. King; Mary E. married 
George Fisher, who died, and she then married 
Byron Landers, a manufacturer of fruit baskets, 
etc. ; Francis H., a wagon-maker in Fredonia, 
who married Lydia Todd ; Frank W., a basket 
manufacturer, who married Lydia Fisher; 
Sarah, who died young; and C. V. Mrs. 
Beebe died aged forty-eight years. 

Charles Vincent Beebe was educated in the 
common schools of Cassadaga until he attained 
his majority, when he engaged with his brother, 
F. H., in wagon making, in which business he 
remained five years, ill health compelling him 
to abandon it. AVheu he had somewhat recov- 
ered his health and strength, he opened a 
general store in Fredonia, which he conducted 
for more than a score of years, when he was 
succeeded by his son, J. W. In 1880 he asso- 
ciated witli himself, his son J. W. and his 
brother-in-law, Byron Lander, under the firm 



name of C. V. Beebe & Co., and started a 
basket manufactory, which they still operate. 
He has been very successful in all his business 
enterprises, and now carries an average of eight 
thousand dollars worth of stock, transacting a 
yearly business of sixteen thousand dollars. He 
is a member of Sylvan Lodge, No. 303, F. and 
A. M., at Sinclairville; and a charter member 
of the Canadaga Lake Lodge, No. 28, A. O. 

u. w. 

Charles Vincent Beebe was married November 
6, 1859, to Mary A. King, a daughter of Ruggles 
King, a fiirraer in Stockton, this county, and 
has one son, J. Webb, who runs the store. 



/^OBRIXGTOX BAKKEK, one of the most 
^^ venerable residents as well as the most 
entertaining old gentlemen in Portland town, 
is a son of Barilla and Mary (Marsh) Barker, 
and was born in Fredonia, Chautauqua county, 
New York, on April I9th, 1809. The family 
is of English origin, the great-grandfather. 
Barker, having come from that country. He 
was a professional surveyor and came to 
America bearing a commission from King 
George to run lines in that monarch's unex- 
plored dominions. Having executed his in- 
structions he remained here and settled in 
Rhode Island. He married and had a son, 
Hezekiah Barker, who was the grandfather of 
our subject. He served on Washington's staff 
during the great struggle for independence, 
engaged principally as a dispatch bearer, re- 
ceived a pension while he lived, moved to 
Oneida county in 1800, then to Chautauqua in 
1805, and settled in the almost unbroken 
wilderness, from which the pretty town of 
Fredonia has sprung. He took up three hun- 
dred acres of land and made one of the most 
valuable pieces of property in that locality. 

Barilla Barker was born in Newport, Rhode 
Island, in 1784, and moved from there to 
Oneida county, N. Y. He was a man when 
he came with his father to Fredonia. He drove 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



503 



an ox team through, making slow progress. In j 
1814, lie moved into Portland town, and follow- 
ed farming until his death in 1858. He was a 
member of the Baptist ^hurcii and a republi- 
can, having filled the office of assessor one term. 
He married Mary Marsh, a daughter of Sam- 
uel Marsh, who was born in Vermont in 1795, 
and died June 7, 1855, leaving seven children. 

Corrington Barker was reared on the farm 
and was taught the lessons of the common 
schools between 1815 and 1820. Work being 
necessary to clear the farm and prepare it for 
the crops, he soon had hardened muscles and a 
vigorous frame and, being of temperate habits, 
this early labor may have formed the fouuda- 
tioD of the vigorous constitution which has car- 
ried him through eighty-two years of life and 
still keeps him hale and hearty. In 1838, he 
married Angeliue Latlirop, who bore him a son 
and a daughter: Amelia, now Mrs. O. J. 
Chamberlain, lives in this town; and Devillo 
A., also a resident of Portland, where he has a 
farm. He married Ellen Smith, whose father, 
Leonard Smith, is a prosperous farmer. 

Corrington Barker has been an active mem- 
ber of tlie Baptist church for si.xty years and 
has filled the position of deacon for many years. 
He has always been identified with the Repub- 
lican party since it came into existence. His 
locks are gray and scanty and the once erect 
and vigorous form is bent with the weight of 
accumulating years but his mind is still as 
bright as in youth, and liis fund of reminiscen- 
ces furnish an entertainment seldom found and 
long remembered. He is a pleasant, agreeable 
old gentleman whom his acquaintances regard 
with affection and respect. 



TAY E. CRAJfDALL. Many men become 
^^ prominent towards the end of a long life, 
when the sun is setting and the period of use- 
fulness is about over, but it is something un- 
usual for one to gain prominence when but 
thirty years of age. Such a man is Jay E. 



Crandall, a son of Hosea B. and Malvina 
(Kelsey) Crandall, who was born in Brocton, 
Chautauqua county, New York, September 22, 
I860. The Cralidalls are of English descent, 
and Hosea B. Crandall, father of Jay E., was 
a native of Kinderhook, Columbia county, N. 
Y. He came to Chautauqua county in 1837, 
and located at Brocton, where he has since 
lived, and has now reached the age of si.xty- 
five years. He is a member of the Metliodist 
Episcopal church and a straight republican. 
Mr. Crandall early learned the trade of a car- 
penter, but for the last eighteen yeai's has been 
engaged in manufacturing grape and berry 
baskets. In partnership with J. E. Crandall 
(his son), they have a large fiictory in Brocton 
and one at Perrysburg, both of which, in the 
summer time, employ fifty men. Mr. Cran- 
dall was the pioneer in the basket business at 
Brocton. With his son, they have a fine grape 
orchard at this place. He married Malvina 
Kelsey. Mrs. Crandall is now fifty-seven years 
old, and is a member of the M. E. church. 

Jay E. Crandall is a stirring, energetic 
young man. He was reared in Brocton, and 
got his education in the public schools. After 
reaching a sufficient size, he helped his father 
in his basket business, aud began to grow 
grapes on his own account. In April, 1886, his 
father admitted him as a partner, since which 
the firm name has been Crandall &, Son. 

In 1883 Jay E. Crandall was married to 
Adella, daughter of Martin Cary. of Brocton, 
and they have two children : Olive M. and 
Aline L. 

J. E. Crandall is an adherent of the Repub- 
lican party and a member of the Knigiits of 
Pythias, in which he takes a leading part. He 
is an enterprising and pushing man, active and 
leading in every cause that is for the welfare 
of Brocton, and is a representative citizen of 
the new Brocton. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



EDWARD J. CRISSEY comes from a fam- 
ily which lias been promineut ia the af- 
fairs of Chautauqua county for nearly three- 
quarters of a century. He was born near De- 
lanti, iu Stocivton, Chautauqua county, New 
York, September 23, 1851, and is a son of 
Jason and Roxana (Winsor) Crissey. (For 
paternal ancestry see sketch of Samuel Shepard 
Crissey.) Rev. Washington Winsor (maternal 
grandfather) was born in Rhode Island in 
1784, studied for the Baptist ministry, preached 
in Otsego county a few years and came to 
Stockton, settling near Delauti in 1827, preach- 
ing here, at Carroll, and afterward at Cassadaga, 
where he died in 1840, aged fifty-six years. 
His children were: Chauncey, who married 
Lucy Crissey, aunt of E. J., and is a druggist 
at Delanti ; Ora, who resides in Wisconsin ; 
Roxana (mother), and James M., a fisherman, 
who lives in Newport, Rhode Island. Jason 
Crissey (flither) was born in Fairfax, Vermont, 
January 5, 1805, and came with his fother to 
Stockton in 1814, where, when quite a young 
man, he bought a farm of his paternal parent, 
and followed the tilling of the soil the remain- 
der of his life. In religion he was a Baptist, 
being a deacon of that church for several years. 
He married Roxana Winsor in 1836, and had 
eight children, six sons and two daughters : 
Stanton, who died at the age of eighteen years; 
Mary A., married to L. C. Warren, a farmer 
and lawyer at Stockton ; Sardis L., a lawyer, 
settler of estates, and also a physician, in Wash- 
ington, District of Columbia, who married 
May Morse; Francis and Cynthia died while 
young ; Jirah D., a farmer for several years, 
and now a druggist and un<lertaker at Delanti 
(Stockton), who married Diana Salisbury ; 
Leroy, died in infancy ; and E. J. Jason Cris- 
sey died iu Stockton, April 1, 1875, aged sev- 
enty years. His wife is still living in her sev- 
enty-ninth year, having been born April 12, 
1812. 

Edward J. Crissev attended the winter terms 



of the common schools of Stockton, this coun- 
ty, until he was eighteen years old, when he 
became a student in the State Normal school at 
Fredouia, where he remained two years. In 
1871 he entered the Fredouia Censor office, a 
newspaper which had just closed a half century 
of life and started on the other half, to learn 
the printing business. Later on he went over 
to another fifty years old newspaper office, the 
Advertiser. He remained here until 1875, and 
tiien went on the railroad as postal clerk iu the 
United States mail service, his run the first year 
being from Buffalo, New York, to Toledo, 
Ohio, and from Niagara to Rochester, this 
State, and the next year from Dunkirk to New 
York City. In the fall of 1878 he entered the 
Fredonia gas company's office, and has since re- 
mained there, being now secretary, treasurer and 
general manager. In religion he is an influen- 
tial member of the Baptist church at Fredonia, 
of which be has been deacon for three years. 
Edward J. Crissey was married January 2, 
1879, to Lucy Colburn, a daughter of Alvah 
and Annie R. (Norton) Colburn, the father 
being a miller at Fredonia. By this union there 
have been two children, daughters : Edith INI., 
who was born April, 1880. and died in Febru- 
ary, 1888 ; and Eleanor, who was born April 

l,"l883. 

& 

FRED W. CASE is a young man of excel- 
lent business tact and ability, and stands 
second to none in the estimation and respect of 
the community as a man of honor. He was 
born in Cattaraugus county, New York, July 
6, 1857, and is a son of J. W. and Emily 
(Hubbard) Case. His grandfather, William 
Case, was born near Providence, Rhode Island, 
in 1793, and was a farmer, owning a large tract 
of land at one time. He served as a soldier in 
the War of 1812, and was granted a pension for 
his services. About 1840 he came to Cattarau- 
gus county, this State, and bought a farm near 
Randolph, wiiich he improvetl. In religion he 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



was a member of the Baptist church iu Little 
Valley, in the above-named county. Politically 
he was a whig, and then a republican. William 
Case was married in 1814 to Sophia Arnold, a 
most estimable lady, by whom he had eleven 
children, eight sons and three daughters : Isaac, 
Job, Henry, Charles, J. Worden (father), John, 
Sidney and Martin, Martha, who married a ]\Ir. 
Milks; Rhoda, and Nancy, who married Mr. 
Cliesbrough. William died in 1880, after living 
with his wife, who still survives, for sixty-tive 
years. The maternal grandfather cif F. W. 
Case was Manley Hubbard, a farmer and owner 
of fifty acres of highly cultivated land near 
Leon, Cattaraugus county, this State. In reli- 
gious matters he was an active member of the 
Baptist church at Leon, and did all in his power 
through life to aid the church. Politically he was 
a republican. Manley Hubbard married Jemima 
Milks, a lady loved by all, and she bore him six 
children, two sons and four daughters: Emily 
(mother) ; Mary (step-mother) ; Susan, who 
married Mr. Hunton ; Almina, married to IMr. 
Earl; Marvin and William. Manley Hubbard 
died in 1882, and is buried at Leon. This was 
a happy couple, beloved by all who knew them. 
J. Worden Case was born July 23, 1823, and 
was a farmer all his life. Left without a dollar's 
worth of property, he was dependent entirely on 
his own exertions and energy. He succeeded in 
buying two hundred acres of land in Napoli, 
Cattaraugus county, then by hard work he accu- 
mulated sufficient means to purchase four hun- 
dred acres more, about half a mile distant from 
his first-bought farm. In 1865 he sold one 
hundred acres from this four hundred acre farm, 
and in 18G8 two hundred acres more, leaving 
him still three hundred acres in all. He was 
one of the largest land-holders in that .section, 
and one of the most influential citizens. In 
1870 he came to Fredonia for the purpose of 
educating his children, and bought a house and 
seven acres of land, but died August 9th of that 
year. In religion he was a Baptist, and a mem- 



ber of the church of that denomination in Fre- 
donia. Politically, he was an active worker in 
the Republican party. J. Worden Case married 
Emily Hubbard, and by her had three children, 
two sons and one daughter : the eldest, Frank, 
died in infancy; Eva married George W. 
Wright, of the Dunkirk Seed company ; and 
F. W. Mrs. Case died August 5, 1857, after 
which F. Worden Case married IMary Hubbard, 
a sister of his first wife. After his death she 
married, in 1872, Albert H. Wheelock, a farmer 
near Fredonia. Mrs. Wheelock died June, 
1885. 

F. W. Case was educated at the public schools 
in Cattaraugus county, and when his father 
removed to Fredonia he entered the Normal 
school here, which he attended five terms, but 
did not graduate. He worked on a farm until 
he came to Fredonia, and after leaving the Nor- 
mal school he went to Dunkirk and sold gro- 
ceries for Henry Negus for a year, then returned 
to Fredonia, December 14, 1874, and sold hard- 
ware for D. L. Shepard for seven years. March 
1, 1882, he associated with himself J. M. Zahn, 
and engaged in the hardware business, in which 
they continued eleven months, when they bought 
out Mr. Shepard's stock, and have since carried 
on the business under the firm name of Case & 
Zahn. They have the largest hardware store in 
town, carrying fifteen thousand dollars worth of 
stock, and their yearly ti'ansactions amount to 
forty thousaud dollars, besides which they have 
a large patronage in tin-roofing, water-conductors, 
etc. In religion Mr. Case is a member of the 
Presbyterian church in Fredonia, and an active 
worker. Politically he is an active republican, 
having been elected town clerk several years, 
and is still holding that office. 

F. W. Case was married May 10, 1876, to 
Lucy F. Pettit, a daughter of M. S. Pettit, an 
engraver at Fredonia, and by her had one sou, 
Jesse M., born February 6, 1877. She died 
May 31, 1877, and September 1, 1880, Mr. Case 
married Ida Smith, a daughter of P. L. Smith, 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



a carpenter of Fredouia, and has had one 
daughter, Eva Louine, born June 25, 1883. 
Both the son and daughter are bright and 
attractive cliildren. 



IIITASON ('U!SH3IA>", a gentleman identi- 
•l'-*- tied with the agricultural and live stock 
interests of Silver Creek and vicinity, is a son 
of Joshua and Keziah (Daily) Cushman, and 
was born in the town of Sherbourne, Chenango 
county, New York, March 12th, 1807. The 
Cushman family in America, it is said, are de- 
scended from an Englishman born in that 
country between 1580 and 1585 and was one 
of the much persecuted Puritans who forsook 
the land of their nativity that they might enjoy 
religious freedom. It is not stated when he 
came to America, but, presumably, shortly after 
1632. Benjamin Cushman was the paternal 
grandfather and his son Joshua Cushman was 
born at Charlestown, New Hampshire, in 17G6, 
married Keziah Daily and came to Villanova, 
this county, where he located in 1842. He 
bought a farm but, having reached advanced 
age, never actively employed himself there. 
Politically a republican and a member of the 
Presbyterian church, he reared a family of 
twelve children, whom he trained to those pre- 
cepts. 

Mason Cushman has always followed farm- 
ing, buying and selling live stock and kindred 
work. He owns a fertile fiirm of one hundred 
and eighty acres, which is thoroughly tilled. 
Politically he is a republican and has served on 
the board of highway commissioners; belongs 
to the Methodist church at Silver Creek and 
has been its steward. 

Mason Cushman married Melissa Beech, a 
daughter of Ethan H. Beech, a native of Madi- 
son county. New York, ou December 28, 184G, 
and they had four children : ^lason E., born 
October 28th, 1848, married Adelaide IMc- 
Daniels, is a farmer in the town of Hanover, 
and has a son George; Joshua E., born April 



12th, 1851, married Millie Young, and now 
lives with his father and conducts the farm — 
he has two children, Vera and Livia; ^laro, 
born September 28th, 1856, and died when 
four and one-half years old ; and M. Livia, 
born November 26th, 1860, now the wife of 
W. B. Horton, a farmer living at Hanover 
Centre. jNIrs. Melissa Beech Cushman was 
born in Madison county, New York, May 24th, 
1818- After spending a happy and useful 
married life of forty-five years, she died April 
28th, 1891, and is laid to rest in the Hanover 
Centre cemetery. 



T»>-IL,LIAM H. COIjE is a contractor and 

•^*- builder in the city of Jamestown, and 
was born at Fairfield, Herkimer county, New 
York, January 22, 1848. His parents are 
Elisha and Lucy A. (Bailey) Cole, both 
of whom are descendants of western New 
York's early settlers. His grandfather, Elisha 
Cole, Sr., was a native of Herkimer county, 
this State, but early in life emigrated to 
Chautauqua county and bought a farm near the 
town of Mina. He married and became the 
father of three children, two sons and one 
daughter: Spencer H. went to Herkimer county, 
Canada, and located ; Temperance married Joe 
Moyer and also settled in Canada, but after- 
wards removed back to the United States, locat- 
ing in Michigan ; and Elisha, Jr. (father). He 
was a democrat and continued to manage his 
farm until his death. Eaton Bailey (maternal 
grandfather) was a native of this county, being 
one of its earliest settlers, removed to Chautau- 
qua county and located near Mina, but after a 
season's residence there removed to Jamestown 
and practiced his art, that of a cooper, until his 
death, which occurred in 18 — . His wife was 
Sallie Bucklyn and they had a family of eight 
children, equally divided as to sons and daugh- 
ters. Mr. Bailey was a member of the Univer- 
salist church and in politics a republican. 
Elisha Cole, Jr., was born in 1825 within the 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



borders of Herkimer county, this State, near 
Fairfield, and came to Chautauqua county in 
1856, remaining here ever since and now living 
iu Jamestown, where he busies himself attending 
to liis farm and gardening. He married Sallie 
Bailey and reared a family of three sons and 
four daughters : James B., a painter and paper- 
lianger, resides in Jamestown ; Frank K., also 
a painter, residing at Jamestown ; and William 
H. ; the daughters are all married. 

William H. Cole received his early education 
in the common schools of Chautauqua county 
and on attaining his majority began life as a 
common laborer. He came from Herkimer 
county early in life to Jamestown, continued 
laboring until 1879, when, embarking in busi- 
ness, he began as a contractor and builder, 
which he has since pursued and has attained 
prominence and the reputation of a reliable and 
trustworthy man. 

His wife was Alice E. Graves, a daughter of 
Watres Graves, and was born in northeastern 
Pennsylvania. Three children have blessed 
this union, two sons and one daughter : Jay W., 
Roy 11. and Tvucy M. 



"I^HIXEAS CROSSM.JlV who has assisted 
-'- largely in the material development of 
his adopted city, was born to Alpheus and 
Catherine (Swaby) Grossman, iu Ulster county. 
New York, April 18, 1829. His great-grand- 
father, Thomas Grossman, came from English 
parents but was born and lived in eastern ISTew 
York where he died. He served the colonies 
as a private during the whole of the Revolu- 
tionary war, a term of seven years. He was a 
farmer by occupation and a member of the 
Methodist church. His grandfather Grossman, 
was born in the eastern part of the Emjiire 
State and was a farmer. He married and reared 
a family of nine children. The Swabys also 
came from the same locality where they lived 
and died. Alpheus Grossman was born in 
Ulster county, this State, in 1809, but in 1832 



removed to Crawford county, Pa., and after- 
wards to Venango county, same State, where he 
followed farming until 18G5, when he came to 
Jamestown and retired from active life. A 
farmer for thirty-five years feels the need of 
rest. In politics Mr. Grossman was a republi- 
can but now affiliates with the prohibitionists 
and is a member of the Methodist church. 
He married Catherine Swaby and became 
the father of five children, four sons and one 
daughter, three of whom ai'e now living. 
After the death of his first wife he married 
Mrs. Mary Stoombs. 

Phineas Grossman secured the usual educa- 
tion acquired by the boys of his time at the 
public school, and was then aj^preuticed to a 
blacksmith who taught the young man the 
" King of Trades." This was in 1848 and he 
worked at blacksmithing in Jamestown until 
1860 w^hen he went to the Pennsylvania oil 
fields where he remained five years and then re- 
turned to Jamestown and engaged in the real 
estate business, buying acreage, cutting it into 
lots, building houses upon them and oifering 
them for sale. Mr. Grossman has erected and 
sold one hundred and four houses in this man- 
ner and has opened up about three miles of 
streets in Jamestown. 

Phineas Grossman, married Caroline Price, 
a daughter of Charles Price, who came 
from one of the old families of James- 
town (see sketch of A. A. Price). They 
have one daughter : Etta C, wife of James N. 
Weller, who is now connected v^ith his father- 
in-law in the real estate business — they have 
one child, Roy G. When President Lincoln 
called for soldiers, Mr. Weller responded with 
three years of service and was attached to the 
Excelsior Brigade. 

In political matters, he is a republican and 
from 1872 to 1875, served as deputy revenue 
collector and iu addition to this has been trustee, 
sixteen years assessor of Jamestown and seven 
years street commissioner. He has been an 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



active man and has secured the reward of 
toil. 



/>^HAKLKS P. CHAPMAN, a lawyer of 
^^ Sinclairville, who practices in the various 
coui'ts of the State of New York, was born in 
the town of Woodstocl^, Windham county, Con- 
necticut, February 10, 1853, and is a son of 
Charles W. and Cornelia M. (Chapman) Chap- 
man. His grandfathers, Thomas Chapman 
and Stephen Chapman, although both of Scotch 
descent and natives of New England, yet were 
not related to each other. Charles W. Chap- 
man, the father of Charles F. Chapman, was 
born in Connecticut, where lie learned the trade 
of shoemaker, which he followed for some years 
and then became a farmer and stock-dealer. In 
1855 he came to New York and settled in the 
town of Stockton, of which he was supervisor 
for three years, and in which he died March 7, 
1888, aged sixty-two years. He married Cor- 
nelia M., daughter of Stephen Chapman, of 
Connecticut. 

Charles F. Chapman spent his boyhood days 
on the farm, and received a good education in 
the schools of Chautauqua county. Leaving 
school in 1872 he commenced to read law with 
Judge Obed Edson, and at the end of three 
years continuous reading he entered the Albany 
Law school, from which he was graduated in 
1876. During that year he was admitted to 
practice in the various courts of the State of 
New Y''ork, and opened an office at Sinclair- 
ville, where he ha.s successfully practiced ever 
since. He owns a farm of two hundred and 
thirty-five acres of land in the town of Stock- 
ton, which he manages in addition to the prac- 
tice of his profession. 

In 1881 he united in marriage with Fannie 
Marvin, of Chautauqua county, and their union 
has been blessed with four children, two sons 
and two daughters : George L., Lena M., Anna 
M., and Ciiaries T. 

He is a republican in pdlitics, and iiiis served 



three years as supervisor of the town of Stock- 
ton. Ml'. Chapman studies his cases well, and 
is a very earnest and eloquent speaker before a 
jury. 



Q'-^^IUEL S. CAKLSON. It has often been 
^^ remarked by close observers and men of 
wide-horizoned experience among all nationali- 
ties, that among the countries of the world 
which contribute to the population and wealth 
of this great republic, Sweden, the home of 
snow and ice, from her far-away corner in 
northwestern Europe, sends her best represen- 
tatives and never her poorest to America, an 
example other countries would do well to em- 
ulate. Samuel S. Carlson is a son of Sweden, 
and was born in the centre of that kingdom 
Feb. 12, 1847, being a son of Samuel Lawrence 
and Christina (Johnson) Carlson. His grand- 
parents and parents were natives and life-long 
residents of Sweden. Samuel L. Carlson married 
Christina Johnson, and their union was blessed 
with four children, three sons and one daugh- 
ter: John F., the eldest son, married Louise 
Hedstrom, and now resides in Jamestown, where 
he is engaged in business with his brother, 
Samuel S. ; Andrew Speater, the second son, 
resides in his native country, having never left 
the sight of her lakes and mountains ; Anna 
Christina, who has also chosen to remain amid 
the scenes of her childhood ; and Samuel S. 

Samuel S. Carlson received his education in 
the excellent Swedish schools, where he was 
reared, and where he resided until 1868, when 
he sailed for America. Selecting Jamestown as 
his future home, he went to work as a day la- 
borer, and tiien engaged in the furniture busi- 
ness for a short time, which he left to serve as 
section foreman on a railroad. In 1879 he en- 
gaged in the manufacture of furniture on Vil- 
liard street, where he has continued to the pres- 
ent time. He owns some very valuable real 
estate in the city, besides his handsome resi- 
dence. Poiiticallv he affiliates with the Demo- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



cratic party, aud believes iu doing his whole 
duty as au adopted citizen of the country, where 
floats the stars and stripes, signifying freedom 
and equality to all men, who choose to be true 
to what is best in their nature. 

Mr. Carlson married Edith Sanburg, who 
lived near the home of his boyhood. 



JOIIX B. COLLiIXS is one of Jamestown's 
representative business men whose pride 
is iu her prosperity, and whose eiforts are con- 
centrated towards her advancement. He was 
born at Dovre, East Canada, October 28, 1848, 
being a sou of Capt. Thomas and Elizabeth 
(Marcy) Collins, who were respectively of Irish 
and Welsh extraction. This combination, to- 
gether with a long resideuce under the stars 
aud stripes, serves to make a number one 
American. His grandfatlier Collins came of 
a family familiar to readers of Irish history. 
His maternal grandfather was a Welshman 
well known in the locality where he lived 
and died. Captain Thomas Collins (father) 
was born in Ireland, aud when but nine years 
old, being of an adventurous disposition, went 
to sea, which dangerous calling he followed 
until he arrived at manhood, when he married 
Elizabeth Marcy and came to America. The 
date of his arrival is not established, but prob- 
ably some time in the early forties. He, for 
some time, was a captain of a vessel plying the 
waters of Lake Erie, and afterwards navigated 
the Mississippi river in like capacity. During 
the war of the Rebellion h e served as a lieu- 
tenant, and was afterwards promoted to captain 
in the Union army. He afterwards settled at 
Detroit, Michigan, where he lived for a num- 
ber of years, and died in Dubuque, Iowa. 
Independent in politics, Capt. Collins had the 
courage of his convictions to vote as he chose. 
His wife, Elizabeth Collins, is still living, 
making her home with a son in Denver, Col., 
and although seventy-two years of age, is still 
hale and hearty. She was tiie uiother of eight 



children, equally divided as to sex; of the 
sons, the oldest, James, is an experienced and 
trustworthy engineer, living at Denver, Col. 
He was with the Uuion army three months, 
entering the service from Iowa, where he joined 
the 1st Iowa Infantry ; Thomas is a i-esident 
of Salt Lake city, Utah ; Matthias is traveling 
in Eui-opc, where he has spent a number of 
years. 

John B. Collins received his early education 
at the public schools, and while yet a young 
man secured employment as a railroad fireman, 
which he followed for some time, aud has the 
distinction of firing the first locomotive that 
crossed the Mississippi river, which occurred at 
Dubuque, in 1861. Remaining there until 
1862, Mr. Collins went south, and fired on a 
southern railroad, and then ran a locomotive 
until, discovering his adaptability for the work, 
he entered the seci'et service of the United 
States army, and served in this capacity until 
the close of the war, the .scenes of his operations 
being chiefly in Georgia, under General Sher- 
man. He was present at the battles of Keune- 
saw Mountain and Franklin, Teini., and during 
his service was thrice captured, the first time 
being in the interior of Alabama, where he 
escaped after forty-eight hours detention; again, 
by General Morgan, and the third time by 
John Morgan, at Tilton, Ga., aud both the lat- 
ter were very narrow escapes. Mr. Collins' 
services to the army were very valuable, and 
the courage displayed was much greater than 
required of a common soldiei', for capture and 
detection meant "death at sunri.se." At the 
close of the war he went to Colorado and en- 
gaged in mining until 1877, when, returning 
east, he decided to again enter mercantile life, 
which was done in New York city. Remain- 
ing here one year this business was disposed of 
and he moved to Buffalo, this State, where he 
was employed on salary until 1880, when he 
again established himself, this time permanent- 
ly, for his present fine store is a branch house 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



established while in BuiFalo, aud discovering 
tiiat this city was all that could be desired for 
a business house, in 1883 he luade this his 
headquarters, and built the magnificent estab- 
lishment known as "The Fair," which requires 
two store-rooms, 20 by 80 feet, to accommodate 
his patrons, and employing at times as many as 
twenty assistants. He also conducts in connec- 
tion with this a fine store at Corning. Mr. 
Collins was one of the leading spirits in the 
organization of the Jamestown Driving Park 
association, aud has been the secretary since its 
organization, in 1886. Politically he is a dem- 
ocrat, but in local elections he eliminates parti- 
sanship from his convictions. In addition to 
his connections with the Driving Park associa- 
tion, he is a member of the board of trade, and 
is always foremost in every enterprise advanced 
to promote the city's prosperity. 

On January 7, 1885, Mr. Collins married 
Mary T. Powers, a daughter of John Powers, 
of Corning, and has four children : Marv E., 
Frank T., Harry J., and Louis W., in whom he 
takes much pride and comfort. He is a prom- 
inent member of the I. O. O. F., and at the 
organization of the Eoyal Arcanum connected 
himself with it. 



TOSKPH DAVIS, a son of Simeon and 

^ Lydia (Toby) Davis, was born in the 
autumn of 1820, at the town of Carroll, Chau- 
tauqua county. New York, and died in James- 
town, in 1887. The grandparents of Mr. Da- 
vis were of English extraction. Paul Davis 
(grandfather) was for many years a venerable 
minister of the Baptist church. Simeon Davis, 
the father of the subject of this sketch, removed 
to this county, settling in the town of Carroll 
and following the occupation of a farmer. 

Joseph Davis was reared on his father's farm 
and assisted in the working of it until he 
reached manhood, having attended the schools 
of his neighborhood. He bought a farm in 
Kiantone town, which he resided upon aud cul- 



tivated until 1867, when he removed to James- 
town where he lived uutil his death in 1887. 
Politically a republican, he was elected in 1854, 
as one of the first constables of Kiantone town, 
aud in the following year was the superinten- 
dent of schools. 

Mr. Davis married Almira Van Namee, a 
daughter of James S. Van Namee, who was 
born in Poughkeepsie, Dutchess county. New 
York. He was of German parentage and 
came to Carroll at an early day — probably 
prior to 1806 — where he followed farming and 
lumbering until his death which occurred in 
1834, at the age of sixty-two years. He mar- 
ried Polly Atkins and had six children : Minor, 
Milo, Loett, Howard, Almira (Mrs. Davis) and 
Adaline. Milo became a prominent farmer in 
Kiantone town — was the first inspector of elec- 
tion after the town was formed in 1854, aud 
was re-elected the following year. Mr. and 
Mrs. Davis were the parents of one child, a 
son: Elauson C, who married Nellie Bailey, 
lives in Jamestown and is the father of two 
children — Joseph and John. 



j^AVID M. FULLER. A prominent and 

^^ leading industry of to-day is the harness 
business wdiich has developed into large propor- 
tions during the last few years. One of the 
prosperous and reliable harness manufacturers 
of Westfield is David M. Fuller. He is a son. 
of William and Cynthia (Cook) Fuller, and was 
born at Orwell, Addison county, Vermont, De- 
cember 1, 1817. The Fullers originally came 
from Wales and settled in New England where 
one member of the family, William Fuller, the 
grandfather of David M. Fuller, served in the 
Revolutionary war. His sou, William Fuller 
(father), was a resident of Vermont, where he 
married Cynthia Cook, a native of that State, 
and reared a family of several children. 

David M. Fuller was reared in his native 
town uutil he was twelve years of age. In the 
fall of 1835, he removed to the town of French 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Creek, where he purcliased a sixty acre tract of 
land wliich lie cleared and afterwards cnltiva- 
ted until 1882, when he quit farming and came 
to Westfield to engage in the harness manufac- 
turing business with his son-in-law, Stacey N. 
A. Smith, now of Corry, Pennsylvania. Al- 
though over sixty-five years of age, Mr. Fuller 
soon acquainted himself with all the details of 
the business and attained a thorough knowledge 
of harness manufacture in all of its branches. In 
a short time he purchased Mr. Smith's interest 
and since then has continued successfully in 
that line of business. His assortment comprises 
everything that is useful or desirable in his line 
of business. His trade extends far beyond the 
corporate limits of Westfield and he makes it an 
object to supply his jiatrons with first-class 
work. 

In 1837 he returned to A^ermont where he 
married Sarah J. Eoyce, who died in June, 
1840. He then married Cordelia Farnham, 
daughter of Walter Farnham, a farmer of the 
town of French Creek. To this second union 
have been born five children : Donna A., Cassie 
E., William W., Edwin D. and Earle P. 

David M. Fuller has held several of the 
local offices of his town and village. He is a 
member of the Equitable Aid Union, in which 
oi'der he holds the office of chancellor. 



TAliEl) B. FLISHEU comes from two old 
^ American families, his parents being Dan- 
iel and Mary (Boone) Flisher, and was born 
March 14, 1846. His great-grandfather 
Flisher, was a Continental soldier in the first 
war with the mother country, and his son, 
grandfather Flisher, was in the strife of 1812 
and was killed in a battle. His grandparents 
were frorr. New England but removed to east- 
ern Pennsylvania where they were farmers 
until they died. His maternal grandfather 
Boone was closely allied to Daniel Boone, the 
hero of many skirmishes with the early inhab- 
itants of the forests of Kentucky where he was 



the pioneer. Daniel Flisher (father) learned 
the shoemaker's trade and moved to Centre 
county. Pa., where he still resides and is now 
engaged in farming and is a member of the 
Reformed church. Politically a democrat, he 
pays more attention to his farm than he does to 
political raattei's and is now the possessor of 
many broad acres. He married Mary Boone 
and became the father of eleven children, seven 
of whom are living : Daniel H., is in Colorado 
engaged as a chemist at an ore mine. He early 
appreciated the benefits of a thorough education 
and secured it ; Isaac K., lives in Philadelphia 
and is employed as a traveling salesman ; Uriah 
S., is a farmer, residing on the old homestead 
farm ; Jared B. ; and seven whose names are 
not given. 

Jared B. Flisher received an elementary 
education in the schools of his neighborhood 
and on becoming the proper age entered the 
college at Albion, Michigan, where he re- 
mained for some time but failing health com- 
pelled him to leave before completing the course. 
When nineteen years of age he became interested 
in oil, and engaging in its production, has fol- 
lowed it continuously to the present time. 

He married Emma V. Scott, a daughter of 
Royal E. Scott, a resident of Warren, Pa. One 
child has been born to them : Alice M. 

In 1882 he moved to Jamestown and has 
since resided here, being one of the prominent 
citizens of the city. In politics Mr. Flisher is 
a democrat, a member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, 
No. 1 45, Free and Accepted jSIasons, at James- 
town and belongs to the Chapter at Bradford, 
Pa., the Jamestown Commandery and Pitts- 
bui'gli Consistory and Council. 



GEORGE \V. FULLER, who succeeded his 
father in the pioneer firm of wine manu- 
facturers, Fuller & Skinner, of Portland, whose 
cellar has a storing capacity of thirty thousand 
gallons, is a son of Ralph D. and Adaline 
(Coney) Fuller, and was born in the town of 



B WOE A PHY AND HISTORY 



Portland, Cliautauqua county, New York, No- 
vember 26, 1860. His grandfather (Fuller) 
was of German extraction and followed the trade 
of a shoemaker and farmer in Madison county, 
this State, where he died. 

Ralph D. Fuller was born in Cazenovia, 
Madison county, in 1820. He was reared and 
educated at that place until his twentieth year, 
and then came and, in 1840, located in the town 
of Portland, engaging in a general mercantile 
business, which he continued thirty years. In 
1866 he bought and constructed a wine-cellar in 
Portland and engaged in the manufacture of the 
sparkling fluid until his death, May 20, 1886. 
Politically he was a democrat and by that party 
was elected to various town offices in Portland. 
Mr. Fuller was essentially a self-made man. 
He started life without other capital than a well- 
develoi>ed brain and industrious habits, and at 
his death left a large estate. He was the first 
man to manufacture wine in the village of Port- 
land. He married Adaline Coney, who was 
born and still lives in this town. 

George W. Fuller was reared in the town of 
Portland, and his father's store gave him his 
first practical business experience. A superior 
education was received in the public schools 
supplemented by a course at the Westfield acad- 
emy. Upon returning from the academy he 
was employed in assisting his father in the wine 
business and grape-growing. Upon the death 
of his father he assumed the latter's business, 
the partner being J. A. H. Skinner, of Brocton, 
who is still associated with him. Mr. Fuller 
has sixty acres of vineyard, his individual prop- 
erty, in Portland, which yields a large quantity 
of grapes annually. He is cue of the most sub- 
stantial and respected citizens of Portland, is a 
democrat and a member of Lodge, No. 219, 
Free and Accepted Masons, located at West- 
field. 



^UY H. FULLER is a resident of James- 
^^ town who has come into prominence 
through his able management of the democratic 
papers, the Sunday Sun, and Jamestown 
iStandard. His manif)ulation of these journals 
is truly worthy of more than a passing notice, 
for in the short space of time in which he has 
guided their fortunes, they have attained a 
sworn circulation of over six thousand copies 
per issue. Guy H. Fuller is a son of Almond 
and Adelia (Camp) Fuller, and was born in the 
pretty little country town of Herrick, Bradford 
county, Pennsylvania, October 5, 1852. He 
traces his ancestry to sturdy Welsh and English 
people who have long enjoyed American liber- 
ties, and had its principles thoroughly dissemi- 
nated in them by breathing its free air for more 
than two centuries. His grandfather, Jonas 
Fuller, was a native of Vermont, and came 
with a party of four other families to Susque- 
hanna county. Pa., where he ended his life. 
Being a mill-wright by trade, he was a valuable 
ac(juisition to that community which had to 
carry their grain sixty miles on horseback to be 
[ ground. He was a soldier in the war of 1812, 
married and reared a family of three sons and 
one daughter; the latter now (1891) living at 
Nashville, Teun. ]\Ir. Fuller was a whig and 
republican and, although not identified with any 
church, he was a devoted student of the Bible 
and was familiar with its choicest passages. 
His was a character at once commanding respect 
and admiration for its quiet force yet unassum- 
ing demeanor. Israel Camp (maternal grand- 
father) dates his forefather's arrival in the new 
world at 1620. He came to Bradford county 
while it was still an unbroken forest and cleared 
the ground of its natural growth before he 
could sow his grain. He married Mersey 
Wells, a lady of marked ability, and they 
reared a family of fourteen children. A num- 
ber of the sons entered the civil war. Horace 
died in the service ; N. Judson enlisted from 
i the State of Illinois, rose to the rank of first 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



513 



lieutenant and made an untarnished record ; 
Guy entered the army from Sioux City, Iowa, 
and went to the front with two other brothers, 
making a tolal of five from tliis one family. 
The last named son is now living in California. 
Almond Fuller was born in Susquehanna 
county. Pa., and went over into Bradford 
county while still a young man and took up a 
largo tract of land which he made into a fertile 
farm. By trade he was a shoemaker and while 
not busy on his farm lie made a circuit of the 
section and did the repairing for families. 
This, in local parlance, was called "whipping 
the cat." He was a whig and republican until 
Horace Greeley electrified the country and 
rai.sed havoc in party ranks, when he became a 
democrat and maintained that position until he 
died upon the farm his own hands, while in 
the strength of young manhood, had made 
arable. He was a pious and honorable man, 
but belonged to no cluirch. He married Adelia 
Camp, who is still living upon the old home- 
stead and a member of the Presbyterian church. 
They became the parents of ten children, five 
sons and five daughters. One son died in 
infancy, while the others all learned the carpen- 
ter's trade. N. A. joined the 5'2d regiment, Pa. 
Vol. Infantry for the three months service at 
President Lincoln's first call and having served 
this term of enlistment he rejoined for three 
years. Upon the expiration of that time he 
entered the veteran corps and remained to the 
clo.se of tiie war. Having enlisted as a private 
he advanced to the grade of second lieutenant 
and received honorable mention for his courage 
as a color bearer. 

Guy H. Fuller pas.sed his life up to 1873, on 
a farm in Bradford county, and secured his 
education at the common schools and Camptown 
academy. In 1873, he went to Wisconsin and 
engaged in carpenter work. Having built a 
log house, he lived there for some time and ex- 
perienced the trials and tribulations of a pioneer. 
Then he went into the town of Royal, where he 



resided until 1875. Upon returning to Brad- 
ford county, in 1877, he began canvassing for 
the Tunkhannock Democral, published in 
Wyoming county. Pa., and, finding his aptitude 
for newspaper work, has followed it ever since 
and has been connected with various journals in 
Buffalo, Bradford, McKean county, Pa., and 
Jamestown. He was general manager of the 
Bradford News, a paper of National reputation 
during 1882-3 and 4, and then became business 
manager of the Evening Star, at the same place. 
In the latter part of 1884, he came to James- 
town and founded the Jamestown Sunday Sun, 
which he conducted exclusively until May, 
1886, and then purchased the Jamestown 
Standard, a democratic weekly. The two 
pajjers now have a circulation guaranteed to 
exceed six thousand copies. 

On June 15, 1871, he married Martha Carr, 
of Bradford county, Pa., and had two children: 
Edna B. and Narom J. 

Guy H. Fuller is a democrat, but realizes 
that political duties honorably discharged arc 
not the .source of much wealth and therefore lias 
never been ambitious to be a star in that zodiac. 
He is a leading member of Jamestown Coun- 
cil, No. 137, Royal Arcanum. Besides being a 
successful newspaper manager he is a pleasant, 
sociable gentleman and one of the secrets of his 
business triumphs is his knack of interesting 
tho.se with whom he comes in contact by his 
personalit)'. 

1^ OAH W. GOKEY, one of the most prom- 

4 inent of Jamestown's opulent manufac- 

turers, is a son of Joseph and Rosetta (Berosia) 
Gokey, and was born March 30, 1833, in St. 
Lawrence county, New York. Grandfather 
Berosia was a resident of St. Lawrence county, 
New York. Joseph Gokey married Ro.setta 
Berosia, and had nine children. 

Noah W. Gokey was educated in the public 
schools of Oswego, New York, and learned the 
trade of a shoemaker, which he followed at that 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



place for one year, and then went to Rathbone- 
ville, Steuben county, and worked for fourteen 
years. From there he went to Addison, and 
remained twelve years longer, and then, in 
1877, came to Jamestown. The last five years 
spent in Addison was in the manufacture of 
boots and shoes, and when he came to this city, 
he brought his skilled employees, numbering 
one hundred and twenty, along. He rented a 
building and started his works here. In 1881 
he built the fine large six-story building, thirty- 
six by one hundred and twenty feet, now his 
business home, at the corner of Third and 
Cherry Streets. They manufacture all kinds 
of footwear from the finest ladies' slipper to the 
coarsest man's boot, and employ about two hun- 
dred hands, and keep seven traveling men in 
this territory, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, 
Indiana, Iowa and Michigan. Mr. Gokey is 
also the owner of the beautiful post-office 
block, and other valuable real estate in this 
city. He built the fine brick residence where 
he now resides, located on the corner of Lake 
View and Eighth Streets, and it is said to be 
the most expensive and desirably located home 
in Chautauqua county. Politically Mr. Gokey 
is a republican, and one of the staunchest sup- 
porters of protection. While an active sup- 
porter of principles, he is not a politician, and 
has never aspired to office. While at Rath- 
boneville he was postmaster for four years, but 
resigned at the end of that period. He attends 
the iSIethodist church, and is one of the most 
liberal contributors to its maintenance. 

Noah W. Gokey married Anna Monroe, who 
was a daughter of Nehemiah Monroe, and they 
have three children : William M., married to 
Hattie A. Marvin, of Jamestown, New York. 
She is a daughter of Judge ]\Iarvin ; Clara 
and George F. Mr. Gokey is a self-made man, 
who has risen to his present prominence and 
aiHuence through superior ability, and in thor- 
oughly understanding his trade. He is a 
pleasant, affable gentleman, easily approached, 



and for one with the business responsibilities 
resting upon his shoulders, which he has, looks 
remarkably young. 



■Q LONZO C. HORTOX belongs to the pro- 
-^*- gressive and substantial class of farmers 
in Hanover town. His parents were Benjamin 
and Ada ( Angel 1) Horton and he was born 
May 14, 1828, in the town of Hanover, Chau- 
tauqua county. He sprang from a New Eng- 
land ancestry of Scotcii descent, where (in 
New England) his grandparents on both sides 
were born, lived and died. Benjamin Horton 
(father) was born in Massachusetts, town of 
Cheshire, and emigrated to the town of Hanover, 
Chautauqua county, New Y'ork, about 1819, 
where he settled on the farm now occupied by 
subject. At that time it was entirely un- 
improved, and all the improvements in the way 
of clearing, etc., which have since been made on 
the eighty acres then .secured from the Holland 
Land company, has been through the hard 
toil and untiring industry of Benjamin Horton. 
He has held different town offices at the hands 
of tlie Republican party and was numbered 
among the regular members of the Baptist 
church. His marriage resulted in the birth of 
ten children, all born in Chautauqua county, 
except two born in Ma.ssachusetts. They all 
grew to maturity except one child who died in 
infancy. Benjamin Horton was a life-long 
farmer, a man of good practical common sense 
and a kindly disposition. He stood high in 
the respect of his neighbors. 

Alonzo C. Horton's education was limited to 
the common schools of his native county, and 
was obtained under great disadvantages, in 
fact, most of it in the hard school of practical 
experience. He had a brother who took up the 
study of medicine and was a prominent and 
successful practicing physician for many years. 

Alonzo C. Horton was united in marriage 
with Cordelia Gage, a daughter of Sullivan 
Gage, a native and citizen of the State of Ver- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



515 



mont. To them were born three children : 
Mary, wife of Elgin Keith of Silver Creek, 
New York, at present in the employ of Simeon 
Howes of that place ; Willis B. (married to 
Lina Cushman, a daughter of Mason Cush- 
man, of Hanover, Chautauqua county, New 
York) now living on his fiither's farm, and 
engaged in its management; Ella, wife of 
Mason Siiearer, now residing in Hanover town, 
Chautauqua county, a short distance west of 
Smith's Mills. 

Alonzo C. Horton occupies and was reared 
upon the old homestead, for which he has 
naturally a great attachment. He has added 
his efforts to those of his father in the im- 
provement of the old farm and now possesses 
one of the best cultivated and improved farms 
in the town of Hanover. He is a inode.st, un- 
assuming man, with the rare faculty of being 
contented with his lot in life. 



^EORGE P. ISHAM, one of the leading 
^^ wholesale tobacconists and cigar manu- 
facturers of Dunkirk city and western New 
Y^ork, was born in New York city, June 19th, 
1840, and is a son of Edwin and Eliza (Brown) 
I.sham. The Isham family traces an unbroken 
record back to 1424, and its founder in Eng- 
land was one of the Norman warriors who came 
into that kingdom in 1066 with William the 
Conqueror. Edwin Isham was born at Man- 
chester, Vermont, in 1812, and in early life 
removed to New Y'^ork city, where he was en- 
gaged in the dry-goods business until 1843, 
when he removed to Dunkirk, where he was 
successively a partner in the wholesale and 
retail general mercantile firms of Bradley & 
Isham, 1843-63, and Isham & Co., 1863-68. 
He is a republican in politics, a Presbyterian 
in church membership, and organized the first 
Odd Fellows' lodge that was instituted in Chau- 
tauqua county. His wife, Eliza (Brown) Isham, 
was born in Nantucket Island, of French and 
Dutch parentage, became an active member of 



the Presbyterian church, and died in the spring 
of 1887. 

George P. Isham grew to maniiood in Dun- 
kirk, where he attended tl.e public schools. 
In 1857 he entered the junior cla.ss of Union 
College of Schenectady, N. Y., and was the 
youngest member of the class which graduated 
from that institution in 1859. In 1863 he 
became a partner with bis father in the vvhole- 
sale grocery business, but in 1868 retired from 
the firm to form a partnership with J. H. 
Jackson, of Pennsylvania, under the firm name 
of Isham & Co., which partnership existed 
until 1878, when Mr. Isham purchased his part- 
ner's interest and fitted up the grocery estab- 
lishment into his present wholesale tobacco and 
cigar manufacturing house. This establish- 
ment is a three-story brick structure, forty by 
ninety feet, on the corner of Second and Buf- 
falo streets, where he handles large quantities 
of tobacco at whole.sale, and manufactures over 
a million and a quarter of cigars j'early. Since 
its inception, his tobacco business has grown so 
rapidly that he now employs over twenty 
hands, and an examination of internal revenue 
statistics shows that he does a larger business 
than any other tobacco establishment in this 
district of New York. His " G. P. I." and 
" American Gentleman " brands of cigars are 
public favorites throughout New York and 
Pennsylvania. 

Mr. Isliam has also branched out into other 
lines of business, and at the present time is a 
member of the MulhoUand Spring Manufac- 
turing Co., and a partner of the firm of P. J. 
MulhoUand & Co., dealers in coal, lime and 
cement. 

A late history of Dunkirk, in its review of 
the industries of that city, records the following 
tribute to Mr. Isham: "He is j)rominently 
identified with the manufacturing, mercantile 
and social features of this city, and his indom- 
itable energy and correct business methods have 
secured for him a hiffh commercial standing." 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



He is a republican in politics, and has served 
as alderman and member of the school board. 
In addition to his business establishment, he 
owns some other desirable real estate in Dun- 
kirk. He has passed through lodge, chapter 
and commandery in Masonry, and is a Past 
Commander of Dunkirk Commandery, No. 40, 
Knights Templar. 

In 18G3 Mr. Isham united in marriage with 
Ellen, daughter of John Scott, of Dayton, New 
York. Tliey have two children : Amelia, now 
Mrs. Gerry Jones, of Binghampton, N. Y. ; 
and Edwin, who is preparing himself for opera 
in the Conservatory of Music. 



JOHX KOFOD, the proprietor of the large 
grocery store at the corner of Barrows and 
■Williams streets, Jamestown, was born in Den- 
mark, December 29, 1839. His parents were 
John and Gertrude Ann (Malina) Kofod. His 
grandfathers and father were farmers in Den- 
mark, where they died. 

John Kofod secured his early education in 
the old country, and lived there until twenty- 
four years of age, when he came to the United 
States and settled in Jamestown, securing work 
at Mr. Jefford's ax factory, where he worked 
for eighteen years. He then formed a part- 
nership with Elial Carpenter, and ran a 
similar establishment on their own account for 
six vears, the site being now occupied by Mr. 
Powell, who is conducting the same business. 
Mr. Kofod then sold his interest in the ax fac- 
tory, and embarked in the sale of groceries on 
Williams street, with the success shown by the 
magnitude of the establishment to-day, the store- 
room having a ground area of nearly two thou- 
sand square feet. 

On September 24, 1868, Mr. Kofod married 
Mrs. Louisa M. Morgan, a daughter of Andrew 
O. Peterson, who came from Sweden to Amer- 
ica in July, 1853. Mr. Peterson was born 
March 7, 1814, and died at Jamestown, Feb- 
ruary 13, 18G3. He married AnnaStine Frank, 



in the mother country, May 20, 1840, and had 
eight children, four of whom were born in 
Sweden. Mrs. Kofod was twice married, her 
husband l)eing Peter Morgan, who was born in 
Denmark, August IG, 1843, and came to Amer- 
ica in 18G2. He was drowned in Lake Chati- 
tauqua, July 15, 18G7, leaving his widow with 
one child, Charles, born August 18, 1866. To 
Mr. and Mrs. Kofod have been born the fol- 
lowing children : Julius H., born November 
12, 1869, died August 6, 1872; Arthtir J., 
born July 14, 1874; Julia H., born June 8, 
1877, died April 15,1881; Bertha G., born 
April 10, 1880 ; Gertrude A., and Christina B. 
(twins), born October 4, 1883; Theodore M., 
born September 13, 1885; and John M., born 
May 26, 1887, died October 23, 1890. 

John Kofod's residence in Jamestown has 
been continuous since 1863. Li politics he is a 
republican, has .served two terms as school trus- 
tee, and for five or six years has been assessor 
of the city. He is a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, giving liberally towards its 
support. 

TTJILLIAM I^. MINIGEU, a resident of 

^■^^ tlie town of Ripley and a descendant 
ot two old and highly-respected pioneer fami- 
lies of Chautauqua county, is a son of Capt. 
John C. and Charlotte M. (Hutchins) Miniger, 
and was born in the town of Westfield, Chau- 
tauqua county. New York, April 17, 1826. 
While most of the pioneer and early settlers of 
Chautauqua county were from New England, 
there were a few from southern States, and it is 
quite likely that the only representative from 
South Carolina, among the early settlers of 
Ciiautauqua, was Thomas M. Miniger (paternal 
grandfather). Thomas M. Miniger served 
through the Revolutionary war, and, according 
to the history of him, as preserved by his de- 
scendants, came in 180;5 to the town of West- 
field, where he followed farming until iiis death. 
He was accomiianiod from South Carolina by 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



his son, Lawrence Miniger (grandfather), who 
was a Presbyterian, and Jacksonian democrat, 
served in the war of 1812, and died on his farm 
in 1842^ He married a Miss Wynn, who hore 
him live cliildren, four sons and one daughter. 
One of tlie sons was John C. Miniger (fatlier), 
who was born in 1800, in Virginia, and was 
three years later broiigiit by his parents to 
the town of Westfield, where he died in Feb- 
ruary, 1871. He was a farmer, a democrat 
and a Methodist. He commanded an inde- 
pendent rifle company, and married Charlotte 
M. Hutchins. They had four children, three 
sons and one daughter, of whom two are liv- 
ing: John H., a farmer, living on the shore 
of Lake Chautauqua ; and William L. Mrs. 
Miniger wa.s a granddaughter of Gen. Pell 
Hutchins, wlio was one of those who gained 
notoriety at the " Boston Tea Party." He 
served in the Revolutionary war, and came 
from Vermont, the State of his nativity, to 
Westfield, about 1806. His son, Benjamin 
Hutciiins, the father of Mrs. Miniger, was 
also present at th" Boston Tea Party, and 
came to Westfield with his father, where he 
followed carpentering until ids death. 

William L. Miniger was reared in West- 
field, received his education in the common 
schools and then served an apprenticeship of 
three years, learning the trade of harness and 
trunk-making at Westfield. He soon aban- 
doned this work and learned to be a stone- 
mason, which has been his employment until 
the present time. 

He united in marriage with Mary IMoshier, 
daughter of Henry Mo.shier, then a resident 
of the town of Portland. To their union have 
been born four cliildren : Edgar, at home ; 
Francis, is dead ; Frederick ; and an infant, 
who died when very young. 

William L. Miniger owns a very produc- 
tive farm of two hundred and twenty-seven 
acres of well-improved land. It is located in 
the town of Westfield while he resides in the 



village of Ripley. Politically Mr. Miniger is 
a democrat, and belongs to the Free and Ac- 
cepted Masons, Grange, Patrons of Husbandry 
and the INLitual Aid Union. 



FT. MERKIAM, a prominent manufac- 
• turer of sash, doors and blinds, at Fal- 
coner, N. Y., is a son of Levi T. and Susan 
(Benson) Merriam,and was born in Jamestown, 
Chautauqua county. New York, March 10, 
1850. The Merriams are active, energetic 
and aggressive business men and trace their 
lineage to New England. The paternal grand- 
father, Abel Merriam, was a native of Mas.sa- 
chusetts and came from there to Chautauqua 
county about 1820. The greater portion of 
his after life was spent there — a short time only 
being given to a sojourn in Pennsylvania. He 
followed farming at which he made money and 
accumulated some property, and early realizing 
that free education is the basis of our National 
freedom, he interested himself largely in its 
behalf, giving generou.sly of his time and 
means. Mr. Merriam was a whig and evolution 
naturally changed him to a republican. Pie 
was at onetime a member of the Ikptist cluirch, 
and while always a believer in the theory and 
practice of true Christianity it is believed that 
lie relinquished his church membership before 
he died. The Masonic fraternity numbered 
him among its membership and lie attained 
some prominence in the order. Abel Merriam 
married and became the father of six children, 
four sons and two daughters. Saxon Ben,son 
(maternal grandfather) was a native of New 
England. He emigrated to the Empire State 
where lie followed his trade and died. Levi T. 
Merriam (father) developed a remarkable faculty 
for business. He was born in the Bay State 
about 1807, was reared on a farm and taught 
the lessons of youth at the common schools. 
Upon attaining his fifteenth year he was put to 
work in a planing-mill and soon showed a 
remarkable aptitude for the work. Having 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



learned the mechanical business connected with 
manufacturing sash, doors and blinds, he came 
to Jamestown in 1820 and later entered the 
employ of a company doing similar work. He 
was advanced in his positions until he had 
charge of the works and continued witii the 
firm until 1853 when he moved to Falconer 
and established a sash, door and blind factory 
which he conducted until 1873 when he died and 
was succeeded by his son, F. T. Merriam. He 
was a republican, radical and aggressive, and 
Avhile never anxious for political preferment he 
was active in all his party's campaigns. He 
belonged to the I. O. O. F., and was a prudent, 
energetic, methodical and pushing business 
man, accumulating considerable property. His 
views upon public matters were liberal and pro- 
gressive. He married Susan Benson about 
1S48 and reared seven children, four boys and 
three girls, six of whom are still living : L. E., 
is working in the mill ; Frank O., is in business 
at Erie, Pa. ; H. F., is at the mill ; Florence J. 
is the wife of William Comic, of Jamestown ; 
Lilla M. and F. T. 

F. T. Morriam spent his childhood and youtli 
in Jamestown and the town of Westfield and 
having acquired a good common school and 
business education came to Falconer and 
engaged in the service of his father, until the 
father's death wheu he succeeded to the business. 
The mills employ about fifty men and the value 
of the output is about |100,000 per year and 
tlieir shipments are largely east and south. 

In 1875 he married Lorinda Seeley, a daugh- 
ter of Jeremiah Seeley, of Gerry, and they have 
had three children, two of whom are dead : 
Susan Hazel, born in 1886, is living. 

F. T. Merriam is a republican, a member of 
the Equitable Aid Union, and has been promi- 
nently identified with securing improved educa- 
tional methods for his village. Having been at 
one time a teacher he knows the short-comings 
of the old system and has made many practical 
suggestions for improvement. 



HABRY S. MUNSON was born in Portland 
town, Chautauqua county. New York, 
February 4, 1824, and is a son of Samuel and 
Polly (Hulburt) Munson. Samuel Munson, Sr. 
(grandfather), was a native of Connecticut, where 
lie was born July 9, 17(32. He removed to New 
Hartford, Oneida county, N. Y., and came from 
there to Portland, and settled near where the sub- 
ject now lives, in 1 81 9. They were one month in 
coming from Oneida county and a week from Buf- 
falo, theconveyance being a wagon and the motive 
power oxen. He followed farming until his death, 
which occurred on February 27, 1841. Mr. 
Munson traces his ancestry back to Captain 
Munson, covering two hundred years. He was 
a soldier in the war of 1812 and served with 
distinction. Samuel Munson (father) was born 
in Oneida county in 1803, and came witii his 
father from there in the winter of 1818-19. 
Being pioneers of the county they were inured 
to the hardships of clearing up a farm — practi- 
cally cutting it out of the virgin forest. He 
settled in Portland town with his father and af- 
terwards bought fifty acres from the Holland 
Land company, which he lived upon to the 
time of his death in 1883, June 9th, when 
eighty years of age. He married Polly Hul- 
burt, a native of Pompey, Onondaga county, 
this State, and had three children : Harry S.; 
Milton J., born May 23, 1828, and Alson N., 
born April 20, 1834. Mrs. Munson died on 
the old homestead July 19, 1875, aged seventy- 
five years. 

Harry S. ^lunson was reared on his father's 
farm and attended the district schools in the 
winter. Being the oldest of the family a great 
deal of hard work fell on his shoulders, but he 
was a stout, strong young man and work was 
not a burden. Tlie season of 1846 was spent 
in McHenry county, Illinois, and in 1851 he 
moved to Wayne, Erie county. Pa., where he re- 
mained twelve years. With the exception of that 
time Mr. Munson has spent his entire life in this 
1 town. He is the owner of a fine farm contain- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



ing one hundred and ten acres, two miles from 
the village of Portland. 

In 1847 he married Cordelia Spencer, a 
daughter of Gilbert Spencer, who lived at North 
East, Pa., and by her has had six children : 
Spencer M., is in California; Mary E., wife of 
Hiram F. Morgan, now lives in the town of 
Pom fret ; Byron, also in California; Harry S., 
in New Mexico, the head clerk of a large gro- 
cery store; Melvin G., at home, and Emma J., 
wife of Ormal Swetland, living in this town. 

H. S. Munson is an honest republican and is 
one of the best citizens of this town. 



HON. S. FREDERICK STIXON, of West- 
iield, who served for three consecutive 
terms as a member of the New York Assembly, 
is one of the active and prosperous marble deal- 
ers of the State. He is the younger of two sons 
born to Samuel and Mary E. (Johnston) Nixon, 
and was born at Westfield, Chautauqua county. 
New York, December 3, 1860. Samuel Nixon 
was the youngest son of a wealthy Nixon family 
of County Down, Ireland, where under the law 
of primogeniture as it exists in the empire of 
Great Britain, his eldest brother inherited the 
landed estate and all the property of his father. 
He was born in 182(j and at the age of nineteen 
years came to Jamestown where he resided un- 
til his death in 1876. He was engaged in the 
marble business and left at his death quite an 
estate which he had accumulated during the 
thirty years of his business life. He was a 
Presbyterian in religious faith, and a successful 
business man who had made himself prominent 
in the commercial circles of his part of the Em- 
pire State. Shortly before his death he was en- 
gaged in perfecting arrangements to go to Scot- 
land in 1877 with his son, the subject of this 
sketch, and embarked in the wholesale marble 
business. He married Alary E. Johnston, a 
native of County Down. They were the parents 
of two sons. 

S. Frederick Nixon grew to manhood at West- 



field where he attended the public schools and 
AVestfield academy from which he was graduated 
in 1877. He then entered Hamilton college 
and was graduated from that well-known insti- 
tution of learning in 1881. Upon the comj)le- 
tion of his college course he read law for one 
year but his business interests demanded so 
much of his time that he was compelled to re- 
linquish his legal studies. He is a repul)Ii<tan 
in politics and in 1885 was elected trustee of his 
village. In 1886 he was electeil as supervisor 
and the following year representetl the Assembly 
district of Chautauqua county, in the New York 
Legislature, in which he served on several im- 
iwrtant committees. He was returned in 1888 
and again in 1889 but owing to various causes 
of disturbance in his party was defeated in his 
candidacy for a fourth term. He and Matthew 
P. Bemus are the only r-esidents of Chautauqua 
county who have ever been honored with three 
consecutive terms as members of the New York 
Assembly. In the legislative sessions of 1889 
and 1890, Mr. Nixon was chairman of the com- 
mitteeon internal affairs which included all mat- 
ters pertaining to the villages and towns of the 
State. In 1889 he also served on the commit- 
tee of general laws for two years besides being 
a member of the committee on ways and means 
in 1 889. He has always been active and success- 
ful in his county as a leader and speaker in the 
Republican party. In 1887 and 1888 he was 
chairman of the republican county committee 
and in the latter year Chautauqua county rolled 
up a heavier republican majority than she ever 
gave before that year. 

He united in marriage witii jNIyrtle Ivedficld, 
a resident of Chicago and a native of Michigan. 
They have two children : S. Frederick, .Ir., and 
Red field. 

In addition to his property in Chautauqua 
county Mr. Nixon owns two good farms of one- 
hundred and seventy-five and two hundred acres 
respectively, some three miles from Des Moines, 
in Warren county, Iowa. He and his brother 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Emmet are actively engaged in dealing in mar- 
ble at Westfifld, where they do au annual busi- 
ness of twenty thousand dollars. He is one of 
the directors of the Crowell tt Pulley Manu- 
facturing company which was organized in 18S9 
and employs a force of forty hands. He owns t wo 
farms in his town, one ofwliich is one of the earliest 
settled farms in the county. Mr. Nixon is a mem- 
ber of the F. and A. M., and of the Royal 
Arcanum. 



HEXRY W. ODELL, one of the proprietors 
of the Cliautauqua Lake stock farms and 
an oil producer of northwestern Pennsylvania, 
is a son of John and Theodosia (Hodges) Odell, 
and was born in the town of Busti, Chautauqua 
county, New York, July 6, 1852. The Odell 
family is of English descent. John Odell 
(father) wa.s born in 1818 and removed to Cat- 
taraugus county, New York, where he has been 
engaged for many years in the grocery, oil and 
lumber business. He was formerly a republican 
iu politics, but a few years ago joined tlie pro- 
hibition party. He married Theodosia Hodges, 
daughter of John Hodges, a farmer and stock 
raiser near Cambridge, Pa., and who was a 
member of the Cambridge Presbyterian church. 
Mr. and Mrs. John Odell had two children : 
Henry W. and Theodosia, wife of Eugene Pearce, 
a merchant and coal dealer of Olean. Alter 
the death of his first wife John Odell married 
Euphemia Odell. To this second marriage 
were born two children: James and one which 
died in infancy. 

Henry W. Odell was educated in the common 
schools of the town of Busti, and in Oberlin 
college, Ohio. After he left college he became 
a contractor for drilling oil wells in Pennsyl- 
vania. After several years' experience as a 
contractor he embarked in the oil producing 
business, which he has followed successfully 
ever since. In October, 1889, he removed to 
Jamestown, and became partner with T. J. 
Vandcrgrift in the purchase of the Chautauqua 



Lake stock farm, containing some two hundred 
acres of land, on which they propose to raise 
none but the finest horses. They now have 
about fifty head of very fine horses. 

j\Ir. Odell married Lena Carr, daughter of 
Thomas Carr, of Portage, Oiiio. To their 
union has been born one child, a son, Lewis. 

H. W. Odell is a man of energy and business 
tact and has always supported the Republican 
party. 

e> 

T ^OUIS OLSOai. The State of New York is 
■'■^ famous for the number and quality of car- 
riages and road wagons which its factories turn 
out. Louis01som,of Jamestown, who for a num- 
ber of years has been a leading blacksmith there, 
has added the necessary machinery to his plant, 
and is now competing for a portion of that 
trade. He is a son of Olle and Annie (Ander- 
son) Olsom, and was born iu Denmark October 
12th, 185G. His family have been natives of 
that country from time immemorial, and his 
parents still reside there. Olle Olsom was born 
in 1816 and through the greater portion of his 
life tilled the soil to secure maintenance for 
himself and family, and, having amassed a com- 
fortable income, he is now retired from active 
work, aged seventy-five years. As is customary 
in that country with all of its young men, he 
served twelve years in the Danish array and has 
always been a healthy, stout, strong and very 
active man. 

Louis Olsom was reared on his father's farm 
iu Denmark and received his education at the 
national schools of that country, and upon com- 
pleting his education he learned blacksmithing 
and followed it until the fall of 1875; at the 
latter date he came to America and located at 
\yarren, Pennsylvania, where he lived and 
worked at his trade for four years, and then 
wishing to change, he went to Bradford, iu the 
same State, and employed himself in the same 
work for five years longer. It was there that 
he first began business for himself, and in 1884, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



learning that Jamestown offered a good opening 
for a blacksmith, he came here and established 
a shop of his own and followed the business un- 
remittingly and with such success that ni 1891 
he added carriage manufacturing to his black- 
smith work and now does a large business in 
both. His work has the reputution of being 
equ:il to the best, and it is upon this foundation 
of superior workmanship that his growing busi- 
ness is founded. He started in life with a small 
capital and by iridnstry and economy has made 
such accumulations that in addition to his busi- 
ness he is the owner of considerable real estate. 
In 1884 he married Annie Riley, of Rich- 
burg, Allegheny county, Penna., and they have 
been blessed with three children, all daughters: 
Alice, Annie and Minnie. Politically Mr. Ol- 
som is independent of all parties and holds him- 
self free to support such candidates as his judg- 
ment suggests. 



THOMAS A. PEACOCK, a grand-nephew 
of Judge William Peacock, and a resident 
of Westfield, is a .sou of Thomas and Alice E. 
(Peacock) Peacock, and was born at Port- 
land Harbor (now Silver Creek) in the town 
of Portland, Chautauqua county. New York, 
September 20, 1849. His paternal great-grand- 
father, Thomas Peacock, was a native of Ire- 
land, where he learned the trade of weaver, and 
from there he came to central New York. 
Three of his sons were John, Absalom and 
Judge William Peacock, who was one of the 
early leading and prominent men of Chautauqua 
county, and whose sketch appears elsewhere in 
this volutne. The first two named sons, John 
and Absalom Peacock, were the paternal and 
maternal grandfathers of the subject of this 
sketch. Thomas Peacock (father) learned tiie 
trade of tanner and leather currier at Pen Yan, 
this State, and followed the tanning business 
during the greater part of his life. He was an 
industrious man and a good workman and died 
in 1851. He married his cousin, Alice E. 



Peacock, who was a daughter of Absalom Pea- 
cock, and pas.sed away in 1873. They had 
two children : Thomas A., and Frances, who 
died at fourteen years of age. 

Thomas A. Peacock pas.sed most of his boy- 
hood at Westfield where he attended the West- 
field academy. He then took the full course of 
Bryant and Stratton's Business college and 
since leaving that well-known commercial insti- 
tution has given his time principally to tlie 
management of his own private business and 
the supervision of his property at Westfield a;;d 
in the city of Buffalo. Mr. Peacock erected a 
very fine modern brick residence at Westfield, 
which is valued at thirty-six hundred dollars. 

He also (jwns a valuable fiirm of three hun- 
dred acres on the lake shore besides a large 
farm two miles west of Westfield which his 
aunt willed him at her death. He has valuable 
property in the city of Buffalo including .some 
fine buildings in the Krenlin block besides 
an individual interest in several lots and 
l)uildings near and adjoining the Grand Trunk 
i-ailway depot at the foot of Erie street. He 
lias always supported his party in all of its 
leading measures, but his business interests 
have always been such as to demand the greater 
part of his time and attention. 

In 1881, Thomas A. Peacock united in mar- 
riage with Alice M. Stanfield, and their union 
has been blessed with two children : William, 
born May 17, 1882, and Charles E., born July 

.3, 1884. 

s 

AKTHUR PETERS, the leading contractor 
and builder of Dunkirk, to whom many 
are indebted for the neat and handsome appear- 
ance of their residences and places of business, 
is a son of Samuel and Sarah (Copplestone) 
Peters, and was born February 1, 1846, in 
Cornwall county, a famous mining district in 
the southwestern part of England, both parents 
being natives of the same country. Samuel 
Peters (father) was born in 1820, and 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



married Sarah Copplestone, by whom he had 
several chii(h'cii. He was a member of the 
Church of Enghind, as is also his wife. He 
died iu February, 1888, in his native country 
wiiere he had always lived, aged sixty-eiglit 
years, and his widow still resides iu Cornwall 
county, in iier seveuty-third year. 

Arthur Peters was reared in his native county, 
and acquired his education in the public and 
private schools. At sixteen years of age he 
began to learn the trade of a carpenter, at 
which, iu connection with contracting and 
building, lie has since labored, and in 1869 
came to tlie United States, locating at Siuclair- 
ville, this county, where he continued to reside 
until May, 1880, when he came to I)unkirl<. 
He is now conceded to be tiie leading contractor 
of Diuikirk, and has built more than thirty 
buildings, at a cost of from one to ten thousand 
dollars, among the handsomest being the resi 
deuces of F. B. Jackson, J. H. Lascelles and 
A. H. Whitney. About a .score of men arc 
constantly employed by him. In religion he is 
a meml)er of the Episcopal church, as are all 
his family, and politically he is independent. 
He is a member of Blue Lodge, Free and 
Accepted Masons, and is a Royal Arch Mason 

In 1868, ]\Ir. Peters married Laura Cossen- 
tine, a daughter of Charles Cossentine, of 
England. Four children have blessed their 
union, two sons and two daughters : Evaline A., 
Samuel A., Charles H. and Laura C, whoso 
ages are twenty, seventeen, fourteen and twelve, 
respectively. 



collector from 1825 to 1834, was sheriff of 
Chautaucpia county from 18.'j4 to 1838, and 
.served as postmaster of Westfield during 1841, 
and agaiu from 1849 to 1853, being removed 
lK)th times for political reasons by Presidents 
Tyler and Pierce. In 1853 he was elected jus- 
tice of the peace, which office he held by re-elec- 
tiou until 1880, when he resigned on account of 
ill-health. He also was supervisor, besides 
holding other town offices. He served contin- 
uously in town and county offices from 1824 to 
1880, a period of fifty-six years, and during his 
shrievalty occurred the first execution in the 
county for murder. He married, and his wife 
died in jNIay, 1875. They had six children : 
George, Charles, William, Edwin, Electa Rob- 
bins and Mary S., widow of Hon. Henry A. 
Prendergast. 

William Sexton, after a long illness, passed 
away at the residence of his daughter, Mrs. 
Prendergast, at Westfield, on October 7, 1881, 
when in the eighty- sixth year of his age. In 
the press notices of his death the following 
tribute was paid to his memory by one who 
knew him well : " Mr. Sexton always proved 
himself an honest, faithful and efficient officer. 
He was a member of the Baptist ciiurch, and 
though he made no parade of his religion, yet 
by his humble and kindly disposition, and ex- 
emplary life and acts, the only true test of 
(Christian character, he gave the best evidence 
' that he was a true Christian." 



mILLIAM SEXTON. The late William 
Sexton, one of the early and most re- 
si)ectcd citizens of Westfield, was born at Man- 
chester,- Bennington county, Vermont, April 
11, 1796. In 1816 he came to Buffalo, and 
thence on the ice to Westfield, to which place he 
removed his family during the next year. He 
soon became prominent in the civil affiiirsof his 
town and countv. He served as constable and 



HON. HENKY A. PRENDERGAST, for 
many years a prominent citizen of West- 
field, and whose ancestors were among the earlier 
settlers of western New York, was a son of Ste- 
phen and Almira (Abell) Prendergast, and was 
born in the town of Ripley, Chautauf|ua county. 
New York, October 31, 1821. His great-grand- 
father, William Prendergast, Sr., was born iu 
Waterford, Ireland, came to Dutchess county, 
where he married Mehetable Wing, and at 
seveuty-eigiit years of age was one of the pioneer 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



settlers of Chautauqua county, where he died 
February 14, 1811 (for a fuller account of him 
and his family see historical part of this volume). 
His second son, Thomas, married Deborah Hunt, 
and their only son, Stephen Prendergast, was 
born at Pawling, New York, January 2."'), 1793, 
and died January 31, 1852. Stephen Prender- 
gast came in 1805 to Kipley, where he married 
Almira Abell, who was born January 23, 1790, 
and died at an advanced age. Tiiey had four 
children : Thomas N., Hon. Henry A., Stepiien 
and Johu L. 

Henry A. Prendergast was reared on the 
farm, and in tiie fall of 1838 entered Union 
college, from which he was graduated in 1842. 
He then became a law student in the office of 
D. Mann, of Westfield, but in a short time was 
compelled by impaired health to abandon his 
legal studies and take up the more healthful em- 
ployments of farming, fishing and hunting. For 
several years he gave his attention to farming, 
during which time he imported into the country 
some of the finest stock that could be obtained 
in England. He refused to enter political life 
until the American party came into existence, 
when, in the fall of 1855, he yielded to continued 
importunings, became a candidate for the Assem- 
bly aud was elected by four hunilred and fifty 
majority, altiiough his district was American 
by one thousand, and he was opposed by two 
strong candidates. In 1856 he was nominated 
by acclamation and was elected by over two 
thou.sand majority. During his second term he 
served as chairman of the committee of ways 
and means. He afterwards completed his law 
studies, was admitted to the bar, and practiced 
for a time at Quincy, where he was engaged in 
the mercantile business for several years. In 
1861 he served a third term as a member of 
Assembly, and shortly afterwards entered the 
Army of the Cumberland as a paymaster. While 
with, that army in Tennessee he was taken sick, 
and by advice of the surgeon returned home, 
where he died a few days after his arrival. 



He married Mary S. Se.xton, daughter of 
William Sexton (see his sketch), and to their 
union were born two children : Minerva E., mar- 
ried June 17, 1869, George W. Fargo., Jr., 
of Buffido, who died December 30, 1872, and 
whom she followed to the tomb on October 11, 
1873, leaving twin daughters — Anne E. aud 
Mary C, now at scliool at Buffalo ; aud Charles 
S., who died in 1865, aged fifteen years. 

" Henry A. Prendergast was a man of fine 
intellect, a good speaker aud a tliorough busi- 
ness man. In person he was tall (nearly six 
feet), of good mould, of nervous sanguine tem- 
perament, and blue eyes, brown hair and pale 
features. He was frank, genial and respected." 
Of his paternal ancester, William Prendergast, 
Sr., it is recorded in Howe's historical collec- 
tions that during tlie anti-rent troubles of 
Dutciiess county he was known as the "Big 
Thunder " of that exciting time. " The Pren- 
dergasfs became the })OSsessors of some of the 
finest lands in this county and have been con- 
sidered among the most wealthy, public-spirited 
farmers in the West." On the paternal side 
Henry A. Prendergast's ancestors were real 
Vermonters and bore arms in the Revolution- 
ary war, in some of whose great battles his 
great-grandfather. Captain Abell, who has often 
been mentioned lionoraijly in history took a 
distinguished part. 



i'VHAKLES S. PAYNE, the well known and 
^^ equally well-liked proprietor of the Broc- 
ton House, an ex-steamiioat captain, and horti- 
culturalist, is a son of Samuel and Laura 
(Elmer) Payne, and was born in Conway, 
Franklin county, Massachusetts, July 22, 1832. 
The Paynes came from the Scotch race, that 
hardy, honorable, persevering people, who have 
taken such an important part in the populating 
of this country. Samuel Payne was born in 
Massachusetts in 1801, aud lived there, a tiller 
of the soil, for half a century. In 1852 he 
brought his family to the town of Stockton, 



.524 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



where he continued to farm and speculate in 
various commodities with the capital that he 
had brought with him. He married Laura 
Ehuer in Massachusetts, and had several chil- 
dren. ]\Irs. Payne was a woman of marked 
force of character, whicli was transmitted to 
her children to a great degree. Mr. Payne was 
a strong democrat and a gentleman of pro- 
nounced ideas. He died in 1855, his wife fol- 
lowing him to her last resting place in 1859. 
They were niembere of the Universalist church 
and highly respected. 

Charles S. Payne was educated in the common 
schools of Massachusetts, which was largely 
supplemented, however, by observation and in- 
fjuiry in after life. When a young man he filled 
the position of traveling agent for a nuisery 
house, following it for a number of years, then 
changing to the same capacity for a Jamestown 
furniture house. In 1870 Mr. Payne navigat- 
ed Lake Chautauqua as captain of one of the 
steamboats which plowed those waters, following 
it for several years and becoming a part owner 
in a boat, but in 1888 he tired of this and came 
to Brocton and bought the hotel building which 
bears the city's name. The advent of his tak- 
ing charge of this hostelry was marked by great 
improvements in its every department, and to- 
day the Brocton House and Boniface Payne 
have the friendship of all the traveling men 
who come to the city. Connected with the 
hotel, he operates a first-class livery stable, and 
is engaged in the growing of grapes. 

He married Jennie INIartiu, a daughter of 
Hiram Martin, who lives in Portland town, 
and they have one child, a sou : George Porter. 

C. S. Payne is an active worker in the Re- 
publican party, taking more than ordinary in- 
terest in the elections. He is one of the fore- 
most citizens of Brocton in all improvements 
that point to this city's advancement ; is a mem- 
ber of the Koyal Arcanum, and of the Free 
and Accepted Masons. 



mlLLIAai G. PECKHAai, at present 
commander of James !M. Brown Post 
Xo. 285, G. A. R., of Jamestown, has been a 
farmer, blacksmith and carpenter, and is a 
master workman at all these trades. He is a 
son of George H. and Harriet F. (Perrigo) 
Peckham, and was born in the western part 
of Rhode Island, March 3, 1841. 

The Peckham family are of English extrac- 
tion, but have been transplanted in America 
for considerably more than a century, and have 
spent most of the time in the State above men- 
tioned. The paternal grandfather, William 
Peckham, was born there and died at South 
Kingston, .same State, in 1804, aged ninety-six 
vears. He was one of those who, when the 
tocsin of war sounded for oui second struggle 
with the mother country, shouldered his mus- 
ket and fought through the entire war. George 
H. Peckham came to Chautauqua county in 
1855, and located at Kennedy, where he re- 
mained until 1872, when, as the tide of emigra- 
tion was flowing rapidly toward the fertile lands 
of the great plains, he loaded his effects on 
wagons and drove to the then new State of 
Kansas, secured him a farm in Dickinson 
county and now resides there, aged seventy- 
nine years. He is a farmer, by occupation, and 
in [)olitics a greenbacker; his wife, Harriet F. 
Perrigo was a native of the land of Roger Wil- 
liams, and is now in her sixty-fifth year. 

William G. Peckham spent his boyhood and 
youth in Rhode Island and was educated in the 
academy at Westerly. After leaving school he 
engaged for a while in farming, but finding it 
uncongenial he learned the blacksmith trade, 
which he followed a short time and then ac- 
quired the trade of carpentering and joining, 
which he has followed for eighteen years. A 
great many of the houses and barns in this and 
Cattaraugus county have been erected by him, 
many of them ijy contract, as he has added 
contracting and building to his business. Wil- 
liam G. Peckham came to this county in 1855, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



au(J to tlie city uf Jamestown twenty jears later, 
and has lived here ever since. In August, 
1861, after President Lincoln had made his 
second appeal to the country for defenders to 
save her from disruption, he enlisted as a pri- 
vate in Co. E, 5th regiment New York Cav- 
alry, and served to the close of the war, having 
been mustered out of service at New York city 
in July, 1865. On July ;i, 1864, at the battle 
of Ashland Station, he was wounded by a miu- 
ie-ball striking him on the breast-bone. He 
participated in all the battles of his regiment 
except one, Petersburg, there being thirty-six 
pitched and seventy-eight skirmishes, and he was 
mustered out as the first lieutenant of Company 
M, same regiment. They were escorts for Gen. 
Sheridan from November, 1864, until the close 
of the war. 

In 1867 William G. Peckham married El- 
mira J. Truesdeil, a daughter of Zebedee Trues- 
dell, who came from Rochester, New York, to 
Jamestown, and by this union there was born 
oue son, Clayton J., who is a book-keeper in 
this city. Mr. Peckham is a prominent repub- 
lican and takes an active part in his party's af- 
fairs. He belongs to the Ancient Order of 
United Workmen, and is one of the citizens of 
Jamestown of whom she may be proud. 



HUKLBURT L,. PHILLIPS is a son of 
Robert H. and Augusta M (Bartholo- 
mew) Phillips, and was born in Geneva, Ohio, 
December 5, 1856. His paternal grandfather, 
Jacob Phillips, was a native, in all probability, 
of Rensselaer county, this State, and removed 
to Ashtabula county, Ohio, where he spent the 
remainder of his life. Grandfather Bartholo- 
mew was a resident of Ashtabula county, from 
which he removed to Minnesota, where he died. 
Robert H. Phillips (father) was born in Ashta- 
bula county and now resides in Minneapolis, 
Minnesota, being a miller there. He married 
Augusta N. Bartholomew, by whom he had 
four sons and three daughters. 



Hurlburt L. Phillips was reared in North- 
field, Minnesota, and received his education in 
the common schools of that place and tiie Insti- 
tute at Jamestown, to which city he came in 
1872. After leaving school, he engaged in 
bu3'ing and selling live stock in the eastern 
states, continuing in that business for ten years, 
and in 1883 he purchased an interest in the 
furniture manufacturing business of Beaman, 
Breed & Phillips, remaining with them until 
1886, when he sold out. The following year 
he engaged in the manufacture of lounges, in 
which business he still remains. He has asso- 
ciated with him Theodore Hanchett, L. F. Cor- 
nell and Arthur H. Greenland. They occupy 
a building, 132x72 feet, four stories high and 
employ eighty men, besides a half-dozen travel- 
ing salesmen, who cover tiie territory between 
the Mississip))i river and the Atlantic coast. 

On February 8, 1888, Mr. Phillips married 
Nellie C. Buchanan, a daughter of John Bu- 
chanan, of Youngsville, Pennsylvania. Their 
union has been blessed with one child, a daugh- 
ter: Parmelce. 

Politically Mr. Phillips adheres to the prin- 
ciples of the Republican party. He is a mem- 
ber of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, F. and A. 
M., and is also a Royal Arch Mason and 
Knight Templar. In the fire department he 
has been a valuable member for several years 
and is now assistant chief 



TTZItA F. PABOI>Y, uow a retired farmer, 
^"^ living in the village of Ripley, Chautau- 
qua county, New York, but formerly an active 
agriculturist living in the town of that .same 
name, is a son of Stephen and Mary (Gay) 
Pabody, and was born at New Lebanon, New 
York, November 19, 1818. The paternal 
grandfather was a native and resident of New 
England, where he was engaged in mercantile 
life. He descended from a Scotch emigrant, 
but as he died when his son (subject's lather) 
was a small infant, but little can be given about 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



liim or his people. The maternal grandfather 
was Henry Gay. Stephen Pabody was born in 
the east, but when young moved to and lived 
in Monroe county, New York. He followed a 
variety of mechanical employments, and finally, 
about 1833, went to Nortii East, Penna., where 
he died in 1858. He was a democrat. Stephen 
Pabody married Mary Gay, and reared a family 
of two sons and three daughters : Ezra F., Ann 
M., died in Buffalo ; Jeannette, married A. W. 
Butts, and lives at North East, Penna. ; George 
is farming at the same place ; and Dclphius 
lives in Nebraska. 

Ezra F. Pabody followed the movements of 
his father until grown to manhood, and then 
married Almira Dixon, a daughter of John 
Dixon, and by her had three children : Stephen 
A., born August 16, 1845, married Martiia 
Parks and now lives as a farmer in the town of 
Ripley ; John D. was born October 6, 1847, and 
now lives with his wife, Aggie Davis Pabody, 
at North East, Penna.; Radolphus D., born 
August 24, 1849, is in tiie employ of the B. & 
O. R. R., and lives at Huntington, West Vir- 
ginia. After the death of his first wife, Ezra 
F. Pabody married Clara M. Downer, a daugh- 
ter of Seneca Downer, of Oneida county, New 
York. 

Ezra F. Pabody received the limited educa- 
tion given to boys of that day, the aggregate 
amount tendered him not exceeding a term of 
the present day. He worked with his father in 
the shop until reaching manhood, and then 
openetl a chair-shop at North East, which he 
conducted for two years, and then sold it, pur- 
chasing with the proceeds a farm of one hundred 
and eleven acres, near the village of Ripley, 
where his son now lives. Mr. Pabody made 
his home upon that property for thirty-five 
years, and in 1876 he bought a home in Ripley 
village, where he has since lived in quiet. 
Politically he is a democrat, but in local matters 
he is entirely independent, and has held the 
office of assessor for three years. 



TDDO A. SIKES is a wholesale and retail 
■*- agent for the sale of wagons, buggies and 
general road vehicles at Kennedy. He was born 
in Cattaraugus county, New York, June 4, 1848, 
and is a son of Stephen and Caroline (Wood- 
ward) Sikes. His grandfather, Sliadrach Sikes, 
was a native of Pittsfield, Berkshire county, 
Mass., and removed to the town of West Otto, 
Cattaraugus county, this State, when about forty 
years of age, where he died fifty-seven years 
later, in 1890. He was a democrat of the 
Jeffersonian type, and served as a private in the 
last war with Great Britain. John Woodward 
was a native of the Empire State, married a 
Miss Blanchard, and reared three children, one 
of whom, Caroline, is the subject's mother. He 
was a carpenter and joiner by trade, being con- 
sidered very skillful. Politically a democrat, 
he was enthusiastic in the campaigns prior to 
reconstruction. Stephen Sikes was born at 
Pittsfield, Mass., about 1817, and speut his 
youth upon his father's fai'm near that town. 
A good common school education was accjuired 
and when sixteen years of age he came to Catta- 
raugus county. Besides farming he quarried 
and trimmed burr-stones for grist-mills, which, 
being of superior manufacture, were in great 
demand. In 1880, while at Niagara Falls, he 
died, aged sixty-three years. In 1844 he mar- 
ried Caroline W^oodward, and they were the 
parents of five children : Iddo Abiathar, Flor- 
ence D. (dead); Winford S., resides at Eldred, 
Pa.; OIney Y., lives at the same place; and 
Estella (dead). Mrs. Sikes is still living, enjoys 
good health, and bids fair to enjoy a pleasant 
life for many years. Stephen Sikes was a 
gentleman of unusual public spirit and perspi- 
cacity, was a member of church, of the local 
military, and belonged to the Republican party. 
Iddo Abiathar Sikes was born and reared at 
Otto, Cattiiraugus county, until twelve years of 
age, during which time he attended school. The 
family then removed to Leon and he learned the 
trade of blacksmithing at East Kuiulolj)h. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Upon completing his apprenticeship he came to j 
Kennedy and embarked in business, doing gen- 
eral blacksmithing and carriage ironing, besides 
doing a large sales business in all kinds of 
vehicles. 

In August, 18G8, he married Alice V. Saxton, 
a daughter of Reuben Saxton, by whom he 
had two children : Edith L., born June 13, 
1869, was given all the advantages of a liberal 
education at the village schools and Cliamljer- 
lain institute, especial attention being given to 
instrumental music. She is a finished scholar 
and performs brilliantly upon the jiiano ; and 
Mabel I., born June 4, 1871, and died October 
10, 1890, in the freshness of her young woman- 
hood. 

I. A. Sikes belongs to the Republican party, 
and is a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, while his connection with fraternal and 
beneficial organizations is confined to tlie Inde- 
pendent Order of Odd Fellows. 



FRANK E. SHAW, an agriculturist, breed- 
er of fine horses and cattle, and a capital- 
ist, resides in a beautiful home on Central ave- 
nue, Dunkirk. He is a son of Robert T. and 
Martha C. (Whitney) Shaw, and was born in 
the town of Charlotte, this county, on Novem- 
ber 19, 1840. He comes from an old American 
family and is a nephew of Henry W. Siiaw, 
better known as Josh Billings. Grandfather 
Hon. Henry W. Shaw, well known in New 
England, and a distinguished citizen of the 
United States, a member of the Massachusetts 
Senate and Legislature for twenty-five years 
and also a member of Congi-ess from the Berk- 
shire county district, was elected in 1820, when 
only twenty-four years of age, and took his seat 
the youngest member of that body at that time 
ever elected to Congress. He was a firm friend 
of Henry Clay, and his political manager in 
New England from 1816 to 1840, but his vote 
favoring the Missouri Compromise killed him 
politically in New England. He was a dele- 



gate from Massachusetts to the Harrisburg con- 
vention that tried to nominate Henry Clay for 
president. William H. Harrison secured the 
nomination and Mr. Shaw left the party and 
never rejoined it. His father, Dr. Samuel 
Shaw, was a celebrated surgeon of the " Green 
Mountain State," and represented the Rutland 
district in Congress about the year 1810, and at 
the close of the war he was appointed surgeon for 
the hospitals at Greeubush and had charge of 
them until the government abandoned them. 
He now sleeps beneath the sod in the beautifid 
cemetery at Castleton, close to the scene of his 
early life. He was contemporaneous with 
Ethan Allen, and at twenty years of age was 
established in his profession all over the north- 
ern portion of the State and was known far and 
near for his skill. His personal strength, too, 
was a matter of renown, and it was said that he 
could throw any man in the State in a wrest- 
ling match. Grandfather Henry Shaw, read 
law in Albany and married Laura Wheeler of 
Lanesboro, Mas.sachusetts, who was a descen- 
dent of the Beecher family. Her sister was the 
wife of Chief Justice Savage. Robert T. Shaw 
was born in Berkshire county, Massachusetts, 
and in 1835 went to Norwalk, Ohio, where his 
father owned a large tract of land. He re- 
mained there until 18S9, when he came to 
Chautauqua county, and settled in the town of 
Charlotte, where he owned a farm. He was a 
gentleman of superior education, and died in 
Mitchell, Indiana. Mr. Shaw married Martha 
C. Whitney, and had several children. Mrs. 
Shaw survives and lives at Sinclairville and is 
now in her seventy-second year. 

Frank E. Shaw was reared in Sinclairville 
and received his education in the Ellington 
academy, until in 1860 he went to California, 
and engaged in mining and staging for six 
years and then returned home and gave his at- 
tention to farming and breeding fine road 
horses. He is now the owner of three farms in 
the town of Charlotte, on which are fine herds 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



of Jersey cattle. Great pains have been taken 1 
in their selection and breeding, and while there 
are larger herds in the country, there are none 
finer or more purely bred. One of the best 
dairies of the country is attached to these farms 
which is demonstrating to the farmers of that 
locality that when cereals and succulents prove 
an unprofitable crop, they may turn to this 
branch of agriculture with expectation of suc- 
cess. When the Martin Auti-fire Car Heating 
Apparatus was found to be successful, oMr. 
Shaw took an active interest in it, and with 
Messrs. Chute and Martin, formed a company 
with a capital of two hundred thousand dollars 
to manufacture it for tiie market. He had had 
a wide experience with the public of western 
New York and elsewhere and took with him 
to the company a valuable experience, and to 
his astute sagacity is largely due the rapid 
development of the appliance and its adoption 
by so many i-oads throughout the country. 

Mr. Shaw is now the vice-president and treas- 
urer of the company, which has one of the fin- 
est factory buildings in the country. Their 
business exceeds half a million dollars a year 
and at least five thousand cars are supplied 
with their impi'ovement. He moved to Dun- 
kirk in 1887 and has since resided here. 

On the 5th of August, 1879, he married Ada 
L., daughter of John Beardsley, of Norwalk, 
Ohio, and has two sons and one daughter: 
Robert Francis, Edith and Frank E., Jr. 

The oldest son, although still young, seems 
to have inherited his grand-uncle's faculty for 
dispensing wit and humor at will, and is a very 
bright boy. Mr. Shaw is a republican and 
takes an active interest in matters relating to 
the government, having been chairman of the 
county committee for some time. He is a mem- 
ber of the Free and Accepted Masons, and is 
Past District Grand Master. 



/>E<)KGE W. SEYMOUK, M.D., an active 
^^ and successful physician of Westfield, is a 
son of Thomas W. and Matilda (Green) Sey- 
mour, and was born at Mayville, Chautauqua 
county, New York, ou December 13th, 1841. 
The Seymours are of English descent, and 
Dr. Seymour is of the ninth generation of 
tlie American branch of the family. Grand- 
father Seymour, antl his fatlier, Thomas W. 
Seymour, came in 1831 from Lee, Oneida 
county, to Mayville, where the former, who 
was a car|)enter and joiner by trade, died in 
April, 1842. Thomas W. Seymour is a na- 
tive of Lee, and has been successfully en- 
gaged in farming ever since settling at May- 
ville. He is a self-educated and well in- 
formed man of close observation and good 
judgment. He is a Baptist, in religious be- 
lief, and a republican in politics, and has held 
various offices of both his church and his vil- 
lage. His wife, Matilda (Green) Seymour, 
who is a member of the Baptist church, was 
born in Tompkins county. 

George W. Seymour received his education 
in the public schools and the academy of May- 
ville. In 18G8 he commenced to read medicine 
with Dr. G. R. Hall, then of Westfield, but 
nowprofessorof surgery in Hahnemann Medical 
college, Chicago, but finished his course of read- 
ing with Dr. Asa S. Couch, now of Fredonia. 
He then entered tiie New York Homceopathic 
college, from which medical institution he was 
graduated in the spring of 1872. During the 
.same year he opened au office at Westfield, 
where he has continued ever since in the suc- 
cessful practice of his profession. 

In 1860 Dr. Seymour united in marriage 
with Lucy A., daughter of A. B. Briggs, of the 
town of Portland. They have two children : 
Carl J., who was graduated from the law de- 
partment of Cornell university ; and Nellie E. 

Dr. George W. Seymour is a republican in 
politics, and owns a grape farm of forty acres. 
While fitting for his profession he taught school 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



529 



for ten years to acquire means to defray his ex- 
penses at tiie New York Homoeopathic college. 
Dr. Seymour has a good practice, is a member 
of the New York State and the Northwestern 
medical societies, and has been medical exam- 
iner for several years at AVest field for .several 
leading life insurance companies. He is a mem- 
ber of the Ancient Order of United Workmen 
and Free and Accepted Masons. 



T . lEUTKNANT WILLIAM SYKES, who 

^^ is of English descent, was born in Spring- 
field, Ohio, January 24, 1841. His parents 
were James and Laura (Varian) Sykes, who 
came from England about 1834 and settled at 
Springfield. John Sykes, grandfather of Wil- 
liam, was a native of England, where for many 
years he filled the position of foreman in one of 
the large cloth maiuifacturing houses of that 
country, but afterwards came to America and 
located at Springfield, where he died. James 
Sykes (fiither) was born in England in 1813, 
and remained in the mother country until he 
attained his majority, when, having learned the 
painter's trade, he concluded to cast his fortune 
in the new world. Coming direct to Springfield, 
he established himself near his father and fol- 
lowed his trade. He was twice married, his 
first wife a Miss Toos, and after her death he 
married Laura Varian, by whom he had eight 
children, six sons and two daughters. One of 
the sons, Alexander V., served during the re- 
cent struggle between the States in the 44th 
Regiment of Ohio Infimtry, performing the 
duties of musician. James Sykes was a repub- 
lican, and a member of the Episcopal church. 

William Sykes has had an interesting and 
honorable experience in life. After receiving 
his education, which was acrpiired in the schools 
of Springfield, he learned the trade of iron 
moulder, and followed it until the tocsin of war 
was sounded, when, at President Lincoln's first 
call for troops, he joined Co. F, 2nd regiment 
of Ohio Infantry, aud served until the expira- 
28 



tion of his term of enlistment, when he re- 
entered for three years of the war, in tlie 
44th regiment, Ohio Infantry, and served with 
it at Bull Run, Lewisburg, W. Va., Duton's 
Hill, Ky., Knoxville, Tenn., and all the skir- 
mishes in which it was engaged, enjoying with 
it the joys of victory and lamenting the sorrows 
of defeat. For recognized bravery he was made 
second lieutenant. In the winter of 1863-64 
the 44th regiment was veteranized, and it was 
proposed to change them to cavalry. Many of 
the soldiers objected, among the others Mr. 
Sykes, and although he was offered a captain's 
commission, he did not care to make the change 
and was honorably discharged, having served 
about three years. 

In 1881 he moved from Springfield to James- 
town, aud took charge of tlie foundry connected 
with the Columbia Grain Drill works, and re- 
mained with them in that capacity about seven 
years, when he formed a partnership with a Mr. 
Smith, which resulted in the present machine 
jobbing firm of Smith & Sykes, located on 
Steele street, and employing about twenty men. 
Unlike his father, who was a republican, Mr. 
Sykes affiliates with the Democratic party, and, 
with his wife, is an attendant at the Jamestown 
Episcopal church, of which he is a member. 
He is also a member of James M. Brown Post, 
Grand Army of the Republic. 

Mr. Sykes was married to Martha E. Con- 
nell, a daughter of Benjamin F. Connell. Their 
union has been blest with one daughter, 
Maria C. 



JOHN A. 8TONEBEKG is a s6n of Swan 
^ J. and Anna C. (Corswell) Stoneberg, and 
was born in Sweden, in 1848. His father, Swan 
J. Stoneberg, was born in Sweden, in 1820, and 
was a farmer by occupation. In 1878, he emi- 
grated from Sweden to the United States and 
located at Jamestown, where he has since resided. 
He is a member of the Swedish Lutheran 
church, and votes the Republican ticket. He 



530 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



inarried ADua C. Corswell of Sweden. To their 
union was born but one child, John A. 

John A. Stoneberg attended the common 
schools in Sweden and learned book-keeping, 
but since he came from his native land to 
Jamestown, he has been engaged in mercantile 
life; first in the grocery business, but since 1875 
has followed the retail furniture trade. 

He married Anna Peterson, of Jamestown. 
They have three children : Anna T. C, John E. 
W. and Clarence T. Like his forefathers, Mr. 
Stoneberg is a member of the Evangelical 
Lutheran church, and at elections generally fol- 
lows the example of his father, and supports 
the nominee of the Refjublicau party. 



fJNSON A. STONE is a son of Stephen 
■**■ Bradley and Lorcy Lake (Latlin) Stone, 
and was born in Mansfield, Cattaraugus county, 
New York, February 1 3, 1 842. His grandfather, 
Norman Stouo, was of English ancestry, and 
was born in Litchfield, Connecticut, where he 
afterward became a blacksmith. He married 
Tryphena Hand, who was also a native of Con- 
necticut and by whom he had several children. 
He died in 1838. Stephen Bradley Stone 
(father) was a native of Litchfield, Connecticut, 
born in 1810, and was one of the early settlers 
of Cattaraugus county, this State, where he en- 
gaged in farming, having purchased a tract of 
land there, which had been surveyed by the 
Holland Land company. He was a very 
active member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, of which he was a deacon. When the 
church was organized in Cattaraugus county, he 
was elected a class leader, held to be a mark of 
honor, of confidence and veneration in those 
days. Politically he was a whig and afterward 
a republican, and was justice of the peace of 
Cattaraugus county. In 1872 he moved to 
Eden, Erie county, this State, where he resided 
until his death in 1890, at the age of eighty 
years. He married Lorcy Lake Latlin, a 
native of Otsego county, and a member of the 



Methodist Episcopal church, and by her had 
several children. She died in 1849, at Mans- 
field, Cattaraugus county, tb.is State, aged forty- 
uine years. 

Anson A. Stone was brought up in Mansfield, 
where he was born, and was educated at the 
Union school at Ellicottville, Cattaraugus 
county, and at the Springville academy, Erie 
county. After leaving the halls of Minerva, he 
commenced the study of dentistry at Springville, 
and in 1861 began the practice of that profession 
at Collins Centre, Erie county, where he re- 
mained a year and then located at Westfield, 
this county, where he spent another year and 
then went to Sinclairville, where he remained 
twenty-four years. In 1885 he moved to Dun- 
kirk and five years later to Fredonia, where he 
now resides and where he has an office over 
the Lake Shore Bank, in which he receives his 
patrons, Monday, Tuesday and Thursday of 
each week, devoting Wednesday to Forestville, 
Friday to Sinclairville, and Saturday to Stock- 
ton, all in this county, and in each of which he 
has an office. He enjoys a very large practice 
and is considered one of the best dentists in this 
section. Firm in his convictions, affable in 
address, genial in manner, he is conceded to be 
one of the best of citizens. Politically he is a 
republican, and is a Royal Arch Mason. 

Anson A. Stone was married April 1, 1866, 
to Sarah B. Furman, a daughter of Elijah 
Furman of Owatomia, Minnesota, by whom he 
has one daughter, Ella, married to Silas T. 
Crocker, of Fredonia. 



TOHK W. 3IORKIS, a representative of an 
^ old and higlily respected family, was born 
in Crawford couuty, Pennsylvania, July 23, 
1839, and is a son of Smith E. and Polly 
(Williams) Morris. John Morris (paternal 
grandfather) was born in eastern New York, 
county of Durham, of Puritan lineage, and mi- 
grated to Crawford count)', Penna., in 1812. 
Upon his arrival in this county, he took up 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



one hundred acres of land, improved it, built 
upon it, and there passed the remainder of his 
life. He was a whig in polities, and served in 
the war of 1812 with distinction and valor. 
His religious tenets were those of the Methodist 
Episcopal church. He united in the bonds of 
marriage with Ruhany Smith, who became the 
mother of five children, — one son and four 
daughters. Grandfather Josiah Williams was 
reared and educated in the State of Connecti- 
cut, from which he emigrated to Erie county, 
Pa., locating on a farm near Edinboro.' Thence 
he removed, in the latter part of his life, to 
Quincy, Michigan, where his earthly career 
closed. In politics and religion he was respec- 
tively a whig and methodist. His life-long 
consort was formerly Miss Eunice Tryon, who 
gave birth to four sons and three daughters. 

John Morris came to Crawford county. Pa., 
when his son, Smith E. Morris, was about 
four years of age. The farm upon which he 
located at that time has never since changed 
hands, nor has it ever been burdened with any 
incumbrances. The old homestead has been 
brought into a high state of cultivation, and is 
to-day one of the best in Crawford county. 
Mr. Morris cast his vote with the Wliig and 
Republican parties, and, together with his fam- 
ily, worshipped at the Methodist churdi. Un- 
der the Republican party he was elected justice 
of the peace, and not only in office, but also 
independent from it, exercised a strong influ- 
ence upon the character of his neighborhood. 
He was a zealous, devoted Christian worker, 
and in his life and character embodied forth 
those ethical principles and conceptions of duty 
which he felt to be the basis of all nobility and 
true manhood. He was united in marriage 
to Miss Polly Williams, who died in 1886 at 
the age of seventy-four years. Tiiey had nine 
children; Eunice, married first to Richard 
Nelson, then after his decease to Amos Sperry, 
of Conneautville, Pa., a farmer; Fannie (now 
dead), former wife of Daniel Bradley, by whom 



she had tiwee children, — two sons and one 
daughter; John W., subject; Charles, living 
on the old homestead ; Rosalia, wife of Jesse 
Sherod, a merchant and undertaker of Bangor, 
Michigan, by whom she has one son ; Mary, 
died young ; Alpheus, died young ; Josiah 
(married to Miss Rogers), now living in Craw- 
ford county. Pa., on a farm contiguous to the 
old homestead ; Mary, wile of Dennis Smith, 
of Crawford county, Pa. 

John W. Morris, on August 31, 18(35, was 
united in marriage to Sophia Palmer, daughter 
of Alfred Palmer (see sketch), and has one 
daughter, — Effie A. 

John W. Morris owes his education to the 
common schools and to independent study. 
When he first stopped out upon the threshold 
of active life, it was as a teacher. From this 
he passed to farming, and at the outbreak of 
the civil war he enlisted with the ninety-day 
men, and went to the front. At the expiration 
of that time he re-enlisted in the Fifty-sixth 
regiment Pennsylvania Volunteers, Company 
E, and served three months, when he was dis- 
charged, came home, purchased a farm in 
Crawford county. Pa., and there remained four 
years. Subsequently he removed to Ripley, 
Chautauqua county, New York, and engaged 
in the mercantile business, during the first fif- 
teen years in partnership with his father-in- 
law, Mr. Palmer, but since that time independ- 
ently. He at present has one of the leading- 
stores in the village, and as a business man, as 
a wide-awake, intelligent citizen, enjoys the 
confidence and good-will of his fellow-towns- 
men. 

Mr. Morris is a republican in politics and 
an active member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, with which he is connected as trustee 
and Sunday-school superintendent for the past 
fifteen years. He is also a member of the A. 
O. U. W., and has filled all of its offices, to- 
gether with many other jrasitions of confidence 
and trust in the place where he lives. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



T A/ALTER E. strong, a prominent farmer 
■*" of the town of Gerry, was born in that 
town on July 12th, 1840, and is a son of David 
and Sopliia (McCul lough) Strong. His grand- 
father, Gilbert Strong, caoie to the town of 
Gerry in 1817, and was one of the earliest set- 
tlers in that section of the county. He was a 
native of New England, of English descent and 
died in Ellington Centre at the age of ninety- 
one years. David Strong, his son and father 
of Walter E., has been a resident of Chautauqua 
county ever since 1817. He was a farmer pure 
and simple, a republican in politics and without 
any specific religious views, but with a tendency 
toward Methodism. 

Walter E. Strong was reared in the town of 
Gerry, educated in the common schools and at 
the age of twenty-two enlisted in Company B, 
112th regiment, U. S. Volunteers, under com- 
mand of Captain W. H. Chaddock. During 
his service in the civil war he took part in a 
number of battles, among the most important of 
•which were the siege of Suffolk, Charleston, 
after which he was transferred to the army of 
the James, under Gen. Butler, and was shortly 
after severely wounded — so severely that he was 
thereby incapacitated for service and was ac- 
cordingly discharged ou May 26th, 1805. 
Upon his return home he tO(J< up the occupa- 
tion of farming and has since continued it. He 
is a republican in politics, has served as assessor 
and collector of his town and is a member of 
the Equitable Aid Union and G. A. R. 

Walter E. Strong was united in marriage 
with Jane Wicks, daughter of the late James H. 
Wicks, of the town of Gerry, on December 6th, 
1805. They have five children : Ida, Bernice 
S., George H., Lena J. and Eric J. 



GEORGE EDWIN LEET is a con of 
William and Harriet S. (Belden) Leet, 
and was born at Point Chautauqua, Chautauqua 
county, New York, September 18th, 1862. 
The Leets were originally natives of England, 



their first settlement in America, after emigra- 
tion, being in the State of Connecticut, where 
at one time William Leet held the office of 
colonial governor. Paternal grandfather, An- 
son Leet, was the first to emigrate to Chautau- 
qua county. New York, where he located at 
Point Chautauqua and took up a farm from the 
Holland I.,and company. This he retained 
during his life-time, when by succession it 
passed to his son and was finally sold in 1875 
to the present management of Point Chautau- 
qua for the purposes of a summering place, and 
has since become one of the most noted resorts 
upon the lake. Prior to its sale in 1875 it was 
known as Leet's Point. Grandfather Leet be- 
longed to the Whigs, at that time the predomi- 
nant political party. His marriage to Abigail 
Dudley resulted in the birth of nine children : 
Jonathan, Simeon, Tiewis, INIaria, Caroline, 
Franklin, Mary, Eliza and William. Grand- 
flit her David L. Belden passed to his final rest 
in Chautauqua county, whither he had come iu 
the prime of life from the State of Connecticut. 
He was united in marriage to Sarah Hall, by 
whom he had foiu- children : Harriet S., Mary, 
George W. and Nathan D. He v/as a repub- 
lican iu politics. William Leet, the father of 
our subject, was born upon the old homestead at 
i Point Leet in 1818 and is still living, a witness 
of seventy-three years of transformation in the 
home and town of his nativity. He always took 
an active part in politics, and next to his religion 
held dearest the principles of the Republican 
party. He served at one time as treasurer of 
Chautauqua county for a period of six years. 
The result of his union to Eliza Strong (his 
first wife) was one son, Anson G., married to 
Nettie Thompson and now living at West 
Chester, Iowa, where he has an intei-est in a 
large cheese factory. His marriage to Harriet 
Belden resulted in the birth of four children : 
Mary E., Willis D. (see sketch), Eliza A. and 
George E. 
! George E. Leet was educated in the public 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



and Higli schools of Mayville and afterwards 
graduated, in 1877, from Eastman's business 
college, Pouglikeepsie, New York, after which 
he embarked in the grocery business with his 
brother at INIayville, New York, under the firm 
name of Leet Brothers. In 1889 he purchased 
the interest of his brother, took in another part- 
ner and is now doing business with the firm 
of Leet & Belden. The firm of Leet & Bel- 
den, grocers, is one of the largest in the village 
of Mayville, carrying a large and well-selected 
assortment of staple and fancy goods. Mr. 
Leet is also interested in the ice business with 
Dr. William H. Chase. He is a rppublican in 
politics, active in the interests of his party and 
the present chairman of the Republican county 
committee of Chautauqua county. He is a 
member of the Masons, Lodge No, 696, at 
Mayville, and of the I. O. O. F., Lodge No. 
284, of the same place. 



inrARCUS SACKETT is a .son of Nirau and 

4 Catherine T. (Thorn) Sackett and was 

born November 28, 1830 in Irving, Chautau- 
qua county, New York, at that time called La 
Grange. His paternal great-grandfather, Samuel 
Sackett, and his grandfather, Jehial Sackett, 
were natives of Dutchess county, New York, 
where they were farmers. His grandfather 
was married toSamanthaKnapp, who bore him 
twelve children, eight sons and four daughters. 
In religion he belonged to the Baj)tist church. 
John I. Thorn, his maternal grandfatiier, was 
also a native of Dutchess county but emigrated 
to Chautauqua county, village of Irving, in 
1830, having previously stopped for a short 
time in the town of Portland. Here at Irving 
he purchased a small farm from the Holland 
Land company which he cultivated and at the 
same time carried on his trade of cabinet- 
making. He joined in marriage with Esther 
Thorn, by whom he had eight children, two [ 
.sons and six daughters. Nirau Sackett (father > 
of Marcus Sackett) was born October 31, 1797, 



on the old Sackett homestead in Dutchess 
county, N. Y. He received a common .school 
and academic education, migrated with his wife 
and three children to Chautau(iua county, and 
in 1834 built the first saw-mill on Catta- 
raugus creek at Irving. In conjunction with 
his manufacture of lumber, he also carried on 
farming and merchandising. He gave his 
political support to the Democratic party, and 
in 1844 he became an associate judge of the 
Court of Common Pleas, which office he held 
about four years. He received his appointment 
from William L. Marcy. Mr. Sackett has 
also filled tlie office of justice of the peace and 
other town offices a number of times. 

Marcus Sackett gained his education in the 
common schools of Chautauqua county and at 
the Fredonia academy, Chautauqua county, 
New Y''ork. He read law, entered the Albany 
Law School — in 1851-52— and was admitted to 
the bar in March of 1852. He first located 
in Buffiilo, New Y^ork, where he practiced for 
four years, after which he removed to New 
York city and continued his profession until 
the year 1881, when he again returned to 
Buffalo. Two years later he retired from the 
active practice of his profession and removed 
to the town of Hanover, Chautauqua county, 
where he now lives on a farm at Hanover 
Center and also works the old home farm at Irv- 
ing of which he is now possessor. He isin politics 
a Prohibitionist, but was formerly a democrat. 
With his family, he attends the Presbyterian 
church and is also a member of the Free and 
Accepted Masons and the Grange. 

On June 16, 1857, Marcus Sackett was 
united in marriage to Henrietta Seaman, a 
daughter of John M. Seaman of New Y''ork 
city. To them has been born one sou, John 
S. (born June 13, 1858), married to Stella 
McKean and now lives in Harvey, Illinois, 
where he is employed in the car-works. They 
have one child. Marguerite. Subject was mar- 
ried the second time to Mrs. Susan M. Sloan, 



BTOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



(nee Grand Girard) widow of Rev. Samuel P. 
Sloan, who bore liim one child, Marguerite. 
Upon the deatii of his second wife, he married 
the third time to Mrs. Annie Ainsworth (nee 
Sloan), widow of Joel Ainsworth. 



^HARLES STEBBrNS, one of the large 

^^ landholders and successful farmers of the 
town of Hanover, was born in Cortland county, 
New York, February 28th, 1816, and is a son 
of Walter and Abigail (Gardner) Stebbins. 
His grandfathers, Reuben Stebbins and Simeon 
Gardner, were natives of England and came to 
Connecticut. Reuben Stebbins, who was a 
farmer by occupation and a republican in poli- 
tics, removed to Oswego county, this State, where 
he died leaving five children, three sons and two 
daughters. Simeon Gardner, who was a repub- 
lican in politics and a pillar of the Free-WiU 
Baptist church, in which he served for twenty- 
five years as a deacon, married Clara Pease, and 
M'hen he died in Connecticut left a family of seven 
children, four sons and three daughters. Walter 
Stebbins, a son of Reuben Stebbins and the 
father of Charles, was born in Massachusetts, 
October 24th, 1799, and removed to Cortland 
county, this State, where he followed farming 
until his death. He was a whig and a republi- 
can in politics, an episcopalian in religion and 
married Abigail Gardner. Tiiey had five chil- 
dren, three sons and two daughters. 

Charles Stebbins received his education in the 
common .schools and at night grammar school, 
which he attended for a short time. At seven- 
teen years of age he left school and learned the 
trade of a carpenter, which he followed for a 
few years. He then engaged in the wagon-mak- 
ing business, which he followed successfully for 
thirteen years. At the end of that time he 
turned his attention to his present occupation of 
farming, now owning a farm of five hundred 
and fi,fty acres of first-class land, well suited for 
grain, grass and small fruits. 

He married Sarah Denton, a dauirhter of 



William Denton. They have been the parents 
of four children, two sons and two dangliters : 
Jane A., widow of Wallace Cross, a resident of 
the town of Hanover ; Flora j\I., first married 
to Charles Crumb and after his death became 
the wife of Elijah Thomas ; Charles W., mar- 
ried to Belle Sackett ; and George, who died 
some years ago. 

Throughout his entire life Mr. Stebbins has 
been remarkably successful and has acquired a 
very fine property which he keeps in excellent 
condition. He is a republican politically and 
has been a member of the Baptist cluirch for 
many years. 

o 

T.OHN McFAl>DEN is a prosperous and in- 

^ telligent agriculturist, and grape grower 
of Portland town, and owner of one of the best 
vineyards, forty acres in extent, in the county. 
He is a son of Manassas and Mary (Magee) 
McFadden, and was born in Venango county, 
Pa., February 24, 1824. His grandfather, 
Manassas McFadden, was born in Ireland and 
came to the young republic about 1796. He 
.soon heard of the fertile lauds iu Venango 
county, Pa., and took his family there to make 
a liome. Land was cheap and he secured a 
large tract which before his deatii was improved 
into a fine farm. He married and reared a 
family of four children, and died in 1810, aged 
seventy years. Manassas McFadden, Jr., 
(father), was born on the sod of Erin about 
1792, and came with his father to America 
when four years of age. His early life was 
passed on the farm in Venango county, which 
was four hundred acres in extent. Upon his 
father's death, tlie young man took the farm 
and made many improvements, among them the 
raising of good cattle, iu which he was higlily 
successful. He died in 1847, aged fifty-five 
years, a devout member of the Catholic church. 
In 1811, Mr. McFadden married Mary Magee, 
who came from eastern Pennsylvania and they 
reared a family of ten children. Mrs. McFad- 



\ 




^"^ *i'"iz»>»,sA'Ai<w* S<ms.Bf»^ 



<n 




OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



537 



den died in 1824, he married Cecelia Griffin in 
1827, rearing six nioi'e children, also a com- 
municant of the Catholic church. Mr. Mc- 
Faddeu was a soldier in tlie war of 1812, and 
joined his sympatiiies with the Democratic 
party. 

John McFadden was reared on the farm in 
Venango county and attended the public schools 
of tiie district. When reaching manhood he 
did farm work for several years, l>ut in 18G5, 
he came to this county and settled on his 
])resent fine place two miles southwest of Port- 
laud village, containing seventy-five acres. It 
was different then. To-day all is changed. 
Where the grain-fields stood productive vines 
send forth their branches and at harvest time 
the air is filled with the fragrance of the 
fruit. 

In 1849, he married Catherine Maguire, 
daughter of William Maguire, of Crawford 
county, Pa., and their union has beeii blest with 
five children, two sons and three daughters: 
Mary J., Emaline E., James S., Rapliael M. 
and Hattie A., wife of Auguston Weagraff and 
lives in Warren county. Pa. 

John McFa<lden is a member of the Catholic 
church, and a Grover Cleveland democrat. He 
is one of Portland's citizens who feels that the 
town's welfare is his interest and uses every 
opportunity to advance it. 



nEUBEN G. WRIGHT, of Westfield, is 
one of the representative self-made men 
of Chautauqua county, a man of good judg- 
ment, of remarkable energy and strong will, but 
generous and kind withal, and ever ready to as- 
sist in whatever would benefit his town or 
county. He is a son of Reuben and Betsey M. 
(Seymour) Wright, and was born at Westfield, 
Chautauqua county. New York, July 1, 1824. 
One of those who left the peace and quiet of his 
Connecticut home to risk his life in the Rev- 
olutionary struggle for American independance 
was Reuben Wright, Sr,, the paternal grand- 



father of Reuben G. Wright, ^\'hcn peace and 
independence came to the Thirteen Colonies, 
Reuben Wright returned to his family and the 
tillage of his farm. One of his sons was 
Reuben Wright (father) who removed to Red- 
field, Oswego county, this State, and tiu'nce to 
Ohio. After a short residence there, he returned 
to New York in 1817, and settled at Westfield, 
where he was engaged in the weaving and cloth 
dressing business and where he built a csai'ding 
machine which he operated for fourteen years. 
About 1829 he bought a farm about one mile 
east of the village and gave some attention to 
farming until his death, which occmn-ed in 
October, 1847, when he was in the si.xty-third 
year of his age, and at the time of his death left 
an estate worth in the neighborhood of twenty- 
thousand dollars. He married Betsey M. Sey- 
mour, of Scotch descent, who was a first cousin 
of Gov. Horatio Seymour and died in 1874, at 
the advanced age of ninety-three years. They 
were the parents of seven children, of whom six 
lived to maturity : Allen, Mrs. Betsey Knight, 
Mrs. Charlotte Bradley, Reuben G., Franklin 
M. and Mrs. Martin Warren. 

Reuben G. Wright grew to manhood at West- 
field wliere he attended the public schools and 
Westfield academy. At eighteen years of age 
he entered the mercantile establishment of 
Hungerford it Knight where he remained for 
five years as a clerk. In 1849 he left the store 
and went to California wiiose then newly dis- 
covered gold-fields were the wonder of the 
world and attracted throngs of treasure seekers 
from every jiart of the United States as well as 
from various countries of Europe. On arriving 
on the Pacific slope, Mr. Wright followed gold 
prospecting and mining for two years and then 
was engaged for four years in supplying the 
city of Sacramento with water. He was very 
successful both in the gold fields and at Sacra- 
mento city which he left in 185e5 to return to 
New York, where he became a permanent resi- 
dent of Westfield although conducting and per- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



soually supervising important business enter- 
prises in acljoiniug and distant states. He 
purchased four tiiousaud acres of timber land in 
Clarion county, Pa., and large tracts of timber- 
land in Wisconsin, the former of which required 
his supervision for eleven years, while the latter 
demanded his attention for fourteen years. He 
also engaged extensively in grape culture in the 
town of Westficld where he now has one hun- 
dred acres of vineyards. At the present time 
lie owus over fifteen tiiousand acres of heavy 
pine timber-land along the borders of Lake 
Pontchartraiu, east of Baton Rouge, in Wash- 
ington parish, Louisiana. 

In 1870 he was married to Cora E. Pierce, 
and has three sons : Paul D., Ealph G., and 
PierR. He has one of the finest residences in 
Chautauqua county and in their beautiful and 
pleasant home he and his excellent wife delight 
to welcome and entertain their frieuds whose 
number iudude many who are prominent in 
social and political life in the Empire State. 



V^AXIEL M. FAKIXGTON was a gentle- 

-^^ man of quiet unassuming manners but 
possessed of a strength of character much 
greater than the average man. He was endowed 
with Christian humility, honest to the last 
degree and with a word he considered as bind- 
ing as his bond. He was born in Fishkill, 
Dutchess county, New York, in 1795, and came 
to Chautauqua in 1832, when he settled on the 
farm whore his widow, whose maiden name was 
Jane E. Hulburt, resides. Daniel M. Faring- 
ton was a son of Matthew and Alice (White) 
Farington, well-to-do and highly respected 
people of Dutchess county. He was a stirring, 
energetic, industriou.s and economical man and 
amassed a competence in addition to one hun- 
dred and thirty-seven acres of fine farming 
land. Mr. Farington died in 1881, aged 
eighty-six years. In 1823, he married Maria 
Emeigh, of Dutchess county, N. Y. She died 
in 1858, and in 1859, he married Jane 



E. Hulburt, a daughter of Jabez Hulburt, a 
farmer living in Westfield town. They had no 
children. 

D. M. Farington was a model farmer and of 
a domestic turn of mind and was fond of his 
home. He favored the Republican party in 
voting, but was too modest and retiring in his 
disposition to engage in politics. He was 
buried in the Union cemetery. Mrs. Faring- 
ton resides upon the farm that her husband left, 
living alone. She is a member of the Baptist 
ciiurch at Portland, and although seventy-one 
years of age is active, strong and in excellent 
health. In 1883, she pas.sed through an ex- 
perience which would, ordinarily, have caused 
the death, or at least dethroned the rea.son of an 
ordinary old lady sixty-five years of age. 
Living alone as she does, the house being .some- 
what isolated, the house was entered by robbers 
who knew that considerable valuables were 
kept in a safe. They made their way to her 
room and arousing her compelled her to open 
the .safe from which they took six or seven 
hundred dollars in money and a number of 
bonds. Fortunately the latter were regis- 
tered, and thereby were non-negotiable, but no 
trace of the robbers was ever secured. Having 
secured their booty they bound her hand and 
toot and tied her to the bed, leaving her in this 
uncomfortable position. By great effort she 
managed to release herself and going to a 
1 neighbor's house acquainted them with the 
outrage but the thieves had escaped. Some 
silver pieces given her by Mr. Farington, and 
which were valued highly on that account, 
were left at her earnest solicitation. It is 
remarkable that one of her age could pass 
through such an ordeal without serious results 
to mind or body. Mrs. Farington is an enter- 
taining lady and is much liked by many 
friends. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY. 



GEORGE W. PARKS is a son of George 
and Anu (Nelson) Parks, and was born 
January 21, 1855, in the city of Buffalo, New- 
York. His grandfatlier, Daniel Parks, was an 
Englishinun by birth, born in Leeds, emigrated 
to America and located at Black Kock, near 
Buffalo, New York. His business was that of 
combined farmer and hotel-keeper. He was 
connected with the Episcopal church, and was 
united in marriage with Eliza Harris, who bore 
him three children ; he died at the age of eighty- 
eight years. The grandfather of Mr. Parks on 
the maternal side was also a native of England, 
and, with his wife and family, took ship for 
America, but during the voyage his wife died 
and he was forced to fight the battle of life in 
the new world single-handed and alone. Prior 
to his coming to America he was an overseer of 
one of the landed estates of an English noble- 
man. His death occurred shortly after his ar- 
rival in the United States. George Parks was 
born in the city of Butfiib, New York, in the 
year 18-31, and is still a resident of that place. 
He has always been by occupation a contractor 
in the Hue of pile driving and dock building. 
He votes the llepublican ticket and gives his 
party a warm and energetic support, but has 
never yet claimed a reward by way of office- 
holding. Mr. Parks is a member of the Bap- 
tist church, holds the offices of steward and 
tru.stee, and has always been considered one of 
its prominent members. He belongs to the 
Royal Templars and is an advocate of temper- 
ance reform. In 1863 he enlisted in the 24th 
regiment. New York Cavalry, and entered the 
civil war. He was offered commissions on 
three different occasions, but uniformly refused. 
During his term of service he took part in 
twenty-six battles and thirteen skirmishes, and, 
in moments of imminent danger, no one was 
more ready to risk his life for the sake of vic- 
tory. His was a continuous tour of duty, with 
the exception of thirty days, when he was 
physically incapacitated. His marriage result- 



ed in a family of eight children, six living and 
two dead. 

George W. Parks received his education in 
the pul)lic schools, learned the same business 
that his father followed and continued it until 
1872. Later he became a dealer in lumber 
and timber, and in 1890 he embarked in the 
merchandising business, handling the three 
staple lines, dry -goods, groceries and hardware. 
This constitutes his present business, in which 
he has become firmly established, enjoying a 
good local trade. 

George W. Parks united in marriage with 
Mary, daughter of Henry Burmaster, of the 
village of Irving, and has two children living 
and one dead : Charles, Maud and Claude, de- 
ceased. He, together with his wife, holds 
membership in the Methodist church, of which 
he is steward and trustee, the latter of which 
offices he has held for the past nine years. Mr. 
Parks has always been identified with the de- 
velopment of the town from a material stand- 
point as well as educationally and religiously. 
He has been a member of the school board for 
a number of years, and also takes an active in- 
terest in polities. He is a member of the Royal 
Templars and of the Equitable Aid Union. 



DANIEL C. S3HTH, a well-known and 
respected gentleman, living in the town 
of Hanover, who has followed agricultural pur- 
suits for many years, is a son of Christopher 
and Eve (Ball) vSmith, and was born in the 
town of Carlisle, Schoharie county, New York, 
on the r2th day of August, 1821. The pater- 
nal grandfather, Conrad Smith, was a native of 
Germany and came to America during the 
progress of the Revolutionary war. Having 
•served in the German army and being trained 
in military tactics, he was well fitted to per- 
form a similar service for his adopted country, 
and he enlisted in the Colonial army, serving 
as an officer until the close of the struggle. He 
received wounds in battle and drew a pension 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



until his death. After the close of the war he 
settled iu Sc-li(jharie county, pursued farming 
and died tiiere when one hundred years of age, 
consoled by his faith in tiie Metiiodist church. 
The maternal grandfather, ISIathias Ball, was 
also a native of Germany and came to this 
country a few years prior lo the war mentioned. 
He enlisted and served throughout the strife j 
and then settled in Schoharie county, but later ! 
came to Chautauqua county, and lived with his ' 
son until his death. Christopher Smith was ] 
born iu Sclioharie county, New York, 1779. 
In 1841 he emigrated to Cattaraugus county, 
purchased a farm of four hundred and twenty 
acres, which he tilled until 1849, when he 
moved to tlie town of Hanover, where he lived 
until his death, which occurred in 1868. His 
political symi)athies were with the Democratic 
party until the slavery issue became the burn- 
ing question of the day, when he severed his 
connection with it and allied himself with the 
Eepublican party. He was thrice married, 
first, to Eve Ball, by whom he had four cliil- 
dren, three sons and one daughter; all are dead 
except George, who lives in ^Michigan, and 
subject. After Mrs. Smith's death he married 
her sister, Catherine Ball, and later lie united 
with Elizabeth A"an Yalkenberg. 

Daniel C. Smith was educated in the com- 
mon schools and then tilled a farm until he was 
thirty-five years of age. He then clerked for 
three years in a store owned by R. B. Smith & 
Co. Since that time he has followed farming, and 
is the owner of one hundred and thirty acres of 
land in the town of Hanover. Politically, like 
his father, he was formerly a democrat, but 
divided with his party upon the question of 
slavery and is now in harmony with the Repub- 
lican party. 

Daniel C. Smith married Cordelia M. Cush- 
man, a daughter of Hiram Cushman, aud their 
union has been blessed with seven children, six 
now living and one dead : Lucinda E., married 
Hall Gidley, who is a farmer and mechanic, 



living in the town of Hanover; Phila A., mar- 
ried John Q. A. Christy, deceased, now lives in 
Silver Creek ; Sarah C, is the wife of Adelbert 
A. Newbury, a farmer living in the town of 
Ripley ; Daniel C , Jr., married Maggie C. Mc- 
Andrews, and follows the same occupation in 
the town of Hanover ; Sidney B., married Liz- 
zie L. Curran, and is similarly employed in the 
same town ; and Frank, who is reading law in 
the office of Towne & Bishop, Silver Creek, 
New York. 



HORACE C. SAWIN is a leading farmer 
aud busiuess man of the town of Ripley. 
He was born July 2, 1821, in Herkimer county, 
New York, town of Stark and is a son of Ethan 
and Eleanor (Anise) Sawin. George Sawin, his 
paternal grandfather, was a i-esident of Herki- 
mer county, whence he had come originally from 
Connecticut, of which State he was a native. 
Prior, however, to his residence in Herkimer 
county he had been a citizen of Washington 
county, in the northern part of the State. In 
early life he taught school, combined this with 
farming and in later years made it his exclu- 
sive vocation. He was married to Ruth Crock»r, 
who bore him six children, and died at the ex- 
treme age of ninety-nine years. Grandfather 
Alexander Anise was a native of Washington 
county. New York, but lived and died in Or- 
leans county. He was a farmer by occupation, 
and reared a large family to which he was unu- 
sually devoted. Ethan Sawin emigrated to 
Chautauqua county. New York, town of Ripley, 
near where the subject now lives, in 18;j2, in 
which State he was born and spent his early life. 
He died in 1884. Mr. Sawin had always been 
an interested ])atron of education. In his earlier 
life he himself had been a teacher and thor- 
oughly understood the necessity and possibility 
of true education as well as the reciprocal rela- 
tions of teacher and pupil. He had always 
been ambitious to elevate the standard and to 
still more generalize the functions of the com- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



mon school. In an official capacity he served 
quite a luiiuber of years in connection with the 
schools of his own town and always exhibited 
the highest interest in their efficiency and suc- 
cess. His marriage resulted in the birth of five 
children, all living. 

Horace C. Suwin gained his education through 
the advantages of the common school, though at 
that time he was surrounded by such conditions 
and circumstances as to afford him very poor 
facilities. He first worked upon a flirra and 
after attaining his majority embarked in farm- 
ing for himself He is now the owner of one 
hundred and eighty-eight acres of land in a 
high state of cultivation and productivity. In 
politics he has always voted the Democratic 
ticket and his fidelity to party has been rewarded 
by election, to various town offices. He is a 
member of the Free and Accepted Masons at 
Westfield, New York. 

Horace C. Sa win married Mary A. Osterman, 
a daughter of William Osterman, of Ripley, 
who bore him one son, H. Eugene, now married 
to Alice Palmer and living in the town of Rip- 
ley. He is a farmer and dealer in agricultural 
implements, and the parent of two children : 
Laura M. and Lee. 

Horace C Sawin is held in respect by his 
neighbors and those with whom he comes in con- 
tact, not only for his sterling qualities but also 
for his social qualities as well. His life has 
been one of honesty, high purpose and single- 
ness of aim — not to accumulate riches and ma- 
terial wealth, but to acquire those comforts of 
home and domestic life which produce simple 

happiness. 

© 

nOIiERT A. MAXWKLL, the genial and 
enterprising editor and proprietor of the 
Commercial, published at Sinclairville, New 
York, is the son of the Rev. J. Allan jNIaxwell, 
and was born in Amsterdam, New York, June 
8, 1856. His grandfather, whose name was 
also J. Allan Maxwell, was a native of New 



York city, but died in New Orleans, Louisiana, 
when about twenty-eight years of age. His 
.son, Rev. J. Allan, father of Robert A., was a 
Presbyterian clergyman of acknowledged learn- 
ing and eloquence, and was stationed at differ- 
ent points in the States of New York and Penn- 
sylvania. He died on November 27, 1890, at 
the age of fifty-seven years. 

Robert A. Maxwell lived in Snuth Orange, 
New Jersey, until the age of fourteen, when he 
removed with his parents to Hazleton, Pa. He 
received his education at the academy in Blaiis- 
town, New Jersey, and at the Hazleton schools, 
after which he learned the trade of printing and 
engajred in that business in the adjoining cities. 
In January, of 1891, he came to the village of 
Sinclairville and took charge of the Commercial, 
the only paper published in the village, a weekly 
having a circidation of about six hundred. 
Since embarking in this enterprise Mr. Maxwell 
has met with unqualified success and the future 
of his journalistic enterprise still continues to 
grow brighter. Politically he is a republican 
and is a member of the Equitable Aid Union. 

On December 29, 1883, Mr. Maxwell was 
united in marriage to Marietta, daughter of E. 
Rust, of Cainbridgeborough, Crawford county. 
Pa. Their marriage has been blessed by the 
birth of one son, Allan R. 



FRED A. BKNTLKY, a well-known citizen 
of the town of Busti and vice-president 
of the Chautauqua County National Bank, is a 
sonof Gustavusand Cornelia (Stewart) Beutley, 
and was born in the town of Busti, Nov. 30, 
1846. Among the pioneers settlers of the town 
of Busti was Uriah Bentley, the paternal grand- 
father of the subject of this sketch. Uriah 
Beutley was the son of Caleb Bentley of Ber- 
lin, Rensselaer county, where he was born June 
21, 1779. In May 1810 he settled on lot 9, 
township 2, range 12, now in the northern part 
of the town of Busti. He cleared a piece of 
land, built a house after the common pattern of 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



those pioneer days and in November brought 
his family to Mayville and, for vvant of a road, 
lie shipped them down the kdie in a long 
canoe, reaching his home at michiight. He was 
an industrious raau and useful citizen. On 
December 28, 1800, he married Nancy Sweet, 
who was born May 7, 1779. They rcareil a 
family of ten children : Nancy, Polly, Uriah 
S., Sybl E., Hiram, Simeon G., Alexander, 
Gustavus A., Ulrica C. aud Minerva. Gusta- 
vus A. (father) the fourth son, was born August 
12, 1817, and followed farming on the home 
farm until his death. He was a republican in 
politics and married Cornelia Stewart, who died 
in Febuary 1888. She was the daughter of 
John Stewart, a Methodist, who was born in 
Herkimer county, married Eunice Wilcox, by 
whom he had five sons and five daughters, and 
died in the town of Harmony in 1826. He 
was the son of Eliphalet and Mercy (Coates) 
Stewart, who settled in 1810 in Busti near 
Jameslowu, where JNIr. Stewart followed farm- 
ing and lumbering. Gustavus A. and Cornelia 
(Stewart) Beutley reared a family of three chil- 
dren : Marian E., who died in 1857 ; Frances 
v., wife of J. S. Briggs, a grocer of Jamestown, 
and Fred A. 

Fred A. Bentlev grew to manhood on the 
farm and received his' education in Ilandolj)h 
aud Jamestown academies. Leaving school, he 
Avas engaged in farming on the homestead farm 
near Lakewood until 1886, when he was elected 
vice-president of the Chautauqua County Na- 
tional Bank of Jamestown and since then has 
given his time principally to tiie l)usiness of the 
bank. 

He married Clara Ball, a native of Pennsyl- 
vania, who died shortly after her marriage, and 
after her death he united with Mary B., 
daughter of Flint Blanchard, a farmer of the 
town of Ellicott. By his .second marriage he 
has two children : Jane and Marian E. 

In politics Mr. Beutley is a republican. He 
served three terms continuously as supervisor 



of the town of Busti. He has been very care- 
ful of the interest of his bank and has spared 
no efi'ort to strengthen aud maintain its well 
earned reputation. 



"PLIJAH E. HALE, a farmer of the town 
-'■^ of Ellicott who has followed black- 
smithing for seventy years, was born in Pitts- 
field, Massachusetts, October 26th, 1805, and is 
the son of Alfred and Lucy (Ensign) Hale. 
Alfred Hale was born in Conway, IMassachu- 
setts, and removed to Pittsfield, that State, where 
he died in August 1817. He was a shoe-maker 
by trade and a whig in politics. His wife Lucy 
(Eusign) Hale was a Presbyterian and died in 
Pittsfield in September, 1816. Mr. and Mrs. 
Hale were the parents of three children, of 
whom two grew to maturity : Elijah E and 
Sarah E. (deceased), wife of Oliver Arms, also 
dead. Mrs. Hale was a daughter of Capt. 
Elijah Ensign (maternal grandfather), who was 
the first white male child born in the town of 
Pittsfield, of which he was a life-long resident. 
He was an extensive farmer for his day, an earn- 
est and active federalist in politics and was a 
captain in the Massachusetts militia. He mar- 
ried Phcebe Holt, by whom he had nine chil- 
dren, five sons aud four daughters. Two of 
these sons, Thomas and John, served as soldiers 
in the war of 1812. 

Elijah E. Hale received his education in the 
common schools of Massachusetts and at 15 
years of age was apprenticed to learn the trade 
of blacksmith, which he has successfully fol- 
lowed for seventy years. He went from Pitts- 
field to Hancock and from there ui 1830 to 
Fluvanna, which he left three years later to re- 
move to his present farm. He is a republican 
in politics and served for some time in the 
Massachusetts State militia, iu which he was ap- 
pointed on September 11th, 1828, by Gov. 
Lincoln, as quartermaster with the rank of 
lieutenant. He served as a deacon in the Chris- 
tian church of Ellicott until it ceased to exist. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTY. 



On November 27tli, 1825, he married Eliza 
A., daugliter of ISIajor William Acocks, a black- 
smith aiul whig, who was a deacon of the Bap- 
tist church and a militia officer in Massachusetts, 
from which he removed to Carapton, Kane 
county, Illinois, where he died August 10th, 
1854, aged seventy-seven years. He married 
Phtebe Baker of Lanesboro, Massachusetts, and 
they had four children : Eliza A., James L., 
not dead ; Phrebe G., who died some years ago, 
and Wm. B. Major Acocks was born in Devon- 
shire, England, where he was pressed to serve 
in the British array. He was one of the soldiers 
surrendered at Saratoga and after being sent to 
Boston as a prisoner, he enlisted in the Ameri- 
can army. After the Revolutionary war he 
married a Mrs. Lewis (nee Grant) by whom he 
had two children : Major William, and Thomas 
who was killed by a falling tree at Elmira, New 
York. Mr. and Mrs. Hale have two children : 
William F., born July 15th, 1827, who was 
graduated from Jamestown academy, taught ten 
terms in the public schools, married Mary A. 
Stillson and is now engaged in farming for his 
father ; and Milton A., who married Annetta 
Arnold of the town of Ellery, and is engaged 
in farming. 

o 

RLBERT H. STEBBINS, a descendant of 
one of the old pioneer families of the 
town of Hanover and Chautauqua county, is a 
son of Marcus M. and Emeline (More) Steb- 
bins, and was born in the town of Sheridan, 
Chautauqua county. New York, May 15tli, 
1842. His paternal grandfather, Sesediah 
Stebbins, was a native of Massachusetts and 
came in 1806 to what is now the town of Sheri- 
dan, where he purchased a farm of two hundred 
acres. He was an enterprising and successful 
farmer and in politics was successively a whig 
and republican. He married Iseneth Green, by 
whom he had one son and threedaughters. The 
son, Marcus M. Stebbins, was the father of the 
subject of this sketch. Marcus M. Stebbins 



was born in 1819, owned one hundred and fifty 
acres of his father's farm, which he cultivated 
and managed until his death in 1886. He was 
a whig and republican in politics and married 
Emeline More, a daughter of Huber More, a 
native of Essex and afterwards a resident of 
Chautauqua county. They reared a family of 
six children, two sons and four daughters. 

Albert H. Stebbins was reared on the home 
farm and received his education in the common 
schools and Randolph academy, which latter he 
attended one term while that institution of learn- 
ing was under the charge of Prof S. G. Love. 
Leaving school, he turned his attention to farm- 
ing which he has successfully followed until the 
present time. He owns a farm of one hundred 
and seventy-five acres of good grape land, of 
which thirty-two acres are now in productive 
vineyards. His land is also well adapted to 
grain raising and grazing purposes. ]\L-. Steb- 
bins is a republican, who believes in yielding an 
active support to his party. He held the office 
of assessor of the town of Hanover for nine 
consecutive years and shortly afterwards was 
elected as supervisor, which office he held unin- 
terruptedly since 1884. He is a member of 
Lodge No. 757 Free and Accepted Masons of 
Silver Creek. 

In LSG.'i he married Clara E. Smith, who is 
a daughtei- of William Smith, and died May 
9th, 1883, leaving five children ; Fannie (de- 
ceased) ; Lorain VV., a farmer of Hanover, who 
married Grace Birdsey ; Sciuiyler C. ; H. Smith, 
attending Hxeter academy ; and Mary L. In 
1886 Mr. Stebbins united in marriage with 
NinaC. Congdon, daughter of Morgan Congdon. 
By his second marriage he has one child, a 
daughter — Clara A. 



Ti^ILLIAM F. STKUNK, one of the reli- 

"■■ able citizens and substantial farmers of 
the town of Ellicott, is a sou of William H. 
and Jane A. (Van Vleck) Strunk, and was 
born in the town of Ellicott, Chautauqua county. 



-/ 



546 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



New York, May 7th, 1840. The first of the 
Struuk family in America was in 1750, when 
Hendrick and Catherine Strnnk, brother and 
sister, came from tiie j)rincipality of Leppe 
Detmold, in North Germany, to Rensselaer 
county. New York. Ilendrick Struuk was a 
farmer and his son, Jacob Struuk, grandfather 
of William F. Struuk, came in 1816 to Chau- 
tauqua county, where he settled on lot 5.3, range 
4, township 2 in what is now the town of EUi- 
cott. lie owned a large farm, was an old-line 
whig in politics and died in 1831. He married 
and reared a family of ten children. His son, 
William H. Struuk, was born August 5th, 
1807, and died December 2,5th, 1878. In 
1834 he was married to Jane Ann Van Vleck 
by Rev. E. J. Gillett. They reai-ed a family of 
five sous and five daughters, of whom three are 
living : William F., Dwight, a farmer of Lake- 
wood, and Alvin, now engaged in farming in 
Ellicott. 

William F. Struuk grew to manhood on the 
farm and received his education in the common 
schools. He has always followed farming and 
owns a farm of eighty-five acres of good land, 
upon which he now resides. In 1865 he went 
to Forestville and bought nine bull-head fish 
with which to stock a jiond his father had made ; 
seven of these fisii lived, and in 1867 the pond 
was washed out by Lake Chautauqua, into 
which the fish escaped. By this means the 
lake was stocked with its present abundance of 
that kind of fish. In politics Mr. Strunk is a 
republican. 

He married Edna Augusta, daughter of Ly- 
man Parker, of Ellicott, who died leaving two 
children : Grace Edna, who has taught five 
terms of school in Cattaraugus county, and j 
Minnie R, a dressmaker of Jamestown. Mr. ' 
Strunk again united in marriage with Gertrude 
A. Carter, daughter of S. II. and Jane A. (Perry) 
Carter, of the town of Randolph, Cattaraugus 
county. Mrs. Gertrude A. Strunk received her 
education at Chamberlain institute, from which 



she was graduated in 1875. After graduation 
slie taught in the States of New York, Ohio and 
Illinois. While at Chamberlain institute she 
taught in one of the preparatory departments 
and afterwards taught natural science and Ger- 
man in the Illinois female college for three 
years and the higher branches in the high school 
of Ironton, Ohio. 



T^DMUND MKAD, a retired merchant and 
■'■^ one of the substantial farmers of the town 
of Sheridan, was born in New Y'^ork city, Janu- 
ary 10th, 1809, and is a son of Benjamin and 
Eliza (Holmes) Mead. He is fourth iu lineal 
descent from Benjamin Mead, who came from 
England to Greenwich, Connecticut, where he 
was the founder of tlie Mead family, which now 
has branches in so many par's of the United 
States. He was a farmer, served in the Revo- 
lutionary war and married. Two of his sons 
were killed by the Indians and another son, 
Edmund Mead (grandfather), was a large land- 
holder and prominent business man of Norwich. 
He left home but never returned, and it was al- 
ways believed that he was murdered. He was 
married and had three sons and two daughters. 
One of these sons, Benjamin Mead (father) was 
born between 1790 and 1800, and at ten years 
of age went to New Y'^orkcity, where he became 
successively a clerk, partner and proprietor of a 
wholesale grocery house. At sixty years of age 
he retired from active life, but continued to re- 
side in New York city until his death. He 
was a prominent member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, originally a Jacksonian demo- 
crat but later in life a republican. He married 
Eliza Holmes, a native of New Jersey, by whom 
he had seven children, among whom were 
William (deceased) ; Joseph S., a retired gro- 
cery merchant of Brooklyn ; and States O.,. a 
retired wholesale merchant of New Y'ork city. 
Edmund Mead grew to manhood in New 
Y'ork city, where he attended the puljlic school 
and then entered New Canaan academy, from 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



which he was graduated in 1825. Leaving 
school lie was engaged in the wholesale grocery 
business with his father until 1830, when he 
came to the town of Sheridan, where he bought 
his present farm of one hundred and fifty acres, 
which was then almost in wilderness. This 
farm, which he took great delight in clearing 
out and improving, is in the central part of the 
town aud was the iirst farm cleared out between 
Silver Creek and Westficld. It is well im- 
proved, carefully tilled and very productive. 
Mr. Mead is a republican in politics and has 
always taken an active part in any movement 
intended for the improvement of the town. 
He has been town clerk and school commis- 
sioner, served five terms as supervisor and held 
the office of justice of the peace for nearly fif- 
teen years. He was at one time a candidate for 
Assembly and lacked but one vote of being 
nominated, his successful competitor being Mr. 
Palmer, who was elected at the ensuing election. 
While not a church member, yet he supports 
churches and church work. 

He married Susan Doty, daughter of William 
Doty, of Sheridan. To their union were born 
fourteen children : Ralph A., a railroad con- 
ductor of Biughamton, New York, who married 
Ann Gold and after her death Louisa Beldeu ; 
Benjamin, died when young ; Benjamin, who 
married a Miss Pearson and lives in Jersey 
City, New Jersey ; Brockus L. (dead) ; Abigail 
A., wife of Marshall E. Rice, of San Francisco, 
California; Brockus L. ; Susan D., married to 
John V. Patterson, of Sheridan ; Eleanor F., 
wife of Richard Houk, of Ohio ; Edmund, de- 
ceased ; Caroline A. ; Emma, died in infancy ; 
William H., telegraph operator of New York 
city ; and Rachel H., wife of Charles Smith, of 

Kansas City. 

© 

"PDWAKD DENNISON, a representative 
^■^ farmer of the town of Hanover, was born 
on the farm on which he now lives, in the town 
of Hanover, Chautauqua county, New York, 



May 5, 1828, and is a son of Joseph and Deb- 
orah (James) Dennison. The founder of the 
Dennison family in America was William Den- 
nison, who was born in England about 1586, 
and came, in 1031, to Roxbury, Massachusetts, 
with his wife and three sons : Daniel, Edward 
and George. A descendant of one of these sons 
was Joseph Dennison, the paternal grandfather 
of Edward Dennison. Joseph Dennison, wiio 
was born at Norwich, Connecticut, ^L^rch 20, 
1750, married Mary Smith, by whom he had 
seven sons and four daughters. In 1829 he re- 
moved to Galway, Saratoga, county, this State, 
where he followed farming until his death, 
March 17, 1833. His son, Joseph Dennison 
(father), was born at Norwich, Connecticut, 
October 25, 1787, and in 1816 removed to the 
town of Hanover, in which he died in the year 
1872. He purchased the iarm from the Hol- 
land Land company, coutainiug one hundred 
acres, upon which the subject of this sketch now 
resides. He dealt largely in real estate, and al- 
though a carpenter and joiner by trade, yet 
gave his time principally to farming. He was 
an old-line whig and an active worker in the 
Baptist church, with which he had united in 
1820. His wife, Deborah James, was the 
daughter of Jesse James, a farmer of Saratoga 
county. Their children were : Sallie E., born 
1814, and now widow of David Strong; Dr. 
John, born August 8, 1818, and a graduate of 
Albany Medical College, who married Eleanor 
Johnsonworth, and after practiciug for twenty 
years at Alden, Erie county, removed to DeWitt, 
Iowa, where one of his sons. Dr. John, Jr., is 
practicing medicine and the other son, Walter, 
is iu the hardware business ; Flora, wife of a 
Mr. Dinehart, a banker of Stator, Iowa ; and 
Edwin. 

Edward Dennison was reared on the farm on 
which he resides and received his education in 
the common schools and Fredonia academy. 
Leaving school, he engaged in his present busi- 
ness of farming on the old homestead which he 



548 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



now owns. He has a large apple orchard, and 
also makes a specialty of sheep-raising. Mr. 
Dennison is a democrat in politics and has been 
an active member of the Baptist church for 
many years. He is a member of the A. O. U. 
W., of Forestville, the Grange and No. 235 Pa- 
trons of Husbandry of Sheridan. He is one of 
tlie oldest Masons of western New York, being 
a member of Hanover Lodge, No. 152, Free 
and Accepted Masons of Forestville, in which 
he was initiated in July, 1850. Although fre- 
quently solicited, Mr. Dennison has never pre- 
sented himself for any ofliee within the gift of 
his fellow-citizens. 

On May 20, 1852, he was united in marriage 
to Elizabeth A. Dorner, who bore him two sons 
and three daughters : Florence, a graduate of 
the Fredonia Normal school, who was a leading 
teacher for ten years, and was principal of the 
Middletown school, when she married Stoddard 
Draper, a real estate dealer of San Bernardina, 
California; Minnie, who was graduated from 
the Forestville High school, and is the wife of 
T. A. Riley, of Cleveland, Ohio; Charles, who 
was furnishing beef to the United States troops 
in Idaho, where he was drowned in the Snake 
river at twenty-one years of age ; Jolin, a builder 
and contractor of Cleveland, Ohio, who married 
Carrie Ross; and Elizabeth, a teacher in the 
public schools. 

s> 

TOHN SMILEY, one of the old and highly 
^ respected citizens of the town of Ellery, is 
a son of Joseph and Sarah (Lewis) Smiley, and 
was born in the town of Norwich, Chenango 
county, New York, April 2, 1808. His pater- 
nal great-grandfather, William Smiley, Sr., was 
born in Ireland, and was pressed into the Brit- 
ish naval service for a term of seven years. 
When his vessel anchored in Long Island Sound, 
on a tri|> to New York, he and two of his cousins 
escaped by swinnning to the Connecticut shore. 
He settled at Farmington, in that State, where 
he married one year later and afterwards went 



to Savannah, Georgia, in which city he died. 
His son, William Smiley (grandfather), was 
born at Farmington, to which he returned from 
Georgia, after the death of his parents, and w-as 
engaged on a farm until the opening of the Rev- 
olutionary war, in which he .served as a soldier. 
After the declaration of peace lie went to Ex- 
eter, Rhode Island, where he married Hannah 
Wilcox. He then resided successively in Ver- 
mont, and Broome, Chenango and Chautauqua 
counties, New York. He was the third settler, in 
1796, in the town of Norwich, Chenango coun- 
ty, which place he left in 1810 to come to the 
town of Ellery. He died in 1825, and his 
widow survived him until March, 1831, when 
she too passed away. Their children were 
Jo.seph, William and Lucy. Jo.seph Smiley 
(father) was born in Vermont in 1781, and died 
in the town of Ellery November 8, 1862. He 
was a farmer, a whig and republican and a 
member of the Christian church. He married 
Sarah (Lewis) Groton, widow of a Mr. GrotoD, 
who bore him one child, the subject of this 
sketch. Mrs. Smiley at the time of her mar- 
riage to Mr. Smiley had a family of three sous 
and eight daughters. 

John Smiley came with his father and grand- 
father to the town of Ellery, where he received 
his education in the rural schools of that day. 
He has always followed farming for a livelihood 
and owns thirty-two acres of land three miles 
south of Bemus Point, where he and E. P. 
Young are the owners of a valuable flour and 
feed mill. He is a republican in politics, and 
.served his town as assessor for four con.secuti%'e 
terms. He has also held the office of justice of 
the peace for thirteen years. 
I On September 10, 1853, he married E. 
j Minerva Briggs, a daughter of Col. Stephen 
j Briggs, a farmer and active whig of Otsego 
county. Mr. and Mrs. Smiley have one child, 
a daughter, R. Belle, who was born November 
10, 1856, and on November 14, 1857, mar- 
ried E. P. Young, of Bemus Point, who is iu 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



charge of the mill owned by him and his 
father-in-law. ^Ir. and Mrs. Young have two 
children : Carrie M., born July 4, 18S2, and 
one l)orn June 3, 1891. 



JOHN SHEARER, JR., an enterprising 
^ farmer and substantial citizen of the town 
of Hanover, is a son of John Shearer, Sr., and 
Philena (French) Shearer, and was ushered into 
life in the town of Milton, Saratoga county, 
New York, August 31, 1817. His paternal 
grandfather, Robert Shearer, was a native of 
Scotland, town of Paisley, and emigrated to 
America just prior to the Revolutionary war. 
His first stopping place was in the town of Mil- 
ton, Saratoga county, New York, where, upon 
the commencement of hostilities, he was ar- 
rested as a spy and conveyed to Boston, Massa- 
chusetts. He was, however, after a hearing 
before the martial courts of the colonies, dis- 
missed, as there could be no convicting evidence 
found against him. After this incident he re- 
turned to Milton, where the remainder of his 
life was passed in peace and security. By occu- 
pation he was a weaver, but in America ■ there 
was very little demand for his vocation, so he 
was compelled to become a tiller of the soil. 
Robert Shearer was a member of the Presby- 
terian church, married and reared a family of 
five children, four sons and one daughter. 
Grandfather French was a native of Connecti- 
cut, a typical Yankee, and removed to the town 
of Milton, New York, where he spent his latter 
days and passed away in peace. By occupation 
he was a seaman and made numerous voyages 
to the West Indies. He reared a large family, 
and in the latter part of his life became a farm- 
er. John Shearer (father) was born in Amer- 
ica in the year 1779, and when his parents em- 
igrated to New York, was about ten years of 
age. He died July 15, 1859. He was a farmer 
by occupation and a whig in polities. His mar- 
riage with Philena French resulted in the birth 
of nine childreu, six sons and three daughters. 
29 



John Shearer, Jr., gained his education in the 
common schools, became a farmer in his youth 
and has always pursued that business. In his 
political bent he is a democrat. 

He was united in marriage on August 21, 
1842, to Asenath B. Cowen, daughter of Ezekiel 
Cowen, of the town of Hanover, Chauta,uqua 
county, New York, but formerly of Rhode 
Island. Mr. and Mrs. Shearer are the parents 
of six children, four living: Nancy A., wife of 
Lee Hiller (dead), now living at Smith's Mills; 
Henry C, married to Evalina Eastling, at pres- 
ent a resident of Taylor county, Wisconsin, a 
farmer; Alvin A., dead ; Charles M., married 
to Parmelia Prousc, a telegraph operator at 
West Olive .station, Michigan, on the Chicago 
& West Michigan R. R. ; Mason A., married 
to Ella Horton, living one-half mile we.st of 
Smith's Mills, Hanover town. New York ; and 
Leslie J., dead. 

John Shearer, Jr., is a man of usefulness and 
weight in the community in which he live.s, 
realizing that friends and a good name are of 
more value and conducive to greater hajipiness 
than all the iridescent splendor of the world 
combined. 



Q BEL S. GILES, a successful farmer, an 
•**- active worker in the Baptist' church and 
a prominent Prohibitionist in the town of Han- 
over, was born in New London county, Con- 
necticut, September 3, 1818, and is a son of 
John and Betsey (Abel) Giles. His paternal 
grandfather, Thomas Giles, was a native of 
England, where he learned the trade of weaver. 
He came to Connecticut about the middle of 
the eighteenth century and was a soldier in the 
French and Indian war. He settled in New 
London county, where he followed weaving 
until his death. He married Batlisheba Harris, 
of Connecticut, by whom he had three sons and 
two daughters, one of which, Batlisheba, mar- 
ried a Mr. Staunton. One of the .sons, Thoma.s, 
settled in Susquehanna, Pa., while another one 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



was John Giles, the father of Abel S. Giles. 
John Giles was born in New London county, 
Connecticut, April 5, 1780, and died in Chau- 
tauqua county, New York, December 31, 1880. 
He was a farmer by occupation, a democrat in 
politics and a free-thinker in religious matters. 
He removed in June, 1823, to Delaware county 
where his wife, Betsey (Abel) Giles, died in 
1844. They had three children : Edwin, a 
farmer, who resides with his son, Edward, in 
Nebraska; Austin, who with all his family is 
now dead ; and Abel S. 

Abel S. Giles received his education in the 
early common schools of Delaware county, and 
in 1844, came to the town of Sheridan, Chau- 
tauqua county, where he purchased a farm of 
one hundred and twenty-five acres of land 
which he cultivated until 1857, when he dis- 
posed of it and bought a farm of one hundred 
acres in the town of Hanover. 

On the 1st of April, 1839, he united with the 
Baptist church, in which he has been a deacon 
thirty years, and has always been an influential 
member and active worker. He has been suc- 
cessively in politics, a democrat, abolitionist, 
republican and prohibitionist. He has always 
had the courage of his convictions and dared to 
stand with the minority during the last years 
of African slavery ; while to-day he stands 
courageously for prohibition as he ever did for 
the abolition of human servitude. 

On April 10, 1844, he married Sarah Ann 
Stilson, a daughter of Amos StiLson, of Dela- 
ware county, N. Y. To Mr. and Mrs. Giles 
have been born six children, two sons and four 
daughters : Mary, wife of Edwin Downer, a 
farmer of Hanover ; Nancy, (dead) ; Seymour, 
who resides in Dunkirk and is working in the 
Bi'ooks Locomotive works ; Julia, who married 
Hiram Calhoun, lives at Forestville, where 
he is engaged in farming ; a daughter who 
married S. C. Albratt and Frank Giles liv- 
inn; in Sheridan. 



nINALDO I. CURTIS, M.D., a prominent 
practicing physician of Mayville, N. Y., 
of the Homoeopathic school, is the son of Minor 
and Amanda (lugoldsby) Curtis, and was born 
in Wa'rren, Pa., March 27, 1837. His grand- 
father, Asa Curtis, emigrated to Warren, Pa., 
from the New England States, but afterwards 
removed west to the State of Illinois, where he 
died. Minor Curtis, father of Rinaldo I., was 
a native of the State of A-^ermont, removed for 
a short time to \yarren. Pa., and thence to Chau- 
tauqua county, New York, where he died in 
1882, In early life he learned the trade of a 
shoemaker, afterwards became a shoe merchant 
and during the latter part of his life retired 
from active occupation. He was a republican 
and a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church, for all of whose interests he had an 
earnest solicitude. His marriage to Amanda 
Ingoldsby was fruitful in the birth of the fol- 
lowing children : Wilson P., married to Tirzah 
Thomp.son, at present living at North Warren, 
Pa. At the outbreak of the civil war he 
entered the Union army and .served a long 
period of enlistment, taking part in numerous 
battles and engagements; Minor A., married to 
Miss Carpenter, now living in Rogers, Arkan- 
sas, where he is a practicing physician and sur- 
geon, graduating from the College of Physicians 
and Surgeons of Chicago, Illinois; and Ri- 
naldo I. 

On October 1, 1861, Rinaldo I. Curtis was 
united in marriage to Helen M. Bemn.s, a 
daughter of Matthew P. Bemus of Chau- 
tauqua county. New York, by whom he has 
three children : Matthew, married and now 
living at Mayville, New York, a painter by 
trade and father of one child, Raymond ; 
Charles, married to Anna Henhiran of James- 
town, New York, an electrician ; and George W. 

Rinaldo I. Curtis received his education 
through the common and high schools of War- 
ren, Pa., at the completion of which he entered 
upon the study of medicine under the preceptor- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



551 



ship of Drs. Robinson and Kise. He after- 
wards taught school for a time, continued the 
study of medicine at St. Louis, Missouri, and 
afterwards entered the Hahnemann Medical 
College of Chicago, Illinois, from which he 
graduated in the spring of 1861. Upon his 
graduation he went to Warren, Pa., and prac- 
ticed with his old preceptor. Dr. Ki.se, about 
three months, when he removed to Mayville, 
New York, where he has continued his prac- 
tice with e.xtraordinary success. Upon his 
arrival at Mayville, it devolved upon him to 
overcome the prejudices of the people in favor 
of the old schools of medicine, but being well 
versed in the principles of homoeopathy and its 
claims, he was not long in demonstrating ijy 
successful practice and treatment, the scientific 
principles of the .school which he represented. 
Dr. Curtis is an active supporter of the Repub- 
lican cause and, altliough he has been .solicited 
upon various occasions to present himself for 
official preferment, has .steadily refused. He 
belongs to Lodge, No. 284, of the I. O. O. F., 
at Mayville, New York, of which he is treas- 
urer, and also to tlie Knights of Honor, in 
which he holds the office of dictator. Dr. 
Curtis's father-in-law, Hon. Matthew Bemus, 
was one of the prominent and highly respected 
citizens of Chautauqua county. He served a 
number of years as a member of the New 
York Legislature, was instrumental in the build- 
ing of the C. C. R. R., now a part of the B. & 
N. W. R. R., and was also foremost in any 
movement which tended to the industrial, edu- 
cational or philanthropic development of the 
county. He died in 1882. 



/^HLANIK) BOND is a son of Minor T. and 
^^ ]Mary A. (Blood) Bond, and was born in 
Mayville, Chautauqua county, New York, 
November 28, 1835. His grandfather, Beth- 
uel Bond, was a native of Scotland, emigrated 
to America and settled in the town of Ripley, 
Chautauqua county, New York, in 1807. He 



continued his residence here until 1813, when 
he removed to Mayville, lived out his days and 
died. By occupation he was a farmer and 
owned a large tract of land between Mayville 
and Westfield, which at his death became the 
heritage of his children. When but a mere 
boy he entered the Revolutionary struggle, 
.served throughout that memorable contest and 
finally returned to civil life. He was uni- 
ted in marriage to Lydia A. Dolph, who bore 
him ten children, five sons and five daughters. 
Grandfather Blood, during his life time, resi- 
ded in the vicinity of Mayville, New York, and 
died near the city of Buffixlo. He was a far- 
mer and had four children. Minor T. Bond, 
father of Orlando, was born in Chautauqua 
county, town of Chautauqua, in the year 1809 
and died in the year 1859. He was a farmer, 
a large laud owner, a democrat in politics and 
served a number of years as justice of the jieace. 
He also at one time filled the office of dej)uty 
sheriff and warden for the county of Chautau- 
qua. His marriage resulted in the birth of 
eight children: Charlotte, Bethuel (deceased), 
Orlando, Francis, Fernando, Pha-be, Silas W. 
and Mary S. 

Orlando Bond was united in niarriage to 
Allie M., daughter of George W. Newell, and 
has the following children: Frank C, luarried 
to Kitty M. Hovey, now living with his father 
at Mayville, New York, in the mercantile busi- 
ness; M. Gertrude; and Fred (deceased). 

Orlando Bond was educated in the common 
schools and commenced life as a clerk in the 
store of W. W. Crafts of Mayville, whom he 
succeeded in business as proprietor. He tried 
farming for a while, but in 1867 returned to 
the mercantile business, and in partnership 
with Mr. Godard embarked in the grocery 
business, which he still pursues. In politics 
he is a democrat and served as justice of the 
peace for the borough of Mayville a terra of 
four years. Mr. Bond is a member of the 
Royal Arcanum, Council No. Ill of Mayville. 



552 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



He is a good business man, stands high in the 
estimation of his fellow townsmen and besides 
his mercantile interests, is a large owner of real 
estate. 



j^ELOS G. TENNANT, a prosperous farmer 
^^ of the town of Ripley, and a descendant 
of an old and highly respected New England 
family, is a son of Moses A. and Delinda (Ten- 
nant) Tennant, and was born in the town of 
Springfield, Otsego county, New York, July 2, 

1823. His paternal great-grandfather Tennant 
came from England to New England. His son, 
Moses Tennant (paternal grandfather), was a 
native of New England, and came from Con- 
necticut to the town of Springfield, Otsego 
county, where h6 followed farming until his 
death. He was a federalist in politics, and a 
deacon of the Baptist church, and married Sarah 
Selden Jewett, by whom he had one son and 
four daughters. The son, Moses A. Tennant 
(father), was born in the town of Springfield, 
Otsego county, December 23, 1801, and died in 
Ripley, November 7, 1876. In 1833 he settled 
two miles south of Quincy, and afterwards 
removed to near the village of Ripley, where 
he followed farming until his death. He was 
a democrat in politics, had served several terms 
as justice of the peace and supervisor of his 
town from 1846 to 1853. He was a member 
of the Masonic fraternity, had been for twenty 
years before his death a deacon of the Baptist 
church, and was a useful and public-spirited 
citizen. Moses A. Tennant married Delinda 
Tennant, who was born April 18, 1802, and 
still survives him. They were the parents of i 
five sons and five daughters : Alvin J. (see his ' 
sketch) ; Delos G., Moses S., born August 2, 

1824, and died August 19, 1847; Olive Eliza, 
born August 5, 1827, and married Henry W. 
Shaffer, who is now deceased ; Julia E., married 
David Shaffer, who died a few years ago; 
Wealthy A., born August 24, 1830, and wife 
of Erbin C. Wattles, of Buffalo, New York ; 



Rev. Albert M., of Westfield, who was born 
August 9, 1834; Ellen D., born October 26, 
1826, and died in inflincy; Fannie O., born 
February 28, 1838, who married George Mason 
and after his death became the wife of Eugene 
Huff, now a resident of Fredonia ; and John A. 
(see his sketch). Mrs. Delinda Tennant, now 
in her ninetieth year, is a granddaughter of 
John and Mary (Crandall) Tennant, natives of 
Connecticut, who removed to Springfield, Otsego 
county, where they reared a family of two sons 
and four daughters. One of these sons, John 
Tennant, Jr., was the father of Mrs. Delinda 
Tennant, and came from Connecticut with his 
father to Springfield. He was a Free Mason, 
served in the war of 1812, during which he 
was wounded in the thigh, and mari-ied Betsey 
Loomis. 

Delos G. Tennant grew to manhood on his 
father's farm. As one of the older children of 
the family he had to assi.st in clearing out the 
Ripley farm, and could only be spared to attend 
school during a part of the short winter terms. 
After his marriage he engaged in farming, which 
has been his main business ever since. He has 
also at one time been engaged in butchering. 
His farm lies two miles from the village of 
Ripley. Mr. Tennant is a democrat, was high- 
way commissioner for some time, and served six 
years as assessor. 

On March 1, 1843, he married P^liza Sawin, 
a member of the Presbyterian church, and is 
one of five children born to Ethan and Eleanor 
(Anise) Sawin. Ethan Sawin, a democrat in 
politics and a farmer and mechanic by occupation 
and trade, was drafted in the war of 1812, 
came in 1832 from his native State of Connecti- 
cut to the town of Ripley, where he died in 
July, 1886, aged seventy-four years. He served 
a number of years as commissioner of highways 
and supervisor of his town, and married for his 
second wife Sallie Osterman. To Delos G. 
and Eliza (Sawin) Tennant have been born three 
children : Carrie E., who married Ahira Cran- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyXY. 



dall, and died, leaving one child, Asa J. ; Mary 
L., who died in infancy; and Moses D. 

Moses D. Tennaut was born December 3, 
1849, received a good education and attended 
the Buffalo school from which he was graduated. 
He was admitted to the bar, and is now engaged 
in the jM'actice of his profession at Westfield. 
While at school he took a course of surveying, 
and sometimes attends to work in that line. He 
is a republican, has served as notary public and 
justice of the peace, and has always been active 
in political matters. He married Helen, daugh- 
ter of Austin Smith, of Westfiekl, and they have 
one child, Arthur S. 



/-►LARKNt E P. CIPPERLY, the i)reseut 
^^ popular and efficient cashier of the bank- 
ing house of Skinner & Minton, was born in 
Albany, Albany county. New York, November 
14, 1862, and is the son and only child of 
Hiram and Susan L. (Mayer) Cipperly. His 
paternal ancestors were natives of Holland, 
but his paternal grandfather Gij)perly was born 
at Sand Lake, Rensselaer county, this State, 
and was a farmer and manufacturer of woolen 
goods. His wife was of English descent, by 
whom he had a family of four children, two 
sons and two daughters. He was a representa- 
tive man of his county. His maternal grand- 
father Mayer, who was a resident of Albany, 
married a woman of French extraction, named 
Miss Young and had a family of eight children. 
Hiram Cipperly (father) was born at Sand 
Lake, this State, in 1832, and died in Albany, 
in 1865, at the age of thirty-three years. Ha 
was a self-made man, a graduate of the Albany 
law school and practiced law in Albany until 
his de:ith. He was a member of the Masonic 
fraternity, in politics was a democrat and mar- 
ried Susan L. Mayer, of Albany, who bore him 
one child, a son — Clarence P. After her hus- i 
band's death, Mrs. Cipperly married Charles A. 
Kimberly, who had entered the civil war in i 
1861, and served until the battle of Chapin's ! 



Farm, where he lost his foot. He went out as 
a sergeant of Co. E., 112th regiment, New 
York Volunteers, and for meritorious services 
was steadily promoted until he was brevettcd 
captain. He was wounded several times and 
was honorably discharged in 1865. 

Clarence P. Cipperly was educated in the 
Union school at Mayville, and in 187!t entered 
the banking house of Skinner & Minton, in 
Mayville, as office boy and clerk and has been 
promoted step by step until in 1884 he was 
appointed casiiier, which position he now occu- 
pies. He stands high, not only in the estima- 
tion of the business public, but also has the 
confidence of his employers. In politics he is 
a republican, is secretary of Peacock Lodge, 
No. 696, F. and A. M., and is the first charter 
member of Chautauqua Mutual Life association, 
of which he is treasurer and a director. 

On October 30, 1888, Mr. Cipperly united 
in marriage with Carrie Juliana Bly, a daugh- 
ter of J. Frank Bly, a resident of Mayville. 
To this marriage has been born one child, a 
daughter : Genevieve. 



/^USTAV BAUMGART is a son of Joseph 

^^ aud Elizabeth (Weitzel) Bainngart, and 
was born in Bavaria, Germany, iMarch 1, 1804. 
His grandfather, Peter Baumgart, was also a 
native of Bavaria, and a carpenter by trade. 
He married Miss Saner, and had four children, 
three .sons and one daughter, none of whom 
came to America. Joseph Baumgart (father) 
was a native of Bavaria, was also a carpenter 
by occupation, aud in religion a mendjer of the 
Catholic church. He married Elizabeth Weitzel 
and had six children, two sons and four daugh- 
ters. 

Gustav Baumgart was reared in Germany, 
and received his education in the excellent 
schools of his native country. He learned the 
trade of a shoemaker and came to America in 
1868, locating in Buffalo, this State, where he 
remained two years. He then came to Mayville, 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



and engaged in the boot and shoe business, | 
pursuing his trade in connection therewith, and 
has a very comfortable patronage. Politically 
lie is independent, and is a member of the 
Catholic church. He, according to the laws 
and customs of Germany, served his time in the 
regular army of that kingdom. 

Mr. Baumgart was married to Josephine 
Ernst, a daughter of Michael Ernst, a native of 
Seine. To their union have been born five 
children, four sons and one daughter, three of 
whom are living: Frank (deceased); Louisa L., 
Carl G., Edward (deceased) ; and Herman. 



QT^YIN J. TENNANT, the oldest living 
^*- representative of the old New England 
Tennant family in Chautauqua county and a 
well respected citizen of the village of Ripley, is 
the eldest son of Moses A. and Belinda (Ten- 
nant) Tennant, and was bora in the town of 
Springfield, Otsego county, New York, Sep- 
tember 13, 1821. His paternal greatgrand- 
fatlier Tennant came from England to New 
England from which his son ]\Ioses Tennant 
(grandfather), removed to Otsego county where 
he was an important and influential man in 
political and religious affairs. He married 
Sarah Selden Jewett, by whom he had five 
children. Their only son, Moses A. Ten- 
nant (father), came to Ripley where he was a 
leading citizen and prominent public man dur- 
ing his life. His wife was born in 1802 and is 
still living. They had ten children : Alvin J., 
Delos G., Moses S. (dead), O. Eliza, Julia E., 
AVealthy A., Rev. Albert M., Ellen D. (dead), 
Fannie O. and John A. !Mrs. Belinda Tennant 
is a daughter of John Tennant, Jr., who w-as a 
sou of John and Mary (Crandall) Tennant, of 
New England descent. (For a full account of 
the Tennant families see sketches of Delos G. 
and John A. Tennant). 

Alvin J. Tennant came with his father in 
1833 to the town of Ripley where he was 
reared to manhood on the farm and where he 



attended the common schools of that day. He 
assisted his father in clearing up his farm which 
was two miles south of Ripley and then 
engaged in farming near Quiucy where he 
remained until 1860 when he removed to the 
village of Ri|)ley. lie there bought a farm 
which he tilled until 1890 when he retired from 
active business life. He now resides in a com- 
fortable home where he enjoys the fruits of a 
long life of honest labor. He is a democrat in 
politics and is a member of the Baptist church 
and the Equitable Aid Union. 

September 26, 1847, Mr. Tennant married 
Emorett Wattles who was born January 23, 
1827. They are the parents of one child, 
Jewett G. !Mrs. Tennant is a daughter of 
Gurdon H. and Lucretia (Phelps) Wattles. 
Gurdon Wattles was born in the town of Sidney, 
Delaware county, in 1796. He and his brother 
William came in 1818 from Otsego county to 
the town of Ripley and two years later re- 
moved to and cleared up a farm three miles 
south of the village of Ripley where William 
resided until 1846 when he went to Springfield, 
Ohio, in wdiich city he resided until his death. 
Gurdon Wattles remained upon the farm until 
1859 and then removed to the village of Ripley 
where he died November 15, 1880. He was a 
democrat in politics and held the office of super- 
visor of his town for two terms. ^Ir. Wattles 
was one of the founders of the First Baptist 
church of Ripley in which he was an active 
worker during many years and of which he 
was church clerk for a quarter of a century. 
He married Lucretia Phelps and reared a family 
of two sous and two daughters : Glover P. 
(deceased), Erbin C, Emorett and Sarah Ij. 
(deceased). 

Jewett G. Tennant, only sou and child of 
Alvin J. and Emorett (Wattles) Tennant was 
born November 4, 1852. He received a good 
English education and tilled the farm for a few 
years. He was then employed for some length 
of time as a telegraph operator and station 




DR, CORNELIUS ORMES, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



557 



agent at Ripley and afterwards became a travel- 
ing agent for the " Nickel Plate " railroad com- 
pany, in whose service he still remains. He is a 
good business man, resides atFostoria, Ohio, and 
travels over a large area of territory. He 
married Carrie Brown, and they have four 
children, one son and three daughters: Emma, 
Leah, Mabel C and Alvin J. 

COKNELIUS OKMES, M.D., was born at 
West Haven, Vermont, August 4, 1807, 
of most excellent New England parentage. After 
receiving a thorough academical education, he 
entered upon the study of medicine with Prof. 
Theodore Woodward, at that time the most 
noted surgeon of the eastern states, and received 
the degree of M.D. from Castletou Medical 
college in 1832. After practicing for a time in 
partnership with his preceptor, he removed to 
Chautauqua county and opened an office in 
Panama, February 13, 1833. In that early 
day this portion of the county and the adjacent 
parts of Pennsylvania were largely engaged in 
lumbering, and Dr. Ormcs' surgical experience, 
obtained under Prof. "Woodward, peculiarly 
fitted him for the exigencies constantly arising 
in that occupation. His ride soon extended into 
northern Pennsylvania, then almost a wilder- 
ness, and his duties entailed upon him great 
hardships from the bad roads which he was 
compelled to traverse, and the severe exposures 
to which he was frequently subjected. The 
success which attended his practice, however, 
soon gained for him a high reputation, which 
was unceasingly enhanced down to the time of 
his death. As the country became more fully 
occupied and settled, the accidents of pioneer 
life necessarily diminished, and the Doctor 
turned his attention to new friends for the em- 
ployment of his surgical ability. He made a 
special study of ovarian diseases, and soon 
established a national reputation for the treat- 
ment and removal of ovarian tumors. During 
his life he removed a large number of these, and 



he continued to operate successfully for their 
extirpation up to within a few months of liis 
decease. In two of his ovariatories the uterine 
appendages were all involved ; the tumor in one 
being of the colloid variety, and weighing fifty- 
one pounds, while the uterus measured eleven 
inches in length, was extensively sphacelated 
from lung pressure and its cavity wholly oblit- 
erated. The entire mass was successfully re- 
moved and the patient still lives in the enjoyment 
of excellent health. In 1863, the Doctor re- 
moved to Jamestown and the better field greatly 
enlarged his already extensive practice. In 
1872, he was called to the chair of obstetrics 
and uterine surgery in the Detroit Homoeopathic 
college, and discharged its duties with marlied 
advantage to the college and the cause of ho- 
moeopathy. Dr. Ormes was first instigated to 
examine the new system, by Dr. James Birnstil, 
ilien of Westfield, N. Y., afterwards of Pitts- 
field, Mass. After much study and a careful 
comparison of results from the old and the 
new systems, he gave in his adhesion to homoe- 
opathy and consistently practiced it from 1848 
to the time of his death. Dr, Ormes was at the 
time of his death, and had been for many years 
president of the Homceopathic Medical society 
of Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties, was 
one of the physicians from western New York 
who assisted to re-organize the State society in 
1861, and in which he was a permanent mem- 
ber at the time of his decease; was a member ot 
the new Homoeopathic Medical society of west- 
ern New York, and "Senior" in the American 
Institute of Homieopathy, he having been 
elected a member in 1856. In all of these soci- 
eties he occupied a prominent place, and in all 
was the frequent recipient of positions of re- 
sponsibility and of honor. It will thus be seen 
that Dr. Ormes was gathered " like a shock of 
corn fully ripe." Few physicians have acquired 
as extensive and enviable reputation and none 
will be more missed by the profession for those 
genial and excellent qualities of manhood which 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



shed an acklitioual lustre upon the acliievemeiits 
of an intellectual life. He died April 20, 1886. 
Heroic Surgery, Dcfroit Fod imd Tribune, under 
date of January 9, 1889, said : "The account 
in to-day's papers from our Grand Rapids cor- 
respondent, giving the particulars of a wonder- 
ful surgical operation, is very interesting, but 
he is not quite right in his statement that it 
has never before been done in this country. In 
the Transactions of Homoeopathic Medical soci- 
ety of the State of New York, Vol. 8, page 
550, is reported a case exactly like this which 
occurred at Grand Rapids, with the exception 
that the patient recovered. The surgeon was 
Dr. Cornelius Ornies of Jamestown, New 
York, who has a widely extended reputation as 
a surgeon. The patient, a lady thirty-nine 
years of age, had a cancerous disease involving 
the uterus and ovaries. On the 23d of April, 
1870, this entire mass, greatly enlarged, was 
removed. In the following June the patient 
was about the house, and on August 1st walked 
two and one-half miles. In 1872 and 1873, 
Dr. Ormes lectured to the class in the Homoeo- 
pathic college in this city, and I have learned 
from him that the cure was permanent." 

He married Angel ine Moore, and they were 
the parents of four children : Dr. Frank D., 
^^'illiam H. (deceased), Julia, died in 1887, 
and James C, who was a druggist at Jamestown 
until his death. Mrs. Ormes was a daughter of 
Daniel Moore, who was a native of eastern New 
York and settled near Panama, where he fol- 
lowed farming. He was a whig and a baptist, 
and married Cynthia Joslin. 



JOHN A. TEN?f ANT, a representative fiirm- 
er and a progressive business man of the 
town of Ripley, is the youngest sou and child 
of Moses A and Delinda (Teunaut) Tennant, 
and was born in the town of Ripley, Chautau- 
qua county, New York, May 30, 1839. The 
Tennant family is of English descent, and the 
paternal great-grandfather of the subject of this 



sketch came to New England, from which his 
sou, Moses Tennant (grandfather), ciune to 
Sj)riugfield, Otsego county. He was a farmer, 
a federalist and a deacon of the Baptist church. 
He married Sarah Selden Jewett, by whom he 
had one son and four daughters. This son, 
Moses A. Tennant (father), was born December 
25, 1801, and died November 7, 1876, in the 
town of Ri[)ley in which he settled in 1833. 
He was a democrat, served twenty years as jus- 
tice of the peace, and two terms as supervisor, 
and was a deacon of the Baptist church. He 
married Delinda Tennant, who was born April 
18, 1802, and is still living. She is a son of 
John Tennant, Jr., who was a native of Con- 
necticut, served in the war of 1812, and was 
one of six children born to John and Mary 
(Crandall) Tennant, natives of Connecticut, and 
afterwards settlers in Otsego county. Moses 
Tennant had ten children : Alvin J. and Delos 
G. (see their sketches) ; Moses S., boru August 
2, 1824, and died August 19, 1847; O. Eliza, 
August 5, 1827, and widow of H. W. Shaffer ; 
Julia E., born January 25, 1829, and widow of 
David Shaffer; Wealthy A., born August 24, 
1830, and married E. C. Wattles, of Buffalo ; 
Rev. Albert M., of Westfield, boru August 9, 
1834; Ellen D., born October 26, 1826, who 
died in infancy ; Fannie O., born February 28, 
1828, widow of George Mason, and wife of 
Eugene Huff; and John A. 

John A. Tennant received his education in 
the common schools of his town and the Ripley 
High School. Leaving school he was engaged 
for twelve years in teaching, a part of which 
time he was principal of the Ripley High 
school. From teaching he turned his attention 
to farming and dealing iu musical instruments. 

' He now owns two vineyards, one of twenty 
acres adjoining his property iu the village of 
Ripley, and another of fifteen acres in the im- 

I mediate neighborhood. 

On October 20, 1862, he married Julia A., 
daughter of Henry Adams, who was born June 




F, D. ORMES, M, D. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



17, 1796, and married Louisa Pride, who was 
born September 5, 1805. Henry Adams was a 
sou of Levi Adams, wlio was born February 
14, 1754, in New England, from wliich lie came 
to Otsego county where he followed carpenter- 
ing, and where he married Hannah Pettingill, 
by whom he had six sons and four daughters. 
Louisa (Pride) Adams was a daughter of Eli- 
phusand Ruth (Bean) Pride, who were natives 
of New England and reared a family of four 
sons and six daughters. John A. and Julia A. 
(Adams) Tennant have one child, Frederick 
Adams, who was born May 18, 1871, and is 
now attending Cornell University, where he is 
taking the full course in electrical engineering. 
In politics Mr. Tennant was formerly a dem- 
ocrat, but is now a prohibitionist, and served 
his town for several terms both as justice of the 
peace and supervisor. He is a member of the 
Ancient Order of United Workmen, Quincy 
Lodge, No. 2, Royal Arcanum, and the Ripley 
Baptist churcii, of whose Sabbath-school he 
has been superintendent for several years. 



FRANK r>. ORMEH, M.D. The medical 
profession has always held a prominent 
position in the history of New York, and has 
rendered valuable services to the progress of 
medical science in the United States. Chautau- 
qua county has been fortunately favored with 
many able and successful physicians of which 
Jamestown has had its full share. One of her 
well-knowu and popular practitioners is Dr. 
Frank D. Ormes. He was born at Panama, 
Chautauqua county, New York, April 2, 18.'')8, 
aud is a son of Dr. Cornelius and Angeline 
(Moore) Ormes. Prominent among the early 
families of Vermont was the Ormes family, 
from which Dr. Frank D. Ormes is descended. 
His paternal grandfather, Brigadier General 
Jonathan Ormes, was a native and life-long res- 
ident of Rutland county, Vermont. In the 
Revolutionary struggle for independence he was 
one of the first in this State to advocate armed 



resistance against the tyranny of the British 
ministry in fettering and restricting the pros- 
perity and progress of the C(jlonies. Early in 
the Revolution, while in command of a body of 
Continental troops, he was cajitured by the 
English and confined on one of their prison- 
ships until the war was nearly closed. After 
his exchange there was no op[)ortunity for the 
display of his military talents, which were said 
to have been of a high order. He married and 
reared a family of eight children, three sons and 
five daughters. One of these sons was Dr. 
Cornelius Ormes (see sketch). 

Frank D. Ormes received his literary educa- 
tion at Ft. Edward, N. Y., and Oberlin college, 
Ohio. He read medicine with his father, en- 
tered Cleveland Medical college in 1861, and 
was graduated from that institution in the class 
of 1863. After graduation he practiced for one 
year at Panama, and then removed to James- 
town, where he .soon built up a good practice, 
which he has continually increased ever since. 

In the fall of 1864 he was married at Frank- 
lin, Pa., to Leona Glidden, daughter of Daniel 
C. Glidden. Dr. and Mrs. Ormes are the pa- 
rents of four children : Jesse, Frank, Grace and 
Leo. 

Dr. Frank D. Ormes has been entirely de- 
j voted to the practice of his profession, which he 
i has successfully pursued for nearly thirty years. 
He was a republican until tJie formation of the 
I Liberal Republican party, which nominated 
! Horace Greeley for president, and since then has 
voted the democratic ticket. He is a member 
of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, F. & A. Ma- 
sons, Western Star Chapter, No. 67, R. A. M., 
Jamestown Commandery, No. 61, Knights 
Templar and Ishmalia Temple of the Mystic 
Shrine, at Buffalo. In 1871 he was electe<l 
secretary of his chapter, and has been annually 
re-elected to that office every year since. He is 
a man of business ability and spirit, and of 
I public enterprise. His success and modest 
: competence have been fairly earned in a pro- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



fessional career, wliich promises to be length- 
ened out for many years to come. As a pliy- 
siciau, Dr. Ormes holds high rank in his pro- 
fession. He is a member of the Horareopathic 
Medical Society of western N. Y., the New 
York HonifBopathic Society and the American 
Institute of Homo'opathy. 



DR. WILLIAM PKENDERGAST, a phy- 
sician by profession and a descendant 
of the family by that name, more closely con- 
nected witli the iiistory of Chautauqua county 
than any otiier within its limits, is a son of 
Martin and Piifpbe (Holmes) Prendergast, and 
was born in tiie town of Chautauqua, Chau- 
tauqua county, New Y''ork, on March 20, 1854. 
The founder of the Prendergast family in this 
country was one William Prendergast, a na- 
tive of Ireland, of good family, but by reason 
of the extreme liberalism of his political views, 
compelled to leave tliat country for one gov- 
erned by a more liberal constitution about the 
year 1800. He accordingly emigrated to the 
United States, locating in Chautauqua county, 
New York, and purchased quite a large amount 
of, at that time, unimproved land. His poster- 
ity have since been prominently identified with 
the improvement, settlement and development 
of the county, many of whom have, in the 
professions of law, medicine and politics be- 
come widely known. Mattiiew Prendergast, 
the great-grandfother of William Prendergast, 
was, during the greater part of his life-time, 
a resident of Washington (X)unty, New York, 
but later in life, in company with his brother 
James, in honor of whom the city of James- 
town received its name, emigrated to Chautau- 
qua county, where he died. He was accom- 
panied to Chautauqua comity by his son 
William, a practicing physician who located 
at Mayville and Jamestown, where he con- 
tinued his profession and finally retired to his 
farm in the town of Chautauqua, where he 
passed away. Dr. ^Villiam Prendergast, at 



the time of his death, was the possessor of 
about one thousand acres of laud, had served 
in the war of 1812 as a surgeon, and was a 
well-known and highly respected citizen. 
Religiously, his family was episcopalian, 
while politically his views were thoroughly 
consistent with republican institutions. His 
wife bore him but one child, the father of 
our subject. Grandfather Seth W. Holmes 
was a native of Oneida county, New York, 
emigrated to Erie county. New Y^ork, near 
Buffalo, and later to Mayville, Chautauqua coun- 
tv, wliere he was practically a life-long resi- 
dent. He was a republican in politics, served 
as sheriff of Chautauqua county prior to 1849, 
made a voj'age to the State of Calitbrnia, 
where he successfully engaged in speculation 
for some time and again returned to the 
East. Mr. Holmes united in marriage with 
Sarah Stone, who bore him three daughters, 
the mother of William Prendergast and two 
others. Martin Prendet^ast (father) was born 
in Mayville, Chautauqua county. New York, 
in July, 1816 and has always been a resident 
of that county, occupying the Prendergast 
homestead. At tspenty-five years of age he 
became a clerk in a store and afterwards changed 
his occupation to farming, which he has since 
pursued. Martin Prendergast is a republican 
in politics, and served as supervisor of the 
town of Chautauqua for a period of about fif- 
teen years. His marriage resulted in the birth 
of five children, one of whom, Martha, married 
William M. Whallon, a land owner and specu- 
lator living in Mayville; John 11. (married to 
Antoinette Hunt) is engaged in farming and 
financial matters, and is at present a resident of 
the town of Chautauqua; William (deceased); 
Helen, at home; and William. 

William Prendergast, ]M.D., was educated at 
the Mayville af-ademy, entered Jeflersou Med- 
ical college, Philadelphia, Penna., in 1880, and 
was graduated therefrom in 1883. After his 
graduation, ho located at Mayville, and entered 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



upon the active practice of iiis profession, which 
has been attended with a very high degree of 
success. In connection with his professional 
duties lie gives some time to his farm of one 
hundred acres, located in the town of Chautau- 
qua. Dr. Prendergast in j)olitics is a repub- 
lican. 



TTi TH031A!S AVlI..SO>" is a son of 

^«*^^» Chester and Hannah (Koch) Wil- 
son, and was born in Johnstown, Montgomery 
county, New York, on April 7, 1817. His 
grandfather was a New England farmer of 
English descent and a federalist in politics. 
He died at the age of fifty-six, while his wife 
died at the age of seventy-eight. Subject's 
father was born in Belchertown, five miles 
from Amherst College, Massachusetts, and was 
a saddler by trade. At one time during his 
life he had been a resident of Boston, Ma.s.sa- 
chusetts, where he carried on his trade of saddle 
making. He was a Jeffersonian democrat, a 
presbyterian, and died at the age of .seventy 
years. His mother died at the age of ninety- 
nine years. 

"W. Thomas Wilson came with his flither to 
Chautauqua county in the year 1828. He at- 
tended the common schools, and afterwards 
continued his education in a private academy 
at Forestville, New York. After his gradua- 
tion from that place, he taught school for some 
twelve years, at the conclusion of which he 
took up the study of medicine, which he pur- 
sued for two years, and then relinquished it, 
and commenced the study of law. He was 
admitted to practice before the several courts 
of Chautauqua county in 1844, and in 1S70 
was admitted to practice before all the courts 
in the State of New York, at Bnffiilo. In 1868 
he became justice of sessions, which position he 
held five years, after which he took up the 
special practice of pension law, and has been a 
pension attorney for the past thirty-eight years, 
ju.stice for twenty-six years, and notary public 



for six years. He i^ a democrat in [lolitics and 
an agnostic in religion. 

W. Thomas ^\"ilson was iirst married in 
1836 to Maria Ijouisa Ro.senbaum, a daughter 
of Garrett Rosenbaum, of Albany, New York. 
They had one child, a son, — Thomas L. Wil- 
son, a journalist. His second wife wiis Sarah 
M. Atkins, daughter of the late Almon Atkins, 
whom he married in May, 1874. 



nEA. WILLIAM H. FENTON was born 
in West Mina, Chautauqua county, New 
York, December Ti, 1864, and is a son of Rob- 
ert H. Fenton, a native of eastern New York. 
His father's occupation was that of an engineer, 
in the pursuit of which vocation he spent most 
of his life in the State of New York and in 
the oil territory of Pennsylvania. Politically 
he cast his vote with the Republican party, 
and, as regards matters of religion, he did not 
ally him.self with any denomination until a 
short period prior to his death, which occurred 
at the age of forty-five years. His gi-andfather, 
Azan Fenton, came into Chautauqua county 
when in middle life, and remained here until 
his death at West Mina, at the advanced age 
of ninety-nine years. He was a man posses- 
sing a somewhat remarkable eye-sight, who 
even to his last moment was able to read dis- 
tinctly without the artificial aid of glasses. 
Azau Fenton was a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, to which faith he had been 
converted when but thirteen years of age. His 
firm faith in the efficacy of the Christian re- 
ligion and in its power to give comfort through 
all the moments of depression which are wont 
to harass every life, was his mainstay and 
source of hope throughout all his declining 
years. 

William H. Fenton spent the years of his 
youth in the village of North Clyuier, New 
York, as the adopted son of Sanford Fox; 
received his elementary education in the com- 
mon .schools of his native village, which was 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



afterwards supplemented by a course of study 
at Chamberlain Institute and Female college, 
Randolph, New York, frotu which institution 
of learning lie was graduated at the age of 
twenty-three. He taught music in Chautau- 
qua county and in Pennsylvania from the time 
he was nineteen years old, and also for a time 
after his graduation, after which he supplied 
various pulpits as a local preacher in western 
New York and Pennsylvania, and finally be- 
came a presiding minister in the Metliodist 
Episcopal church. He has occupied his present 
position as pastor at Sinclairville for about a 
year, with a gratifying and encouraging out- 
look for the future prosperity of the churcli. 
Rev. Mr. Fenton is a member of the Royal 
Templars of Temperance, in which he holds 
the position of chaplain. He is republican in 
politics. 

On August 6, 1890, Rev. Mr. Fenton was 
united in marriage to a daughter of P. L. 
Wright, of Wrightsville, Warren county. Pa. 



HERMAN SIX^BEY is a son of Charles and 
Mary Ann (Sherman) Sixbey, and was 
born in Montgomery county, New York, Sep- 
tember 8th, 1838. His grandfather, John Six- 
bey, was of Dutch extraction, of good flimily 
and was born in the State of New York, in the 
Mohawk valley, where his father had been one 
of the original Knickerbockers. From New 
York he emigrated to the State of Michigan, 
where he died, being at the time of his death a 
member of the Methodist Epi.scopal church. 
His wife was a woman of like extraction and 
birth and bore him fourteen children. Mater- 
nal grandfather, John Sherman, was of English 
extraction and lived and died in Schoharie 
county, where he occuj)ied himself farming. 
During the war of 1812 he was captain of a de- 
tachment of cavalry and served in that war with 
bravery and merit. He united in marriage with 
Tirzah Smith, of English lineage and a descend- 
ant of an old Revolutionary family. She bore 



her husband six children. Charles Sixbey, 
father of Herman, was given birth in the Mo- 
hawk Valley, New York, and, like his father, 
emigrated to ISIichigan, where he died at the 
early age of thirty. He was a wagon-maker by 
trade, voted with the whigs and communed 
with the methodists. He was the father of 
three children : Charles, killed on the D. A. V. 
& P. R. R. while employed as brakeman ; 
Mary A., wife of Fred Dutton, of Sherman ; 
and Herman. 

On August 3d, 18G3, Herman Sixbey was 
united in marriage to Marianna R. Buck, daugh- 
ter of Edwin Buck, by whom he has the follow- 
ing children : De Witt, an assistant in his 
father's store; Mary Adelia, Carlton B. and Ar- 
thur W. 

Herman Sixbey was educated in the common 
schools and at the age of twenty engaged in the 
mercantile business at Westfield, New York, 
where he remained about three years. On Au- 
gust 1st, 1862, when the peace of our country 
was disturbed by the outbreak of the civil war, 
he enlisted in the 112th regiment, N. Y. Vol- 
unteer Infantry, and served until February 
3d, 1865. During the first year of his service 
he was advanced from the rank of a private 
through the several official gradations to the 
rank of first lieutenant and finally received the 
recomluendation for a captaincy. He took part 
in the following battles and engagements: The 
siege of Suffolk, the skirmishes around Rich- 
mond, battle of Cold Harbor, Drury's Bluff and 
the siege of Petersburg (at which he received a 
severe wound in the face through the famous mine 
explosion), and for three years his life hung by 
a mere thread. After his discharge from the 
service he returned to civil life at Westfield, 
where he received the appointment of assistant 
collector of internal revenue. He served one 
term of three years as clerk of Chautautiua 
county, at the expiration of which he embarked 
in business in Mayville, where he conducts one 
' of the largest general stores in that village, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



carrying a stock of some fifteen thousand dol- 
lars. He is a stanch republican in politics, a 
Royal Arch Mason, and present Master of Pea- 
cock Lodge, at Mayville, a member of the A. 
O. U. W. and a member of the G. A. R. 



RLBERT A. JAMES, an active and ener- 
getic farmer and a good citizen of Nash- 
ville, New York, was born in Brookfield, Madi- 
son county, New York, February 3d, 1813, anil 
is a son of Louis P. James and Hannah (Hill) 
James. His grandfather James emigrated to 
America from England, though he was of Irish 
descent. LTpon his arrival he located near New 
London, Connecticut, where he took up his oc- 
cupation as cabinet-maker and continued it 
during the remainder of his life. His coming 
to America was just prior to the war of the 
Revolution, so that as far as his loyalty to the 
country of his birth or adoption is concerned, 
he occupied a neutral position. Subject has in his 
possession quite a number of souvenirs and 
mementoes of that memorable struggle. Mater- 
nal grandfather Hill was of English descent, 
and upon his emigration to America also settled 
in Connecticut. I.,ouis P. James claims as his 
native State Rhode Island, where he was born 
April 15th, 1780. While living in Rhode 
Island he pursued the vocation of a farmer, but 
shortly removed to the county of Madison, 
State of New York, where he took up a like 
pursuit. In 1819 he removed to Chautauqua 
county, town of Hanover, where he spent the 
remaining years of his life, and in 1865 died at 
the age of eighty-five years. He owned a farm 
of eighty-four acres of land, which he purchased 
from the old Holland Land company. His 
first political alliance was with the Whig party, 
but at its death he transferred his allegiance to 
the Republican party. He was a member 
of the Methodist Episcopal church for over 
sixty years prior to his death and was one of 
its most earnest and ardent supporters. His 
raarriatje to Hanuah Hill resulted in the birth 



of seven children, three sons and four daugh- 
ters. His wife was a native of Connecticut, 
was born June 1st, 1708, and dial at the age 
of ninety years. 

Albert A. James was reared in the State of 
Connecticut, where he also attended the eonuiion 
schools. He spent his youth as a fanner boy 
and later was apprenticed to a cabinet maker, 
which business he worked at a few years and 
then returned to farming, which for the last 
forty-two years, has been his exclusive occupa- 
tion. He owns a farm of eighty-three acres, 
votes the Democratic ticket and devotes con- 
siderable time and energy to the interests of 
politics. At the time of the civil war he was 
proselyted from the whig party. At the age of 
twenty-four years he was captain of a company 
of militia in New York State. 

On January 21, 1836, he was united in 
marriage to Betsey Near, l)y whom he iiad five 
children : Marilla, wife of Victor M. Dewey, a 
postal clerk of Kansas City, Missouri ; Almeda, 
wife of Jacob Daly, a farmer living near 
Carthage, Cattaraugus county. New York ; 
Hannah, living with her sister ; Harriet, wife 
of Harry Brownell, a farmer of the town of 
Hanover ; and Susan, wife of Frank Irish, a 
gardener of the town of Hanover, Chautauqua 
county. Upon the death of his first wife, he 
was united in marriage to Nancy Mizen, widow 
of Henry Mizen, who bore him one child, 
Frank, now deceased. 



CAULETON M. JONES is a son of Milton 
and Eliza (Jackson) Jones and was born 
in Brocton, Chautauqua cou!)ty, March 19, 1840. 
His grandfather, John Jones, was a native of 
Unadilla in east central New York, entered the 
war of 1812 and was killed at the battle of 
Black Rock. His marriage resulted in the 
birth of three sons and two daughters, one of 
whom, Elizabeth, married Mr. Howell, the first 
postmaster at Brocton. Mr. Howell was a 
colonel in the late civil war, a prominent mem- 



566 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



ber of the Knights Templar, and died in 
AVaukesha, Wisconsin. Grandfather Joshua 
Jackson was one of the oklest settlers of the 
town of I'ortland, Chautauqua county, and 
owned a large tract of laud, upon which now 
stands the greater part of Brocton. He was 
a general business mau and operated a tannery ^ 
for a number of years. In politics his creed 
was decidedly democratic, there being a period 
in the history of the town of Portland when he 
and his two sons constituted the eutire demo- 
cratic party of that town. He was a great ad- 
mirer of Geu. Jackson. His wife was a Miss 
Sherman, tiie daughter of a prominent and 
wealthy family of Chicago. Milton Jones 
(father) was born in Uuadilla, Otsego county, 
New York, and removed to Chautauqua 
county, about 1830 to Salem Ci'oss Roads. He 
was a wagon-maker and general mechanic by 
occupation and died in Ripley, New York, 
(where he removed in 1859) in the year 18G4. 
His political bent was democratic, and relig- 
iously he was a member of the Baptist church. 
He married Miss Eliza Jackson, died in 1877, 
who bore him four children, two of whom died 
youug. Antoinette, the otiier sister of the 
subject, but who is now dead, was the wife of 
R. P. Russell, an oil operator of Bradford, 
Pennsylvania. 

Carleton M. Jones was educated in the com- 
mon and high schools and commenced life as a 
farmer, so continuing until 1885, when he en- 
gaged in the business of handling agricultural 
implements, wagons and general machinery. 
This business claims his attention to-day, in 
which, through energy and close application, lie 
has quite an extensive trade. He also owns a 
farm of seventy-six acres, fifteen of which are 
under grape culture. Politically he is a dem- 
ocrat. 

Carleton M. Jones was united in marriage to 
Mrs. Maggie Connelly [nee Reckinbrode.) 



T ^AFAYETTE JENKS is a son of Obadiah 
■'■^ and Melinthia (Mason) Jenks and was 
born in Essex county. New York, December 30, 
1818. The Jenks have lived in the New 
England States for at least two centuries. The 
grandfather of subject was a native of Ver- 
mont, but his ancestors had gone up there from 
the home of Roger Williams. James Jenks was 
born in the '' Green Mountain State " and from 
there came down into Essex county, Nesv York, 
where he died. He was a miller and farmer by 
occupation ; was married to a Miss Tripp and 
had seven children. Benjamin Mason, who 
was the other grandfather, also came to Essex 
county, where he died. Obadiah Jenks was 
born in the " Green Mountain State " and was 
brought to Essex county. New York, when 
thirteen years old. He was given a superior 
education for the times and later occupied the 
dignified position of school-teacher, which, in 
those days, was one of great honor but of small 
emoluments, and he abandoned teaching to learn 
carpentering and afterwards discarded the latter 
for farming. About 1837 or 1838 he came to 
the town of Poland and purchased a piece of 
land and, making a farm of it, lived tliere until 
he died, when eighty years old. He married in 
the home of his youth when about twenty-two 
years of age, taking for his wife ilelinthia Mason, 
who bore him seven children, three of whom 
are yet living : Lncinda is the widow of Eli 
Taylor ; Lafayette and James M., who makes 
his home in Ellington town. Originally, Mr. 
Jenks was a democrat of the JefFersonian t^'pe, but 
at the inception of the Republican party, he 
transferred his allegiance to it and clung to its 
principles through life. He entered the war of 
1812 as a private and soon after was promoted 
to be a captain and was engaged at tiie battles 
of Plattsmouth and Champlain. His business 
relations were open and straightforward through- 
out his life and his departure from earth was 
mourned and regretted. 

Lafayette Jenks was one of those bids who 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



were taught to work while young, although his 
early education was not neglected. Both the 1 
public and select schools were attended. He 
learned farming from his father and came from 
Essex county to Poland, Chautauqua county, 
where he has since lived. 

lu 1847 he was married to Harriet Bab- 
cock, of this town, and they had three children : 
the youngest, Charles S., is dead ; of the other 
two, Alfred L. is a spice merchant in Buffalo, 
New York. He married Emily Preston and 
has one child, Wilmer; and ArFrank, a lawyer 
of Jamestown, who married Florence Sheldon 
and has two children — Leonora and Anna. 

Politically Mr. Jeuks is a radical and 
straight-out republican, who takes a deep in- 
terest in party elections. He is a member of 
the Baptist church, holding the position of 
deacon. Educational matters also receive some 
of his attention, his opinion being, that the 
strongest bulwark of the nation is the intelli- 
gence of her sons. 

Alfred L. Jenks received an academic and 
business education, which fitted him for the 
eminent position he now occupies in the busi- 
ness world. A. Frank Jenks graduated at the 
University of Rochester, where he enjoyed the 
distinction of being prize orator. Later he 
read law with Senator Teller, of Colorado, and 
was admitted to the bar of Arapahoe county, 
in that State. 

Charles S. Jenks was twenty-four years old 
when he died and had been educated at James- 
town in the academic and business courses. For 
some time he had been associated with his old- 
est brother in the spice business at Buifalo, but 
spent most of his time on the farm. He was 
marrietl to Mary Frost and left her a widow 
with one little daughter, Mabel. She is now 
teaching school at Sinclairville. 



(McKee) Johnston, and was born in County 
Down, Ireland, August 4, 1841. Both his 
father and mother are natives of the same place, 
the former coming to America in 1848, leaving 
his family behind ; he located in this town, 
where he has ever since lived, and until a few 
years ago was engaged in farming and butcher- 
ing ; but having readied the age of eighty 
years he abandoned active business and is now 
taking life quietly. He married Margaret Mc- 
Kee, who is now seventy-five years of age, and 
belongs to the Presbyterian church. She came 
to America a few years after her husband, and 
with her came our subject, then a boy in his 
teens. 

Robert M. Johnston was reared until eighteen 
years of age at his father's home in the town of 
Westfield, and was educated at the common 
schools. He learned butchering with his father, 
and followed the business for some time. In 
1859 he went to California where he found 
employment at his trade, and worked for one 
man for over five years. He then returned to 
Westfield and embarked in the same business 
for himself, but for the past eight years has 
been engagal in farming and grape growing, 
and now owns one hundred and seventeen acres 
of land, twenty-five acres of it being a vine- 
yard. 

In 1870 he married Margaret McGee, a 
daughter of James McGee, of Westfield, and 
he has a family of four children, one ^son and 
three daughters : Lena, Samuel, Catherine and 
Isabel. 

Robert M. Johnston is a republican, but is 
liberal in his ideas, and does not permit parti- 
sanship to dictate to his conscieuce. He belongs 
to the Equitable Aid Union, and is an honest, 
industrious and successful man. 



nOBEllT M. JOHXSTOX, a well known 
farmer and grape culturist, of the town 
of Westfield, is a son of Samuel and Margaret 



AAKON HALL is one of the men to whom 
the city of Jamestown is greatly indebted 
for handsome structures, in which the citizens 
feel a just and honest pride. He is a son of 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Jacob and Eliza (Woodburn) Hall, and was 
born in Sharon, Otsego county, New York, 
March 9, 1830. His paternal grandfather, 
Aaron Hall, was a native of Connecticut, emi- 
grated to Otsego county, this State, and thence 
to Chautauqua county. About 1832, he began 
fanning on a large scale in the town of Char- 
lotte, this county. He married a Miss Platner, 
by whom he had six daughters and two sons. 
Mr. Hall's maternal grandfather, David Wood- 
burn, was an early settler of Cherry Valley, 
this State, residing there during the Revolu- 
tionary war, being a farmer by occupation. He 
married a Miss Lewis, and had four sons and 
four daughters. The father of Mr. Hall was 
born in Otsego county, about 1800, and re- 
moved ,to Chautauqua county, in 1830, and 
located in Charlotte, where he resided until his 
death. He was a farmer and owned two hun- 
dred acres of land. In politics he was first a 
whig and then a democrat, and in religious 
matters was a member of the ^Methodist church. 
He married Eliza Woodburn and had twelve 
children, ten of whom reached maturity. Of 
the sons, Henry P., is a physician with a large 
and lucrative practice in Jamestown ; Homer 
was an architect in Cairo, Illinois, where he 
was killed by a sunstroke, in July, 1890. 

Aaron Hall is a contractor and builder, be- 
ginning in Westfield, this county. In 1862 he 
came to Jamestown and built some of the most 
costly and attractive buildings, among them 
being the residence of ex-Governor Fenton and 
the Central school. He always drew his own 
plans and has always been recognized as a very 
tasteful and competent architect. Politically he is 
a democrat, was highway commissioner in Elli- 
cott for twelve years, and is a member of Elli- 
cott Lodge, No. 169, I. O. O. F., of Jamestown. 

Mr. Hall married Martha Parkhurst, a 
daughter of Hiram Parkhurst, of Chautauqua 
county. Their union has been blessed with 
one child, a son, Morgan W., who is in busi- 
ness with his father. 



■rtETER HAAS, a well known and highly 
-*- respected citizen of Jamestown, is by trade 
a mason. His parents were Geoi'ge and Mary 
(Dick) Haas, who gave him birth in German}', 
on September 14, 1827. His grandparents and 
father were farmers, who lived in Germany all 
their lives. 

Peter Haas was twenty-four years of age 
when he decided to quit the fatherland and come 
to America which he i-eached in 1851. His 
first home in this country was at Watertown, 
Jefferson county, this State, where he remained 
one year. Deciding that he could improve he 
then went to Erie, Pa., which at that time was 
considered far west and remained there two 
years. In 1854 he went to Silver Creek, this 
county, where he remained until 1861, when he 
came to Jamestown and with the exception of 
six years spent at Warren, Pa., where a daughter 
resides and one year in the United States army, 
has lived here uninterruptedly since, following 
his trade. 

He married Elizabeth Dick and to this union 
have been born ten children, seven of whom are 
living: Liesbec (dead) ; Frances, wife of Wil- 
liam Lavery, a mason residing in Warren, Pa. ; 
Hattie, wife of Frank Lilly, a machinist re- 
siding in Stockton, this county ; Lincoln (dead); 
William, a mason, at home ; Elmira (dead) ; 
George, also a mason ; Mary, Charles and Nel- 
lie at home. 

In 1864 Mr. Haas enlisted in the 9th regi- 
ment, N. Y. Cavalry, and going to the front 
took part in the engagement at Winchester, was 
present at Lee's surrender and assisted in the 
paroling of prisoners at Mount Jackson. He 
was honorably discharged and returned home 
when the war closed and resumed his work with 
hammer and trowel. In addition to his trade, 
Mr. Haas is conducting a grocery business on 
North Main street. Politically he favors the 
Republican party and is a member of the Luth- 
eran church. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



569 



BENJAMIN L. HARKISON was born in 
the town of Stockton, Cliautauqua 
county, New York, on March 1st, 1841, and is 
the son of George S. and Mary (Springer) Har- 
rison. His parents were natives of Madison 
county, New York, where his father was born in 
1810 and practiced medicine. From Madison 
county the elder Harrison had removed to the 
State of Ohio, from wliieh State lie came to 
Ciiautauqna county in 1825 and continued the 
practice of medicine over a range of territory 
comprising Cassadaga, Stockton and Sinelair- 
vilic for about forty-four years. He died at the 
age of seventy-eight, was a democrat in politics, 
a man of moral and upright life, but witii no 
particular denominational adherence, and in Free 
Masonry had lieen advanced to tlie degree of 
Master Mason. He was of English descent. 

Benjamin L. Harrison was reared and spent 
his life upon his father's farm on tlie banks of 
Lake Cassadaga. He received his education 
through the common schools, Ellington academy 
and at the University of Michigan, which latter 
institution he attended one year with a view to fit- 
ting himself for the profession of medicine. He 
then went South, where he engaged in teaching 
school until the outbreak of the civil war, when 
he returned to Sinclairville and re-comnienced 
farming, since which time he has become a very 
successful and progressive farmer in the town 
of Gerry. He is a democrat in politics and has 
served as alderman in the city of Dunkirk aud 
is likewise a Mason of liigh standing. 

In April, 18C2, Benjamin L. Harrison united 
in marriage with Lucy Pitman, a daughter of 
Abuer Pitman of the town of Cliarlotte. Only 
one ciiild has been tlie result of the marriage — 
Louis P., of the Brooks' Locomotive Works, 
Dunkirk, New York. 



1^ EWELL I*. HOPSON, a business man of 

\ ^ extended experience aud at present en- 
gaged in grape growing on a large scale, is a 
son of Nelson and Mariila (Fuller) Hopson and 
30 



was born iu Chautauqua town aud county, Feb- 
ruary 18th, 1855. Nelson Hopson was born in 
this county in 1832 and has always lived in 
Chautauqua town, followed farming and made 
it a success. He is now in his fifty-niuth year 
and belongs to the Mayville Methodist Episco- 
pal churcli. Politically he is a prohibitionist 
and takes more than a passing interest in im- 
proving the strength and standing of the third 
party movement. He married Mariila Fuller, 
who is also a native of this county, is now in 
her sixty-second year and is a member of the 
same church to which her husband belongs. 

Newell P. Hopson was reared in the town of 
Chautauqua, spending his youthful days upon 
his father's farm. He acquired such education 
as the district schools could impart and was then 
sent to tiie Fredonia Normal school for a higher 
education. After leaving school he engaged as 
a clerk in a grocery store and staid in Fredonia 
two years and from there went to Mayville aud 
spent a like period as a .salesman of pianos and 
organs for five years. Following this, Mr. 
Hopson began dealing iu stock, prior to 1890, 
buying and shipping large quantities. The last 
named year was spent in Canada, where he ran 
au ice business, but the fall of that year saw his 
return to the United States, and, in partnership 
with his brother, Harry B. Hop.son, bought 
a farm of eighty acres, two miles east of West- 
field on the main road, which they are trans- 
forming into a large and magnificent vineyard. 

He was wedded to Jennie Munger, a daughter 
of G. W. Munger, who lives in the town of 
Portland, in 1879 and they have two very 
bright and promising sons : Harry M. and C. 
Wilsou. 

Mr. Hopson is an enthusiastic democrat aud 
delights in his party's success. In business 
matters he is enterprising and of strict probity. 



"PinVIN R. HOPKINS, M.l)., a resident 

^"^ physician and surgeon of Silver Creek, 
and the surgeou of the Western New York aud 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Pennsylvania railroad, is a son of Ezra and 
Catherine (Johnson) Hopkins, and was born at 
Westfield, Chautauqua county, New York, May 
21, 184'l. The Hopkins are of New England 
descent and were early settlers in the colonies of 
Connecticut and Rhode Island. Among the 
members of one of the Hopkins families of 
southern New England was one who came to 
Otsego county, where one of his descendants was 
the father of Ezra Hopkins, whose son, Dr. 
Hopkins, is the subject of this sketch. Ezra 
Hopkins was reared and learned the trade of 
blacksmith in his native county of Otsego, from 
which he removed to Westfield, where he now 
resides. He is now seventy-three years of age 
and after coming to this county was engaged in 
farming for several years. He married Cath- 
erine Johnson, who was a native of Ohio. 

Edwin R. Hopkins attended the Westfield 
academy and after the completion of his full 
academic course he entered the office of Dr. J. 
M. Brown, of Westfield, as a medical student. 
After reading at Westfield he went to Buffalo, 
where he studied for two years with Dr. Julius 
F. Minor, professor of surgery in the medical 
department of the University of Buffalo, and 
during that time was resident physician of the 
general hospital where he had the benefit of ac- 
tual practice in both medicine and surgery. He 
then entered the medical department of the 
University of Buffiilo from which he was grad- 
uated in February, 1877. In November of the 
same year, he opened an office at Silver Creek, 
where he has remained ever since in the active 
practice of his profession. He has made a 
specialty of surgery in which his services have 
been in constant demand and in which he has 
been very successful. 

Dr. Hopkins owns a vineyard of thirty-eight 
acres, keeps about fifty head of fine Hambletonian 
horses and has a steady demand for his yearling 
colts at one hundred dollars per head. He has 
been the surgeon of the Western New York and 
Pennsylvania Railway for five years and is a 



member of the Chautauqua County Medical so- 
ciety and vice-president of the alumni of the 
medical department of the University of Buffalo. 



HEXRY R. GAY is a son of Rodolphus and 
Anna (Loomis) Gay, and was born in 
Herkimer county. New York, on April 4, 1805. 
His grandfather, Ephraim Gay, was a native 
and life-long resident of the State of Connecti- 
cut, a typical New Englander in life and a 
farmer by occupation. In political faith he be- 
longed to the Federalist party. Together with 
his two sons, Harvey and Henry, twins, he en- 
tered the Revolutionary struggle, he as a pri- 
vate and the boys as drummers. They took 
part in many battles, and through the favorable 
turn of fortune's wheel, were again permitted to 
return to civil life. Grandfather Gay was 
married and had a family of one daughter and 
three sons. Maternal grandfather, Ephraim 
Loomis, was also a native of Connecticut and 
took part in the Revolutionary war. Rodolphus 
Gay (father) was born iu Connecticut, where he 
lived until after his marriage, when he changed 
his fortunes to the State of New York, Herki- 
mer county, about 1790. Here he reared his 
family and calmly met his death. He was a 
farmer by occupation, a democrat in politics, 
and at one time was captain of a company of 
New York State militia. By his marriage with 
Anna Loomis he had four daughters and three 
sons. 

Henry R. Gay was united in marriage to 
Clara A. Tennant, a daughter of John Tennant 
(see sketch of Tennant), by which union were 
born the following cliildren : Laura N. (born 
August, 1828), married first to Isaac Palmer 
(deceased), at the time of his death a native of 
Illinois, to whom were born five children — 
Galon, Frank, Alice, Clara and Etta. Laura 
N. was married the second time to John AVard ; 
Ira R. (born May 5, 1830), married to Diana 
Mason, a daughter of Hezekiah Mason, of Rip- 
ley, New York ; Edith, wife of Allen Bartlett 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



571 



(deceased), an employee of the clerk's office at 
Buffalo, New York ; Bertha, wife of Moses 
Smith (deceased), a merciiant at State Line, 
New York ; Cassius, married to Julia Fessen- 
den, an ice manufacturer of Carthage, Missouri ; 
Ira, a farmer, and Frank H. Alonzo, born in 
Ripley, February 8, 1841, a telegraph operator 
now located in Chica{!;o, Illinois. 

Henry R. Gay received a scanty education, 
took up the work of and became a farmer. He 
removed to Chautauqua county, town of Ripley, 
April 15, 1833, where he has since resided. 
Througii hard work and unremitting energy he 
has succeeded in acquiring a good farm and con- 
siderable personal property. Politically he is a 
democrat and has filled with credit a number of 
town offices. 



HORACE N. GROVER is a sou of Luke 
an<l Isabel (Foster) Grover and was born 
in Orleans county. New York, May 5, 1824. 
Seth Grover, his paternal grandfather, was a 
native of New Hampshire, but spent his last 
days in Vermont, (jraudfather Alpheus Fos- 
ter was born in Massachusetts, where he also 
lived and died. Both grandparents were typi- 
cal New Englanders, strict moralists and social 
ly conservative. Luke Grover, father of Hor- 
ace N., was born in New Hampshire, first mi- 
grated into Vermont and then in 1830 into 
Chautauqua county, New York, where he died 
February 5, 1877. He was a farmer of good 
standing and influence in the several neighbor- 
hoods in which he lived, and in politics was 
both democrat and republican, latterly attaining 
to considerable prominence in political circles. 

Under the Republican party he has credit- 
ably filled the offices of superintendent of the 
poor and town supervisor about four terms. 

Horace N. Grover acquired his education 
through the common schools and commenced 
life as a farmer. This he followed constantly 
until he came to the town of Ripley — March, 
1884 — since which time he has held the office 



of justice of the peace. He is a warm suppoit- 
er of the Rcj)ublican party, and, besides justice 
of the peace, has been a member of the excise 
committee of the county, justice of the sessions, 
and has held other offices at the hands of his 
party. He is a member of the Free and Accept- 
ed Masons of Sherman. In 18C3, June 25th, 
Mr. Grover became a captain of Co. I, 67th 
regiment. New York Infantry, and went to the 
front. He was in the service, however, only 
about thirty days when he returned to take up 
the pursuits of the civilian. He is a good citi-' 
zen, enjoys the public confidence and has made 
a very efficient officer. As a man of honest 
purpose, high aim and charitable disposition, he 
ranks among Ripley's best citizens. 

Horace N. Grover was united in marriage to 
Miss Julia Melhuish, a daughter of Robert 
Melhuish, and is the father of seven children: 
George, married and living at Westfield ; Har- 
vey, met with an accident resulting in his 
death while young; Nettie; Ida; Frederick; 
Frank; and Albert. 



HARRY E. GOODELL, a live and ener- 
getic merchant of Irving, New York, 
is a son of Heury M. and Jennie (Boyle) 
Goodell, and was born in Erie, Erie county, 
Penna., November 15th, 1863. He is of New 
England ancestry, his grandfather, Harry Good- 
ell, having been a native of Connecticut, from 
whence he emigrated to Cattaraugus county, 
village of Cottage, about 1832. Thence he 
removed to Nashville, Chautauqua county, af- 
terwards to Ruggtown and later to Irving, where 
he died. He was a shoemaker by trade, which 
he pursued throughout his life ; in politics, a 
democrat ; in religion, a member of the Baptist 
church. His marriage to Lucinda Weaver, who 
still survives at the age of ninety-two, resulted 
in a family of eleven children — four sons and 
seven daughters. Mr. Goodell was born in 1797, 
and died at the age of eighty-eight. Grandfather 
Edward Boyle was a native of Ireland, County 



BIOGRArilY AND HISTORY 



Donegal, and emigrated to America, locating in 
Jackson, Miciiigan. His death took place in 
Detroit. He reared a family of five children, 
who all lived to mature age. Henry M. Goodell, 
(father) was born December 11th, 1833, in the 
village of Cottage, Cattaraugus county. New 
York. Pie was first a farmer, then a railroader, 
then an express messenger, and is at present a 
clerk in his son's store. He united in mar- 
riage with Jennie Boyle, who is now deceased, 
and had one son, Harry E. 

Harry E. Goodell received a limited educa- 
tion, and when but a mere boy, commenced his 
career as a cash boy, in Erie, Pennsylvania. 
Here he remained one year, when he removed 
to Irving and opened a five cent store, his en- 
tire stock in 1879 being valued at ten dollars. 
Since that time he has remained in the village 
of Irving, and, little by little, has added to his 
business until at the present time he is the 
owner of the leading general store in the place. 
He now carries a stock of general merchandise 
valued at four to five thousand dollars, and has 
a large and increasing busine.ss. In addition 
to his increasing mercantile interests, he is part 
owner of fourteen acres of grapes, and owns other 
valuable real estate in the town. Politically, 
Mr. Goodell is a democrat, and was postmaster 
at Irving for four years, under appointment of 
President Cleveland. He belongs to the Free 
and Accepted Masons of Silver Creek, Silver 
Lodge, of which he is a member in good stand- 



SENECA H. GAGE, a prominent farmer and 
grower of small fruits of Silver Creek, N. Y. 
is a son of ParkerGage, and was born in Janu- 
ary, 1834, in the town of Hanover, Chautauqua 
county. New York. Grandfather Gage was 
born in the State of Connecticut, and died in 
Chautauqua county, New York, some time in 
the '20s. Upon his arrival in the county he 
first located south of Smith's Mills, in the town 
of Hanover, where he set to work, cleared up a 



farm and rendered it fit for cultivation. Farm- 
ing has been his life-long occupation. Polit- 
ically he cast his vote with the old Whig 
party and held membership in the Baptist 
church. He was united in marriage and 
reared a family of three daughters and four 
sons. Parker Gage, father of Seneca H., was 
born in Connecticut in 1801, and removed to 
Chautauqua county with his father, where he 
died in Augu.st of 1849. He always followed 
farming and cast his vote with the Whig party, 
under which he .served as collector in his native 
town. In his religious belief he joined with the 
Baptists. His marriage with Miss Howard re- 
sulted in a family of four sons and three daugh- 
ters : Wallace (died young), Allen, Olive, Car- 
oline, Adaline, Lyman and Seneca H. 

Seneca H. Gage attended the common schools 
in boyhood, and commenced life as a sailor on 
Lake Erie, which occupation occupied twenty- 
seven years of his life. He began at the foot 
of the ladder, and when he quit his .sea-faring 
life, had arisen to the rank of captain. In 
1876 he purchased a farm in the town of Han- 
over, and has since devoted himself to its culti- 
vation. The bulk of his farm has been devot- 
ed to the growing of small fruits and grapes, 
which he has made a special industry in that 
section of the county. 

Seneca H. Gage joined in marriage with Tir- 
zah Maria Scott, a daughter of Chandler Scott, 
of the town of Hanover, Chautauqua county, 
and is the father of three children: Emma, 
wife of Archibald Mulkins, a resident of the 
citv of Buffalo, New York, in the service of the 
Nickel Plate R. R. Mr. and Mrs. Mulkins 
have three children — Archibald, John and 
Emma; Edith, wife of Charles Secord, a farm- 
er of the town of Hanover. They have one 
child — Georgia, wife of Nelson Dicker.son, a 
farmer living near Silver Creek. 

S. H.Gage has always been a democrat in 
politics, but has never been ambitious to hold 
office. He belongs to the Free and Accepted 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTV. 



Masons, Lodge No. 151, at Forestville, New 
York. 



FKEDEUICK GRON, the well-known and 
popular Jamestown liveryman, is a son of 
Andrew and Mary (Simpson) Gron, and was 
born near Stockholm, Sweden, in 1841. An- 
drew Gron was a native of Swetlen where he 
married Mary Simpson and emigrated to Amer- 
ica, settling at Jamestown in 1850. He was a 
farmer by occupation. His wife, who is still 
living at the mature age of eighty-two years, 
bore him seven children : Caroline, married and 
lives in Ohio ; Charles, a resident of James- 
town, and a partner of Frederick ; Frederick ; 
Louisa, who is the wife of S. J. Westerburg, 
and lives at Hartfield, this county ; Augusta, 
resides near Parker City, Pa., with her hus- 
band, Benjamin Brown ; Christina, now Mrs. 
Wilson Stanton, also lives at Parker City ; and 
Hannah, wife of A. A. Aundown,a Jamestown 
lumber merchant. 

Frederick Gi'on acquired his early education 
in Sweden, and was but nineteen years of age 
when he came to America and, after his arrival, 
assisted his father on the farm until September, 
1861, when he enlisted with Co. F, 9th New 
York Cavalry, and remained in tlie Union ser- 
vice until the close of the war, receiving his 
dischaige among the last in July, 18G5. Mer- 
itorious conduct secured him two stripes early in 
the service and from that time he served as cor- 
poral. His brother Charles enlisted at the same 
time and place and in the same company, and 
served the same term of service. They were 
located during the greater portion of their time 
in Virginia, and participated in nearly all of j 
Sheridan's battles. Returning from the front ] 
they soon settled down to peaceful pursuits, and 
together engaged in the livery, sales and board- 
ing stable business on Second Street, James- 
town, where they have a fine large brick build- 
ing, and own about twenty-five good horses 
with carriages and other equipments found in a 



first-class stable. A farm is jointly owned by 
the brothers where they raise hay, etc., used iu 
feeding their stock. Politically Mr. Gron is a 
republican, and is a good and highly respected 
citizen. 



jA ATHANIEL J. FENNEK, an enterjiris- 

4 ing boot and shoe merchant of James- 

town, is the son of James R. and Lavina (Har- 
rington) Fenner, and was born in Jamestown, 
Chautauqua county, New York, May 24, 1845. 
Grandfather Fenner was born in Herkimer 
county, this State, and removed, wlieu a young 
man, to the town of Busti, and was one of the 
pioneer settlers. He lived there for some years, 
enduring the hardshi|)s and privations that be- 
fell the early settlers, tilling the soil to gain 
sustenance for himself and family. Some time 
later he removed to Ripley, adding to his toil 
as a farmer the work of a lumberman, these oc- 
cupations being usually united by the sturdy 
residents. Mr. Fenner married a Miss Robert- 
son, and their union was blest with a large 
family of children. In politics he was an old- 
line whig, and died at Ripley. The Harring- 
ton branch of the family were also natives of 
Herkimer county, and went to Busti at about 
the same time the Fenners arrived there. 
Grandfather Harrington, too, followed the life 
of a pioneer, farming in summer and spending 
the winter lumbering. His wife was a Miss 
Gage, who bore him several children. They 
came to Jamestown, where Mr. Harrington 
died. James R. Fenner (father) was born in 
Herkimer county before the arrival of his pa- 
rents in this county, came with them and re- 
mained at home until twenty years of age, in 
the meantime learning the shoemakiiig trade. 
About that time he came to Jamestown, then a 
small place, and began shoemaking, but soon 
after ope^ied a boot and shoe store, which it is 
believed was one of the fir.sl, if not the first, in 
Jamestown. This business is still conducted by 
Nathaniel J. Fenner, who succeeded his father. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



In connection with his store, Mr. Fenuer dealt I 
some in lumber, shipping and piloting a num- 
ber of rafts of this commodity down the river, 
although the shoe store was his main business 
until his death, which occurred in Jamestown. 
In politics he was a democrat, and a disciple of 
the Unitarian church. He married Lavina Har- 
rington, and reared a family of four sons and 
six daughters : James R., Jr. ; Silas, a whole- 
sale liquor dealer of Jamestown, resides on 
Ninth street — he entered the civil war in Co. B, 
68th Regiment, N. Y. Infantry ; Nathan J., 
and Alexander, also in the shoe business in 
Jamestown. The names of the daughters are 
not given. 

Nathaniel J. Fenner secured a good common 
school education, but early in life was obliged 
to assist his father in the store, beginning at his 
thirteenth year, and has been steadily engaged 
therein since. He entered the war in the same 
company with his brother, and, although but 
eighteen years of age at the time, saw active 
service. 

He joined in marriage with Frances I. Park- 
hurst, who is a daughter of Perry Parkluirst, of 
Elm Flats, this county. 

He has always been a stanch democrat, and 
is one of the oldest shoe dealers in Jamestown. 
He is a member of James M. Brown Post, 
G. A. R., and is secretary of Mt. Moriah Lodge, 
No. 145, F. & A. M., which important office he 
has held for twelve years, during which time he 
has not missed more than three meetings. This 
record is probably without parallel, and shows 
admirable devotion to the order. His uniuter- 
nipted I'esidence here of nearly half a century is 
also worthy of comment. 



of the State of Vermont, and were united in 
marriage in June, 1842. AlbroH. Fessenden, in 
(he begiiming of his career, removed from Ver- 
mont to western New York, to the town of 
Gerry, Chautauqua county, where he engaged 
in the manufacture of brick in connection with 
the operation of his father's farm. His father, 
the grandfather of Ralph C, had originally 
purchased a farm of one hundred and thirty 
acres from tlie Holland Land company, and 
was known as one of the pioneer farmers in that 
part of the county. Both father and son were 
republican in politics ; the former died in Ger- 
ry, at the age of seventy-eight. 

Ralph C. Fessenden benefited by a common 
school education, and also attended for a time 
the academy at Sinclairville. He lives on the 
farm which his ancestors have occupied for the 
past three generations, and, in connection with 
his farm work, operates a large dairy. He is a 
member of the Grange and the Knights of I\Iac- 
cabees. In politics he has alw;'ys been a stead- 
fast adherent of republican doctrines, and has 
served his party as assessor for two years. He 
is a public-spirited, progressive citizen, and in 
matters religious has a tendency toward liber- 
alism. 

Ralph C. Fessendeu's marriage took place on 
February 4, 1874, at which time he was united 
to Jennie Sherman, daughter of the late R. D. 
Sherman, of Sinclairville. The result of their 
union has been six children : Albro, Jessie May, 
Norman J., Harriet, Robert and Benjamin. 



QLONZO FELTON, a citizoi 

-^*- of Ellery, in high standing 



nAJLPH C. FESSEXDEN, a leading flirmer 
and dairyman of the town of Gerry, was 
born November 4, 1851, and is a son of Albro 
H. and Emeline (Atkins) Fessenden, the for- 
mer born on ]\Iarch 25, 181G, and the latter on 
December 9, 1817. His parents were natives 



'u of the town 
I son of 

Ezra and Hannah (Sherman) Felton, and was 
born in Pittston, Rensselaer county. New York, 
September 25, 1819. Levi Sherman (maternal 
grandfather) was a native of Rensselaer county, 
by occupation a farmer, cabinet-maker, and the 
owner of one hundred acres of land. He reared 
a large family and died in the county of his 
birth. James Felton (grandfather) was born in 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Massachusetts, and emigrated to Ohio, wliere he 
passed his remaining life and died. He was a 
blaclvsmith by trade, married and had a family 
of nine children, six sons and three danghters. 
Ezra Felton (father) was born in Rensselaer 
county, this State, and when he first came to 
Chautauqua county located in the western part 
of the town of Ellery ; suliject was at this time 
about one year of age. He died at Bemus Point 
in 1887, at the age of eighty-six years. His 
occupation was farming, while in politics he was 
a Jacksoniau democrat. His first marriage was 
to Hannah Sherman, who bore him two chil- 
dren, Alonzo and one whose name is not given. 
His second wife was Abigail Annis, who also 
bore him two children. 

Alonzo Felton gained his education through 
the common schools, and during his career has 
followed various vocations, but is essentially a 
farmer. He is the owner of a farm of one hun- 
dred and twenty acres at Bemus Point, which 
at present claims most of his attention. In pol- 
itics he is a thoroughgoing republican, and is 
strongly attached to the interests of the party. 

On September 24, 1844, he was united in 
marriage with Caroline Olmstead, who bore 
him five children : George (married to Cordelia 
Oilman), a farmer living in the town of Poland ; 
Julia, wife of Harrison Clark, a farmer residing 
in Eddy county. North Dakota ; Mary, wife of i 
Charles Chase (deceased), of Jamestown ; Em- 
ma O., wife of Edwin 01eau,a farmer of Gene- , 
see county, this State ; and Ada, wife of Charles 
Arnold, a farmer of the town of Ellery. Mr. ' 
Felton is a farmer of recognized worth and 
standing in the community in which he re- ' 
sides. : 



JOHN R. FAY. 



One of the most enter- 
prising citizens of Westfield and one who 
is always found in the fore-front of any move- 
ment tending toward the advancement of 
the material welfare of his town, is John 
E. Fay, who was born in Stockton, Chan- I 



I tauqua county, New York, April 14, 1847, and 
I is a son of Nathaniel and Nancy D. (Bowdish) 
Fay. His grandfather, Nathaniel Fay, was a 
: native of IMassachusetts and came to the county 
in 1808, locating in Portland six years before 
the first town meeting was held there. He was 
subsequently elected a member of the board of 
supervisors of that town. He was a farmer 
by occupation and died well advanced in years. 
His son, Nathaniel Fay, Jr., (father), a native 
of Portland, this county, became a local 
preacher in the Methodist Episcopal church, 
owned and cultivated a farm in Stockton, and 
in 1877, moved to Iowa, where he now resides 
engaged in farming. In politics he is a repub- 
lican, and married Nancy D. Bowdish, a native 
of Columbia county, this State, by whom he had 
several children. She is also a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church. 

John R. Fay was reared on a farm, where he 
remained until 1873, when he came to West- 
field. He received a good common school edu- 
cation and shortly after coming to Westfield, 
erected a cheese factory and engaged in making 
cheese until 1883, when he entered the coal 
trade which he has most successfully continued 
to the present time. He has enlarged it x;on- 
siderably and at his place of business, corner of 
Pearl street and the Nickel I'late Railway, can be 
found not only coal of all kinds, but salt, 
plaster, stone flagging, sewer-pipe, drain tile, 
brick, fertilizers, etc. He is also extensively 
engaged in the cultivation of grapes. In his 
religious convictions he is a Methodist, being a 
member and a trustee of the church of that 
denomination at Westfield, and superintendent 
of its Sunday school. In politics he is a pro- 
hibitionist. He is a member of the F. & A. 
M., and of the Royal Arcanum. 

John R. Fay married, in 1876, Emma J. 
Neill, daughter of Hugh Neill, of Westfield, 
and to them has been born one child, a daugh- 
ter : Clara S. 



576 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



TAMES S. ELLIS is a man who has wit- 

" Dessed the material development of James- 
town and whose labor has been largely instru- 
mental in the erection of many of her most 
substantial and beautiful buildings. He was 
born in the town of Busti, this county, on 
Fel)ruary 19, 1841, and is a son of Edward 
and Angeline (Porter) Ellis. Great-grandfather 
Ellis was born in England, and coming to 
America settled in Connecticut, where he died. 
He married and had eight children, all sons. 
One of these, Richard Ellis, born iu Connecticut, 
was the grandfather of our subject. He emi- 
grated and settled in Norwich and followed the 
sea for sixty years. He became a captain by 
promotion and was sailing during the Revolu- 
tionary war. During his voyages, he met a 
lady in one of the English ports, whom he 
married. Her name was Jane Brown and she 
never came to this country but made her home 
in England, during the time she was not with 
him. Edward Ellis was born in England in 
ISOO. He lived iu Connecticut for some years 
and finally drifted to western New York, 
settling in Niagara county. His father came 
with him. From the latter place he came to 
Busti about 1845 and in 1848 he went to Farm- 
ington, Pennsylvania, where he continued farm- 
ing until his death. He was a whig and a 
republican and a member of the Methodist 
church. Edward Ellis married Elizabeth Lov- 
cring aud had three sons and two daughters. 
John W., living iu Busti, entered the Union 
Army in the 112th regiment. New York In- 
fantry, and attained the rank of sergeant. 
George was also iu the same regiment and died 
in the service from disease. \A'illiam moved to 
Indiana and joined the army from that State. 
Nancy married Henry Fowles, who died in 
Saginaw, Michigan, where she still is living. 
Mary twice married, first to William McCay, 
who died, and she afterwards wedded John 
Kern, who is a draughtsman in Chicago, Illinois. 
His first wife died aud Edward Ellis took for 



his second, Angeline Porter. They had six 
children. Charles engaged in farming near 
Saginaw, Michigan; James S. ; Solomon R. 
entered the 112th regiment New York Infantry 
and died in the service ; Calvin lives at Farm- 
ington, Pennsylvania, and follows farming; 
Anna married William R. Bucklen and lives in 
Jamestown ; and Jane, died young. 

James S. Ellis was educated in the common 
schools and the Jamestown academy. He 
learned the carpenter and joiner's trade and 
worked at it by the day. He married Adelia 
Hunt, a daughter of Anthony Hunt, one of 
Chautauqua's old families, who settled in Elli- 
cott, and they have the following children : 
Jennie, married Thaddeus E. Matsou, wiio is a 
book-keeper for his father-in-law. They have 
one child, Florence A. ; Flora married Frank 
L. Sharp, a machinist of New Castle, Pennsyl- 
vania. She had one child, Louis E., and 
died ; Gertrude also living at New Castle, 
Pennsylvania, married Edward Sharp, a 
machinist. They have one child. Flora ; An- 
thony E., Clida A., James G., Adelia and Allen 
E. live at home ; and Louis died. Industry 
and economy, coupled with good wages, which 
a first class mechanic receives, permitted Mr. 
Ellis in a few years to begin contracting and 
building on his own account, which he did in 
1868 and an extensive business was the result. 
His work was soon recognized as equal to 
the best and his operations were not limited to 
Jamestown. He has been connected with a 
large number of the buildings that have been 
erected in .lamestown and vicinity during the 
past twenty-five years. He was the master 
builder of Halls, the largest worsted mill in the 
city, and has built more of the first class 
houses than any active firm in the city. In 
connection, or we had better say in conjunction, 
with his contracting and building business, he 
has a well equipped planing mill near the boat 
landing where they do a large custom work, as 
well as manufacturing doors, frames, &c., for 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



577 



his own buildings. Politically Mr. Ellis is a 
republican and is serving his third terra as 
councilman from his ward, having served ever 
since Jamestown was incorporated a city. He 
is a member of Mount Moriah Lodge, No. 
14.5, F. & A. M. and belongs to the Methodist 
Episcopal church, in which he, with his wife, is 
an active worker, a teacher in the Sabbath - 
school, steward and class leader. 



TOSEPH WILSON EDMUNOS was born 
^^ in the village of Lee, Oneida county, New 
York, January 14, 1847, and is a son of Ven- 
nerand Louisa (Hicks) Edmunds. Grandfather 
John Edmunds was a native of New England, 
born in the year 1782, and married Nancy 
Ciiapmau (born 1784) in the year 1801. He 
died in his native State at the age of forty-three 
years. Venner Edmunds, father of Joseph W., 
and his wife were both born in Massachusetts, 
and both held membership in the Methodist 
Episcopal church. Mr. Edmunds was a demo- 
crat until the formation of the Republican party, 
after which he became a strong supporter of the 
new party. His death took place on April 24, 
1881, at the age of seventy-six years. 

Joseph W. Edmunds removed with his 
parents to the county of Chautauqua in 1850, 
at which time they located upon the farm which 
he now occupies. Like other farmer boys, his 
tim'e in youth was divided between farm duties 
and attending school. He went .somewhat 
beyond the common .schools, completing a course 
at the Fredonia academy. He remained at home 
and assisted his father on the farm until he had 
attained the age of twenty-four years, when he 
entered upon the struggle of life on his own 
account. Besides carrying on the ordinary line 
of farm work, he also runs a large dairy, deals 
somewhat extensively in registered cattle, and is 
a manufacturer of maple sugar. In political 
creed he is a republican, and at the hands of his 
party has served as assessor, collector and post- 
master. He is a man of unblemished record. 



morally and socially, and is a member of the 
A. O. U. W., and of the Patrons of Husbandry. 
Joseph W. Edmunds united in marriage, on 
November 1.5, 1869, with Alice Brown, daugh- 
ter of Henry B. Brown, formerly of Cheshire, 
Massach usetts. They have fi ve en i Id ren : Louisa 
S., Lizzie M., Marv C"., Henrv B. and Rozelle. 



/^TTO K. I>EAN. The world is full of men 
^^ who have achieved success with the assist- 
ance of parents, relatives and friends, but a self- 
made man, one thrown upon his own resources 
at a tender age, to whom the world can point, 
before his fortieth year is reached, and say, 
" there is a successful man," is indeed rare. 
Such a man is the one whose name heads this 
sketch. O. K. Dean is a son of .Jerome J. and 
Adaline N. (Kip) Dean, and was born at Sher- 
man, Chautauqua county, New York, July 27, 
1856. The paternal grandfather Dean came to 
Chautauqua county and settled in Sherman, 
where he became the proprietor of a tannery 
and followed the trade of a shoemaker. He 
was of English extraction and a member of the 
Methodist church. He married and reared a 
family of three children, one sou and two 
daughters : Anna, who became Mrs. Miller ; 
Mary J., wife of Miles Clark ; and .Jerome J. 
(father). Mr. Dean died and was buried at 
Sherman. The maternal grandfatiier, Benjamin 
Ivip, was identified with the early jirosperity of 
the town of Slierman. He was born in Johns- 
town, N. Y., on April 27, 1797, being of 
German parentage. On February 23, 1823, he 
married Esther Miller, of Newark, this State, 
by whom he had four children : Marinda became 
the wife of Samuel Hall ; Frances, twice mar- 
ried, first to Mr. Coolie, and later to Rev. D. 
M. Sliver ; Adaline N. is the mother of subject ; 
and Jennie, who married Rev. E. T. Green. 
The town of Sherman was at first called Kip- 
ville, where Mr. Kip died in 1850. 

O. K. Dean was educated in the Sherman 
schools until his fifteenth year, when he was a 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



student iii the Fredonia Normal, finishing that 
course in 1873, and returned to tiie academy at 
Sherman in 1876. After this he began a clerk- 
ship with J. T. Green, of Sherman, and remained 
there two and a half years. Succeeding this he 
clerked eighteen mouths for De Forest Wills, at 
Jamestown. Sickness then attacked him, and 
for nine months he was an invalid, but his con- 
stitution vanquished the fever, and for a while 
he tilled the soil of a small farm near Sherman. 
When President Garfield took charge of the 
government, the river and liarbor improvement 
work was revived and Mr. Dean was employed 
on Lake Michigan. In April, 1882, he came 
to Fredonia, and kept books for H. J. Putnam 
in that gentleman's fine grocery store, and nine 
moutiis later, in partnersliip with his brother, 
bought the Sherman hotel and livery, which was 
conducted until 1887, when, renting his interest 
in the hotel, he moved to Wichita, Kansas, 
where he remained nine montlis. Keturning 
east at the expiration of that time, he engaged 
temporarily with Finch &. Co., tobacconists, of 
Corry, Pa., and later bought a coal, wood and 
building material business, which he is now 
conducting, doing a wholesale business of sixty 
thousand dollars per annum. Mr. Dean is a 
good business man, has iiad a varied and prac- 
tical experience, and knows how to do business 
and how to make business friends. Forest 
Lodge, No. IGG, F. and A. M., of Fredonia, 
has honored him with the chair of Worthy 
Grand, he now being a Past Grand, and is also 
a member of the Royal Arcanum. 

On January 20, 1882, he married Edith, 
daughter of George and Lavina Vermilya, of 
Columbus, Pa., where the former is a farmer. 
They have two children : Jerome J., born Feb- 
ruary 25, 1883; and George V-, born July 31, 
1885. 

During Mr. Dean's peregrinations his com- 
prehensive mind saw good investments in differ- 
ent localities, and he is now owner of a coal ju'op- 
erty of two hundred acres at Pittsburg, Kan., 



and one hundred and sixty acres at Joplin, Mo., 
covering zinc deposits of great value. Mr. 
Dean's mother died in 1867, and he was bound 
to a Mr. Flagort, who did not treat him kindly. 
He lived afterwards with J. P. Hall, near Min- 
eral Point. From this beginning he has risen, 
thrust aside tlie barriers, and to-day is a solid 
man, commanding the esteem of all. His father 
died September 13, 1882. 



n LEXANOER H. DOTY, a farmer and 
■**■ long resident of the town of Gerry, Ciiau- 
tauqua county. New York, is a son of George 
W. and Mary (English) Doty, and was born in 
the village of Norway, Herkimer county, New 
York, on June 18, 1820. His father was a 
native of Washington county, a farmer of rec- 
ognized standing, a whig in politics and atten- 
dant member of the Baptist church. He 
died in Herkimer county at the age of sixty 
years. His mother (grandmother of Alexan- 
der H. Doty) was of Scotch descent and pas.sed 
away in Herkimer county at the extreme age 
of one hundred and five years. 

Alexander H. Doty was reared in Herkimer 
and Oneida counties, in whose common .schools 
he gained his early education. He learned the 
trade of a carriage-maker at Herkimer and Sin- 
clairville, but came to Chautauqua county in 
1851 and engaged in the occupation of farming. 
He practically relinquished his trade and "has 
hitherto made agriculture and dairying his life's 
occupation. Mr. Doty has always voted the 
democratic ticket, is a man of unblemished life, 
and unqualifiedly honest in all his business re- 
lations and transactions. He has been a mem- 
ber of the Free and Accepted Masons for the 
past thirty years, in which he holds the office 
of junior deacon. He also belongs to the 
Grange of his town and takes an active interest 
in all movements relating to agriculture and 
agricul tural development. 

Alexander H. Doty was twice married; first 
to Emilv Cummins, a daughter of the late 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Charles Cummins of Floyd, Oueida county, 
New York, who bore him one child: Smily 
Holmes. His second wife was Abbey Scott, 
daughter of the Rev. John Scott of Gerry, New 
York, to whom he was united on November 9, 
1882. 



TA>^ILLIA3I E. MONTGOMERY has had a 

-'"'- somewhat strauge and varied career. 
When he was only five years of age, that dread 
disease and swift messenger of death, cholera, 
swept away in less than twenty-four hours, his 
father, mother and four brothers. He was boru 
in Manchester, Lancaster count}', England, 
May 12, 1827, aud is a son of William and 
Mary (Calverley) Montgomery. In 1832, after 
the terrible calamity to his parents and broth- 
ers, he was taken to Dublin, the capital of Lein- 
.ster county and of Ireland, where he remained 
until he was seventeen years old, receiving a 
common school education. In 1844 he came to 
the United States and located in Albany, in the 
county of the same name, this State, where he 
secured employment in a piano manufactory, 
where, however, he remained but a short time 
before he went down the Hudson and shipped as 
a common .sailor on a whaling vessel, on board of 
which he spent nearly four years, during which 
time he sailed entirely around the world and 
assisted in slaying a great number of the ceta- 
cean monsters of the deep. In the latter part 
of 1848 he returned to Albany and engaged in 
the Britannia metal aud silver plating business, 
in which he continued until 1857, when he 
went to Rochester, a manufacturing town in 
Fulton county, Indiana, and operated a farm a 
short time. In 1860 he came to Dunkirk and 
secured employment in the Erie Locomotive 
Works, working for them five years and then 
enlisting in the United States Navy, but was 
never ordered to report for duty, as the war 
closed immediately after his enlistment. He 
continued in the employ of this company until 
it was succeeded by the Brooks Locomotive 



works in 1869, to which he transferred his ser- 
vices and worked there until 1878, when he 
went to Bradford, McKean county, Penn.sylva- 
nia, where he kept a hotel until 1884, and then 
returned to Dunkirk and engaged in the gro- 
cery business, erecting a handsome and commo- 
dious two-story structure at the corner of Deer 
and Sixth streets, in which he i)laccd an exten- 
sive general supply of staple and fancy grocer- 
ies, provisions and beer, where he still continues 
having a large patronage. In politics he is a 
republic;in, and in Masonic orders he is a com- 
panion of Dunkirk Chapter, No. 191, R. A. M., 
having been a Royal Arch Mason twenty-five 
years; is also a Sir Knight of Dunkirk Com- 
mandery, No. 49, K. T. From his world-wide 
experience and observation, he has naturally im- 
bibed pliilosophical and broad-minded views of 
men aud events, and is a pleasant aud enter- 
taining gentleman to meet. 

William E. Montgomery was twice married; 
fir.st to Elizabeth Chapman, of England; and 
second to jNIary C. Eri), of Centre county, 
Pennsylvania. 



FRANCIS B. JACKSON, foreman of the 
boiler depai'tment of the Brooks' liocorao- 
tive works, of Dunkirk, was born in York- 
shire, England, August 24, 1825, and is a son 
of Robert and Elizabeth (Smith) Jack.son. 
Robert Jack.son was born in 1799, in York, 
England, where he learned civil engineering. 
He was in the employ of the English govern- 
ment for some time during which he was sent 
to the United States aud made several land sur- 
veys in New Jersey and other States. He and 
his brother Anthony were engaged in business 
in the cities of York and London for several 
years and in 1828 came to Troy, New York, 
where they remained but six months. He then 
removed to Schenectady and was one of the 
.sub-contractors on the Schenectady & Albany 
Railroad. He was a whig and an active mem- 
ber of the Protestant Episcopal church, and 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



died at Syracuse in 1882, aged eighty-three j 
years. His wife, Elizabeth (Smith) Jackson, 
who died at forty-five years of age, was a native 
of the same place and a member of the same 
church as her husband. 

Francis B. Jackson was reared principally at 
Schenectady, and after leaving school went to 
learn the trade of machinist. After working 
for some time in the macliine shops he discov- 
ered that he preferred boiler-makiug to the 
trade of machinist which he abandoned to 
become a boiler-maker. In 1848 he went to 
Albany, New York, where he had charge of 
Townsend's boiler shops for ten months. He 
then left the State capital to locate at Troy 
where he had supervision of all the boilers 
usal on the R. & S. and T. & S. railroads until 
1850 when he resigned to become foreman, at 
Syracuse, of the largo boiler department of the 
locomotive works of tiie Saratoga & Utica rail- 
road. Five years later he was offered and ac- 
cepted employment under the Erie Railroad 
company, in Dunkirk, where in 1869 he was 
offered and accepted liis present position of fore- 
man of the boiler de[)artment of the Brooks' 
Locomotive works. 

January 18, 1840, he married Sarah A., 
daughter of Henry Powfit, of Oxford, England. 
Mr. and Mrs. Jackson have three children : 
Robert H., a boiler-maker; Dr. Frank S., a 
practicing physician of Dunkirk ; and Mary E., 
wife of Edward B. Osborne of Mt. Morris, 
New York. 

In religious belief Francis B. Jackson is an 
episcopalian and a member and warden of St. 
John's eliurcii of that denomination in Dunkirk. 
He is a repul)lican and served several terms as 
alderman of his city when it was but a village. 
He is a member of Dunkirk Lodge, No. 767, 
F. & A. M., Dunkirk Chapter, No. 191, H. R. 
A. M., and Dunkirk Commaudery, No. 40, 
Knights Templar. Mr. Jackson in 1847 vis- 
ited the land oi" bis nativity where he spent six 
months in Yorkshire and other parts of 



England. He visited, during this trip, many 
places that are famous in history and became 
well acquainted with the customs and usages of 
the English people. 



lllflC'HAEL 1»AULVS, JR., was born in the 

4 -^ southern part of Prussia, December 6, 
1842, and is the son of Michael and Barbara 
(Bewen) Paulus. His tlither was a native of 
the same section and came to the United States 
in 1852, locating in Buffalo. Erie county. New 
York, where he remained until his death, 
which occurred in 1860, at the age of fifty-four 
years. He was a member of the Roman Catho- 
lic church, and married Barbara Bewen, also a 
native of Prussia and a member of the Catholic 
church. They had several children, one of 
whom was JMichael. Mrs. Paulus resides alter- 
nately with her children in Buffalo and Dim- 
kirk." 

Michael Paulus, Jr., came to America with 
his father and acquired an education in the pub- 
lic schools. After leaving sciiool he was em- 
ployed as a clerk in a general store until 1878, 
when he entered the mercantile business on his 
own account, at which he has continued ever 
since. He carries a large stock of dry goods 
and groceries at his place of business on Ijyon 
street, and enjoys a large trade. In politics he 
is a democrat and in religion a member of the 
Roman Catholic church. He is an enterprising 
man and very pleasant and agreeable in his 
manners. 

Michael Paulus, Jr., was married in 1871, to 
Margaretta Elker, daughter of Frederick 
Elker, of Dunkirk. Two children have been 
born to tliis marriage : Pauline and Laura. 



CHARLES EHLERS, one of the largest 
and leading furniture dealers and up- 
holsterers of Dunkirk, was born in Mecklen- 
burg Schwerin, now one of the northern 
provinces of the German empire, January 22, 
1839, and is a .son of John and Mary (Penn) 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Ehlers. His parents were born in Mecklen- 
burg Sciiwerin, where his fatiier, who was a 
Lutheran and a tailor by trade, died in 1878, 
at the age of seventy-eight years. John Ehlers 
married Mary Penn, who was born in tlic 
closing year of the last century and is a mem- 
ber of the Lutheran church. She came in 
1871, to Dunkirk, where she has resided ever 
since with the subject of tiiis sketch and is 
now well up in the ninety-second year of her 
age. 

Charles Ehlers was reared and educated in 
his native province where he learned the trade 
of an upholsterer. Seeking a wider business 
field with more favorable opportunities than 
those presented in Germany, he came to the 
United States, in 1865, and settled iu Dun- 
kirk where he worked at his trade until 1872, 
when he established himself in the furniture 
business to which he added undertaking in 
1879. Tn that year he associated George E. 
Philipbar, a German and native of Virginia, 
with him in the furniture business under the 
firm name of Charles Ehlers & Co. They are 
manufacturers and dealers in cabinet ware and 
upholstering, besides paying particular attention 
to undertaking and making a specialty of 
pictures and picture-frames. They are ex- 
perienced mechanics, who are thoroughly ac- 
quainted with every detail of their business 
from the factory to the .salesrooms. They not 
only have a splendid stock of furniture but 
manufacture all ordered work. Their stock 
embraces all kinds, styles and qualities of furn- 
iture from the practical and useful to the 
artistic and ornamental. Their large furniture 
establishment on East Third street is a double 
fronted building 22.xG0 feet in dimensions and 
its second floor is devoted to one of the finest 
and most fashionable selections of upholstery to 
be found in the western jiart of the State. 
The success obtained by the establishment is 
due to the energy, perseverance and ability of 
Mr. Ehlers, who commenced life with no capi- 



tal but his trade, yet has achieved good com- 
mercial standing and ranks among the repre- 
.sentative business men of his city. He founded 
his business upon the eve of the greatest panic 
that has ever occurred in the history of this 
country, yet by judicious management became 
safely through that distressing period which 
brought ruin and downfall to so many old and 
substantial business firms. Year by year since 
1872, he has steadily increased his stock and 
his patrons until the former is of ample pro- 
portions while the latter are spread over a wide 
area of surrounding territory. 

Charles Ehlers has been twice married. His 
fir.st wife, whom he married iu 1866, was Caro- 
line, daughter of George Philipbar, of Dunkirk. 
She died in 1875, leaving four children : 
Ferdinand, Emma, Flora and Herman. After 
her death Mr. Ehlers, in 1876, united in mar- 
riage with her sister, Mary Phili])bar. By his 
second marriage he has one child, a daughter 
named Mildred. 

In politics Mr. Ehlers is a democrat. He 
attends regularly and contributes liberally to 
the Baptist church of Dunkirk. He is a mem- 
ber of Ancient Order of United Workmen, 
Chautauqua Castle, No. 188, Knights of Pythias 
and Point Gratiot Lodge, Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows. 



FRANK F. STAFF is another man in 
whom the inherent genius and industrial 
habits of his Teutonic ancestors are simply 
synonymic of success. He is a son of Paul 
and Rose (Vogel) Stapf, and was born in Pitts- 
burg, Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, Decem- 
ber 6, 1864. Paul Stapf was born in 1822, in 
Aschaffenburg, Lower Franconia, Germany ; 
came to America when a young man, and 
located in Pittsburg, where for most of his life 
he has been a foreman in an iron works. In 
religion he, as well as his wife, is a consistent 
member of the Catholic church, and in politics 
is a democrat. He married Rose Vogel, who 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



was born in Bavaria in 1830, and they have 
been the parents of several children. 

Frank F. Stapf spent his boyhood in Pitts- 
burg, attending the public schools of that place, 
and after leaving school learned the jeweler's 
trade with his brother, John A., who was then 
a manufacturer of jewelry in the Iron City. 
In 1886 he left his brother's factory, and came 
to Dunkirk, where he went into business for 
himself at No. 83 Third street, where he has 
since remained, having built up a very success- 
ful trade, carrying a fine stock of jewelry, etc., 
and making a specialty of fine watch and jew- 
elry repairing. 

Politically he is independent, a member of 
the Knights of Pythias and the Knights of 
Maccabees. 

Frank F. Stapf was married in 1888 to 
Emma Allgaier, a daughter of Joseph All- 
gaier, of Dunkirk, and their union has been 
blessed with two children : Mabel and Laura. 



JOHN A. STAPF is a man whose natural 
energy, industry and ingenuity would be 
a guarantee of ultimate success in whatever he 
might undertake. He was born in Pittsburg, 
Allegheny county, Pennsylvania, November 
30, 1856, and is a son of Paul and Rose (Vo- 
gel) Stapf. Paul Stapf is a native of Aschaf- 
fenburg, a manufacturing city in Lower Fran- 
conia province, Germany, being born in 1822, 
and emigrating to the United States when quite 
a young man, located in Pittsburg, where he 
has since resided, and where he has been em- 
ployed most of his life as a foreman in an iron 
works. He married Rose Vogel, who was 
born in Bavaria in 1830, by whom he has had 
several children. Politically he is a democrat, 
and he and his wife are devoted members of 
the Catholic church. 

John A. Stapf was reared in Pittsburg, 
where he received his education in the public 
schools. When he was eleven years old, he 
began to learn the jewelry business, working 



in the best establishments in that city until 
1874, in which year he engaged in the manu- 
facture of jewelry on his own account. Two 
years later he removed his business to Parker 
City, Pa., where he remained two years, and 
then came to Dunkirk, this county, and con- 
tinued in the same business until 1879, when 
he engaged in the retail jewelry trade, in which 
he still remains. He carries a fine large stock 
of everything pertaining to a first-class jewelry 
house, and enjoys a very flourishing patronage. 

John A. Stapf was married in July, 1875, 
to Mary Zobel, of Pittsburg. Their union has 
been blessed with two children, — one son and 
one daughter : John W., born February 4, 
1876 ; and Flora M., born January 29, 1882. 

In politics he is a democrat, and is a mem- 
ber of the Free and Accepted Masons, Knights 
of the Maccabees, Knights of Pythias, the 
Equitable Aid Union, the Germania singing 
society, and is an affable and popular man. 



nEV. JOHN BANDINALLI was born in 
Genova, or Genoa, as it is commonly 
known, in the province of Liguria, kingdom of 
Italy, August 27, 1835, and is the son of Dom- 
inick and Francesca (Ricci) Bandinalli. He 
was reared in his native country, educated in the 
monastic schools, and ordained as a priest in 
1858, emigrated to the United States the same 
year and located in Pittsburg, Pa., where he 
acquired the English language in the only mon- 
astery then in existence in this republic. In 
1860 he came to Dunkirk and assisted in estab- 
lishing a monastery to be conducted by the Pa.s- 
sionists order, of which he was a member. 
This order had been first planted in America, at 
Pittsburg, in 1852, and now has thousands of 
members scattered in every State and territory 
of the Union. In 1861 the order at Dunkirk 
incorporated the Dunkirk Literary, Scientific 
and Missionary Institute. Father Bandinalli 
remained in Dunkirk until 1866, when he was 
appointed by the bishop of that diocese, rector 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



of St. Michael's monastery at West Hoboken, N. 
J., where he remained three years when he was 
appoiuted rector of St. Jusepli's monastery at 
Baltimore, Md., where lie remained six years, and 
was then appointed provincial counselor at St. 
Michael's church at West lloboken. In 1 880 he 
returned to Dunkirk where he has since resided 
and is rector of St. Mary's Catholic church and 
monastery. This parish he assisted in organizing 
in 1860 but the church edifice had been dedicated 
in November, 1854. The present church build- 
ing is a superb structure, with an elegant inter- 
ior, the church and monastery costing over forty 
thousand dollars. The congregation includes 
over four hundred families. The Passionist or- 
der also built, in 1868, Columbus Hall, at a co.'it 
of twenty thousand dollars, which is the loca- 
tion of the parochial schools, where nearly tliree 
hundred pupils are enrolled. Father Bandin- 
alli is very popular among his parishioners. 



nEV. ANTHONY KLAWITER, pastor of 
St. Hyacinth church of Dunkirk and 
who planned and built in Buffalo, N. Y., the 
first Byzantine church ever erected in tlie United 
States, was born at Posen, Poland, November 
13, 1836, and is a son of Augustine and Jo.^eph 
(Telarska) Klawiter. He was reared in the his- 
toric city of Warsaw, whose struggle in the 
cau.se of Polish independence has become a part 
of the history of the world and received a lib- 
eral education. In 1860 he was ordained as a 
priest at Warsaw where he was the pastor of a 
Catholic church for fifteen years. In 1875 he 
came to tiie United States where he was stationed 
in Chicago and had charge of St. Stanislaus 
Catholic church for one year. He then went to 
Howard county, Nebraska, where he was pastor 
of St. Paul's church for four years at the end of 
which time, in 1881, he came to Dunkirk and 
became pa.stor of St. Hyacinth's church which 
was erected in 1875. After three years .service 
he went to Buffalo and had charge of St. Stan- 
islaus church for two years. In 188(! he built 



St. Adalbert's church with a seating capacity of 
sixteen hundred and a. school building to accom- 
modate one thousand children besides a fine par- 
sonage. The churcii and school were both in 
one building whicli he erected in the wonder- 
fully short space of three months. This church 
was burned on January 26, 1889, and within 
the same year Father Klawiter planned and com- 
menced the erection of the present splendid St. 
Adalbert church of Buffalo. In 1890 he re- 
turned to Dunkirk where he has ciiarge of St. 
Hyaciutli church with a congregation of three 
inindred families, and is erecting a tasteful par- 
sonage in addition to daily visiting and instruct- 
ing in his parochial school of two hundred and 
fifty children. Reverend Father Klawiter is a 
man of fine education and refined tast&s, who is 
an earnest and successful church worker. 

The St. Adalbert Catholic church which 
Father Klawiter planned and built in Buffalo is 
a stone and brick structure of the Byzantine 
style and consists of a grand portico, vestibule, 
nave and two aisles, transept, 52x106 feet; 
sanctuary, two vestries, two chapels for the sis- 
ters and a large choir with accommodations for 
six hundred singers. This church is in the form 
of a Latin cross 86x235 feet in total width and 
length, with two large towers one hundred and 
thirty-five feet in height and an imposing cupola 
of one hundred and sixty-five feet, whose in- 
terior is frescoed in Byzantine colors and paint- 
ings, representing .scenes from the life of St. 
Adalbert. It has imposing altar.s, organ, chancel, 
the statues of the Apostles and the fourteen 
stations of the crucifixion. St. Adalbert church 
will be visited not only by worshipers but also 
by amateurs of art. The head of this grand 
undertaking was the Reverend Father Andrew 
Klawiter, then rector of St. Adalbert congrega- 
tion, through whose incitation, sacrifice and love 
of art, one of the sublimcst monuments for 
Christian worship, was erected to the pride of 
the Polish nation and as an ormament to this 
country. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



TllTIRZA N. BENJAMIN, M.D., one of 

4 Dunkirk's successful physicians and sur- 

geons, was born in Oroomiali, Persia, and is a 
son of Rev. Mirza N. and Tlieresa (Gillett) 
Benjamin, He who reads of the Grecian re- 
public and the Roman empire should not fail to 
learn the story of the Persian power which was 
supreme in western Asia for several centuries 
by means of the superior civilization and mili- 
tary genius of its people ; and to become ac- 
quainted with the history of modern Persia, 
which now ranks as one of the foremost Asiatic 
countries. The Benjamin family is one of the 
old and respected families of Persia, and Rev. 
Mirza N. Benjamin, the father of Dr. Benjamin, 
was born in Oroomiah, where he served for 
many years as an Ejji.scopalian minister. He 
died in 1852. His widow was a native of the 
same town, where she died in 1866. 

Mirza N. Benjamin receivetl his education at 
the university of his native town, and after he 
was graduated, commenced reading medicine 
with Dr. Franklin H. Young, who was a grad- 
uate of the Kings Medical college, of London, 
England. At twenty-one years of age he 
accompanied Dr. Young to Ijoudon, where he 
took one course of lectures at Kings Medical 
college. In January, 1863, he came to New 
York city, where he took a course of lectures at 
Bellevue Medical college, and then entered the 
medical department of the University of Ver- 
mont, at Burlington, in that State, from which 
he was graduated in 1864. Two days after 
graduation he entered the Union army as a 
contract assistant surgeon, was soon promoted 
to surgeon and was stationed respectively in 
Louisville, Nashville and Memphis. After the 
close of the war became in September, 1865, to 
Fredonia, and was in active practice there until 
1882, when ho came to Dunkirk, where he has 
been in the continuous and successful practice of 
his profession ever since. He is a member of 
the Chautauqua County Medical society, and in 
addition to his large practice in Dunkirk, has 



retained a portion of his Fredonia practice. 
While serving in the departments of the Cum- 
berland and Tennessee he was one of the few 
contract surgeons. 

Dr. Benjamin united in marriage with Julia 
Salsbury Spencer, daughter of Seneca Spencer, 
of Oneida county. Their union has been blessed 
with one child,, a daughter, named Caroline 
Harriet. 

Dr. Benjamin is a republican in polities and 
a member of the Protestant Episcopal church. 
He was offered the position of surgeon general 
of the Persian army, besides other distinguished 
positions in Persia, but he declined to return to 
his native country, as he does not like the 
present form of Persian government, and has 
declared that he would rather be in King's 
county than to be king of Persia. Dr. Benja- 
min has never met any of his countrymen since 
coming here, and is probably the only Persian 

physician. 

© 

j^ETEK F. VALENTINE is a remarkably 
-*- skillful workman in his line of business, 
for he can make any part of a watch, under- 
stands the repairing of tower clocks and can 
regulate the movement of the most delicate 
chronometer or the most ponderous clock, and 
is also a fine practical machinist. He was born 
in Austria, July 9, 1851, received his education 
in the common schools of his native country 
which he attended until he was sixteen years 
old, when he sought the land of equality and 
freedom, where he landed in 1867 and located 
in New Jersey, where he acquired the trade of 
a machinist. In 1870 he came to Dunkirk and 
secured employment as a machinist at the 
Brooks' Locomotive works, where he remained 
until 1880, when he was engaged by the Fre- 
donia Watch company of Fredonia, this county, 
which erected the tirst watch factory in the State 
of New York. After working for them one 
and one-half years he was made foreman of 
their machine shop and continued here until the 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



factory was moved to Peoria, Illinois, whither 
he went and i-emained with them until 1888, 
when he returned to Orange, N. J., where he 
was emplo3-ed for six months in Thomas A. 
Edison's works on the latter's famous phono- 
graph. From there he came to Dunkirk, this 
county, and engaged in the jewelry business on 
his own account, in which he is still having a 
fine stock and a large and constantly increasing- 
trade, his store being located at No. 19 Railroad 
avenue. He is liberal in his political opinions 
and always votes for the man he considers best 
fitted for the office. 

P. F. Valentine, in 1872, united in marriage 
with Sophia Widman, a daughter of Charles 
Widman, of Dunkirk, by whom he had five 
children, three .sons and two daughters : Carl, 
Sabina, Ferdinand, Grace and Albert, all of 
whom are living except Ferdinand, who died in 
1888, aged nine years. Mrs. Valentine was 
killed in the great railroad disa.ster at Chat- 
worth, Illinois, in 1887, and Mr. Valentine was 
married a .second time, in 1889, to Dora Wid- 
man, a sister of his first wife. 



JOHN BOURNE has entered the .second half 
^ of a century, and, during the last quarter 
through which he has pas.sed, has witne.«.scd more 
changes of scene and covered more territory 
than ordinarily falls to the lot of man. He was 
born in Fredonia, Chautauqua county. New 
York, August 22, 1839, and is a son of Thomas 
and Huldah (Cooley) Bourne. His father was 
a native of England and emigrated to America 
in 1832, when he married Huldah Cooley, a 
native of Vermont, and a school teacher, by 
whom he had several children. He was a born 
sailor, graduating from the English service as 
passed-midshipman when fifteen years of age 
and eventually becoming a captain in the mer- 
chant marine, making twenty-nine trips from 
England to American ports. In his religious 
principles he was episcopalian and a member of 
that church. He died in Fredonia August 31, 

;!1 



1839, nine days after the birth of his son John. 
His wife (mother) was a member of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church and died, aged seventy- 
three years. • 

John Bourne was reared in Dunkirk until he 
was thirteen years old, and tlien in the country 
round about, receiving his education in the com- 
mon .schools. At the first extension of the Erie 
canal he secured a position as ax-man iu the 
engineer corps, with which he remained three 
years. In 1869 he went to Sheridan, this 
county, and engaged in farming operations until 
the summer of 1861, when he enlisted, in Au- 
gust, in Co. D, 72d N. Y. Vols, and served 
until the close of the war, being honorably dis- 
charged at Kingston, New York, in July, 1865. 
He participated in all the princij)al battles in 
which his regiment was engaged and was 
wounded twice, once in the neck at the battle of 
Gettysburg by a minie-ball and once by a spent 
ball at the battle of the Wilderness, which 
knocked him senseless. Neither wound was 
sufficiently serious to cause him to be .sent to the 
hospital. After his discharge from the army he 
came to Dunkirk and was employed as clerk in 
the office of the United States Express company 
until 1860, when he went West, where he was 
employed as messenger and route agent by the 
same company for three years, and afterward as 
agent at Paoli, Kansas, for nine months, after 
which he was engaged iu the transfer business 
for a year at Fort Scott, Kan-^as. In the latter 
part of 1870 he was engaged by tiie Overland 
Transportation company and placed in charge 
of the men employed in the transfer of their 
business to the M. K. & T. R. R., and remained 
in this position until the M. K. & T. reached 
Denison, Texas, in 1872 when the contract of 
the O. T. company was completed. He was 
then employed by the M. K. & T. R. E,. Co., 
and continued with them until April, 1873, 
when, at the request of John Buckley, ticket 
agent at the Erie railroad station in Dunkirk, he 
came here and accepted a position as clerk and 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



assistant ticket agent in the Union depot. In 
this service he remained until 1881, wlien he 
was appointed ticket agent, which ofiBce he now 
holds with general satisfaction. Politically he 
is a straight republican and takes an active inter- 
est in National, State and local politics. His 
family are unitarians. He is a member of 
William O. Stevens Post, G. A. R. 

John Bourne was married August, 1866, to 
Edith Buckley, youngest daughter of John 
Buckley, of Dunkirk, and has had several chil- 
dren, of whom two sons and two daughters are 
now living: Philip H., Graham M., Augusta 
D., and Juliet Madge. While he was at Lime- 
Stone Gap, Indian Territory, in 1872, in the 
employ of the Overland Transportation com- 
pany, a daughter, Lilian, was born. She was 
the only white child of New York parentage 
ever born in the Indian Territory. Her birth- 
place was in the reservation of the Choctaw 
Nation. She was an uncommonly bright and 
promising child, but was attacked with diphthe- 
ria in 1882 and passed beyond to join the angels' 
throng. 



mILLL\]VI H. HABELL, the organizer 
and general manager of the Harell 
Steam Heating company of Dunkirk, was born 
in the city of Paterson, N. J., February 23, 
1861, and is a son of Richard and Margaret 
(Hays) Harell. Richard Harell was born in 
England in 1836, and came when a boy, with 
his parents to New Jersey, where he was en- 
gaged in the machine shops in Paterson until 
1877, when he went to Hudson, New Jersey, 
and was interested for three years in the Clapp 
& Jones Manufacturing company of that place. 
In the spring of 1880 he removed to Dunkirk 
and accepted his pi'esent position of foreman of 
the Brooks' Locomotive works. He is a re- 
publican in politics, a Master Mason in Free- 
masonry and married Margaret Hays, who 
was born in Paterson, New Jersey, in 1841. 
AVilliam H. Harell passed his boyhood days 



in Paterson, where he attended Tallman semi- 
nary. In 1877 he went with his parents to 
Hud.son, where he remained until 1880, when 
he became a clerk in the freight office of the 
N. Y., L. E. & W. R. R. at Salamanca, N. Y. 
Two years later he came to Dunkirk, where he 
learned the trade of machinist in the Brooks' 
Locomotive works. In 1886 he left these 
works and organized the Harell Steam Heating 
company, of whicli he is general manager and 
his father superintendent. They manufacture 
steam and hot water heating apparatus and pay 
attention to ventilating and plumbing. Their 
specialty is a steel-plate tubular boiler, patented 
by R. Harell in 1883, which is made in a great 
variety of styles and sizes and is perfectly 
adapted to warming all classes of buildings, 
from the ordinary dwelling to the largest 
factory. Their system of heating has been suc- 
cessfully applied to some of the largest manu- 
facturing establishmeuts and many private res- 
idences in Dunkirk and other cities of western 
New York. Their business increa.sed so much 
that on May 1, 1890, Mr. Harell organized a 
stock company with a capital of forty thousand 
dollars and they are now erecting an extensive 
plant for the manufacture of boilers and radia- 
tors on a large scale and in quantities sufficient 
to meet the present demand for them. 

W. H. Harell is independent in politics, for 
which his business aSairs leave him but little 
time. He is a Royal Arch Mason and holds 
membership in Dunkirk Chapter of H. R. 
A. M. 



OKVII^LK M. HILLKR is of German de- 
scent, his ancestors coming over with the 
colony from Holland, which settled New Am- 
sterdam, now New York city. He was born in 
Genesee county. New York, January 21, 1831, 
and is a son of Michael and Rachael (Grandy) 
Hiller. His paternal grandfather Hiller 
was a soldier in the Revolutionary war, was 
taken prisoner by the British, and spent three 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



years on board a prison ship. At the close of 
the war lie was exchanged, but his health was 
so l)adly shattered that he died a few years 
afterward, and his brother-in-law, Gen. Philip 
Schuyler cared for his family and reared and edu- 
cated the children. Michael Hiller, (father) was 
a native of Herkimer county, N.Y., born in 1787. 
He married Rachael Grandy, when a young 
man moved to Genesee county and cleared a farm 
from the wilderness. In 1837 he moved from 
Genesee county to Cattaraugus county, where 
he cleared a nice farm and spent the rest of his 
life there. He was a stirring man, a member 
of the Baptist church, a strong abolitionist and 
a "conductor "on the famous " under-ground 
railroad." He died in 1854. His wife (mother) 
was a native of Connecticut and a member of 
the Methodist Episcopal church. She died in 
1838. 

Orville M. Hiller was brought up on a farm, 
educated in the common schools and in Spring- 
ville academy, where he spent two years, and 
then learned the trade of carpenter and joiner. 
In 1851 he came to Dunkirk and pursued that 
occupation until 1863, when he enlisted for 
three months in company D, 68th regiment N. 
Y. Vols., was commissioned second lieutenant, 
and served his term of enlistment. In 1865 he 
was appointed deputy sheriff of Chautauqua 
county, held that office nine years, and in 1874 
was elected police justice of Dunkirk for two 
years and re-elected in 1876 for a like term. 
From 1876 to 1886 he was employed at his 
trade by the Erie R. R. Co., having previously 
worked for them twelve years, 1851-1863 in 
same capacity. In 1886 he was again elected 
police justice and has held that office ever since. 

Politically he is a straight republican and 
takes an active part in politics. He is a mem- 
ber of Dunkirk commandery K. T. In addition 
to his other business he is interested in real 
estate. 

Orville M. Hiller was married in 1852 to 
Abigail Connell, of Dunkirk, and has had 



several children, of whom two are living : 
Mary M., who is married to Lester F. Stearns, 
district attorney, who resides in Dunkirk ; and 
Lilian E. 



i^HARLE.S F. WHITE, the intelligent edi- 
^^ tor of the Dunkirk Advertiser and Union, 
was born June 29, 1842, in Steuben county. 
New York, and is a son of Joseph H. and 
Charlotte N. (Hilton) White. Joseph H. 
White was a native of Philadelphia, Pennsyl- 
vania, but came to Hornelisville, New York, 
when a small child and made his home with an 
aunt. In early manhood he followed farming, 
that being the principal work of the country, 
but in 1847 he saw an opportunity opened in 
furnishing ties for the Erie railway at Corning, 
New York, which he did for some time with 
profit. Mr. White was an intelligent man who 
took an interest in politics and was a recognized 
democratic leader of his section. In 1850 he 
went to California and afler mining there for 
ten years went to Fort Hope, British Columbia, 
and was killed in a mining accident in May, 
1861. He married Charlotte N. Hdton, who 
was a native of Ontario county. New York, and 
is now living, aged seventy-four years, in Hor- 
nelisville, where she is a member of the Meth- 
odist church. 

(Charles F. White was reared in Hornelis- 
ville and got his education from the public 
schools of that city. When nineteen years of 
age he enlisted in Co. K, 17th regiment. New 
York Infantry and served three years. His 
was a fighting regiment and they participated 
in the battles of Yorktown, Hanover Court- 
house, Second Bull Run, Antietam, Fredericks- 
burg and Chancellorsville. He was discharged 
at New York in June, 1864, his term of enlist- 
ment having expired. Deciding to learn the 
printing business he entered the office of the 
Havana Journal, in Schuyler county. New 
York, learned the trade and worked there in 
all seven years. He was industrious and eco- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



nomical and saved money enough so that in 
May, 1871, the opportunity presenting, he 
bought a one-half interest in tlie Alkyhany 
County Democrat, published at Wellsviile, New 
York. January 1, 1873, he bought his part- 
ner's interest and conducted it until August 14, 
1874. In November, 1875, he bought a one- 
lialf interest in the Advertiser and Union which 
he has since conducted with ability and to the 
satisfaction and instruction of its readers. It is 
a nine column, four page, 29x45 paper. Ag- 
gressively democratic — has a circulation of six- 
teen hundred and constantly increasing in 
Chautauqua and adjoining counties. It is a 
live and progressive journal, and is fearless in 
advertising what it deems to be right. 

In 1873, Mr. White !narried Jennie E., 
daughter of Henry ]\Iiller, of Wellsviile, New 
York. They have two children, one son and 
one daughter: Joseph C, born March 24, 1876; 
and Nellie May, born July 4, 1877. 

C. F. White is a member of W. O. Stephens 
Post, No. 393, G. A. R. ; Lodge No. 145, F. 
& A. M.,of Dunkirk; and the Royal Arcanum. 



HON. L. F. STEARNS, a resident lawyer 
of Dunkirk and now serving his second 
term as district attorney of Chautauqua county, 
is a son of Crawford and Lovina (White) 
Stearns, and was born in the town of Villanova, 
Chautauqua county, New York, July 27, 1856. 
The Stearns and Whites are of English descent 
and the grandfathers of L. F. Stearn.s, Benja- 
min Stearns and Joel White, came from New 
England to Chautauqua county, where they 
followed farming. Benjamin Stearns was a 
native of Vermont, and died in the town of 
Villanova, in 1865, while Joel White (maternal 
grandfather) was horn in Massachusetts, where 
his family was founded by the White who 
came over in the 3Iayflower, and from which 
State he came to this county, in which he 
followed farming and manufacturing until 
his death. Crawford Stearns (father) was 



born in the town of Villanova in 1830, and 
has been principally engaged -in farming and in 
raising, buying and shipping stock. He owns 
four hundred acres of land in the town of Dun- 
kirk, has been a member of the Methodist 
church for many years and is a strong republi- 
can in politics. His wife is also a member of 
the MethodLst Episcopal church and was born 
in 1835. 

Lester F. Stearns grew to manhood on the 
farm and attended Forestville Free academy, 
one of the best schools in the county Leaving 
the academy he taught school for two years and 
then went to the Bi-adford oil district of Penn- 
sylvania where he remained for one year and 
had charge of several wells that were being 
sunk for oil, besides the supervision and over- 
sight of a large strip of oil territory. After re- 
turning from the oil fields he resumed teaching 
which he followed until 1879 when he com- 
menced the study of law with J. A. Parsons of 
Forestville, and then came to Dunkirk where 
he read for some time with Holt & Holt, but 
completed his legal studies with C. B. Bradley, 
at that time district attorney. He was admit- 
ted to the bar in April, 1882, and in June of 
that year opened liis present law office at No. 
221 Center street where he has fine rooms and 
a handsome library. 

In July, 1889, he united in marriage with 
Mary H. Hiller, daughter of police-justice Hil- 
ler, of Dunkirk. Their union has been blessed 
with one child, a son named Harrold. 

L. F. Stearns is a republican in politics, 
owns a neat and tasteful residence on Swan 
street and enjoys a good practice. In 1883 he 
was nominated for special county judge, but de- 
clined the nomination, but the following year 
was elected special surrogate and served as such 
for three years. In 1886 he was elected as dis- 
trict attorney and in 1889, was re-elected for a 
, term of three years which will expire in 1893. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



FRANKLIN SIMMONS, owner of the fine, 
large residence at No. 517 East Second 
street, Jamestown, is engaged in the manufac- 
ture of lumber, owning a forest tract in Catta- 
raugus county. He is a son of Philander and 
ifary A. (Wade) Simmons, and was born in 
Poland, Chautauqua county, New York, Aug- 
ust 29, 1827. His great-grandfather, Eben- 
ezer Simmons, was a native of Connecticut, of 
English extraction, and his grandfather, Zariel 
Simmons, was also born in that State, but re- 
moved to Washington county, N. Y., and after- 
wards to Chautauqua county, same State, where 
he arrived in 1817, .settling in Poland, where 
he died. He was a farmer, and married Sallie 
Hunt, who bore him twelve children. His 
maternal grandfather, Pember Wade, was born 
in Connecticut, but went from there to Mead- 
ville. Pa., and was one of the fir.st settlers of 
that ancient place. He married Martha Lord, 
whose brother, Samuel Lord, was also a Mead- 
ville pioneer, and owned a portion of the land 
upon which Allegheny college now stands 
Philander Simmons was born in Washington 
county, New York, March 20, 1?98, came 
into Chautauqua county, and left his Poland 
farm in 1858, removing to Jamestown. Until 
his advent here he was a farmer, and, owning 
twenty acres within the city, he devoted some 
of his time to cultivating it. He was an enthu- 
siastic republican, and a strong anti-slavery 
man, besides being a deacon in the Baptist 
church for a number of years. He married 
Mary A. Wade, and was the father of ten chil- 
dren : Eliza; Leander (dead) ; Franklin ; Har- 
vey ; ClarLssa M. ; Martha T. ; Ira (dead), 
served in the civil war with his bi'others, Wil- 
liam and Adelbert P. ; and Chester A. 

Franklin Simmons was educated in the dis- 
trict schools and began life as a manufacturer 
of pails. He remained in this business one 
year an employee, and four years the proprietor, 
and then he bought a .shop and made scythe 
snaths, grain cradles and chairs until 1857, and 



then enlarged his business, turning out all kinds 
of furniture, which was operated up to 1867, 
when he sold out and moved on his farm near 
Ashville, and lived there three years, then re- 
turned and engaged in the .same business for 
four years longer, finally giving it up, at the 
same time buying the place lie now owns on 
East Second street and selling furniture at re- 
tail. This was succeeded by the grocery busi- 
ness until 1882, when the lumber business, 
which has since grown to great proportions, was 
established. 

He married a Mi.ss Williams, a daughter of 
Asa Williams, of this county. 

Politically ]\Ir. Simmons is a republican, and 
has been the as.sessor and overseer of the poor 
for Jamestown. Both he and Mrs. Simmons 
are members of the Baptist church, the latter 
since thirteen years of age. 



rjNDKEW SOLOMONSOX, JR., a native 
■**■ of Sweden, was born on June 21, 1852, 
near the historic town of Gottenburg. Andrew 
Solomon.sou, Sr., and his wife are land-owners 
in Sweden, are engaged in cultivating their laud 
and are more than ordinarily well-to-do subjects 
of their king. 

Andrew Solomonson, Jr., lived with his 
parents, helping them to cultivate their farm, 
until reaching the age of twenty, when he 
started for America. He reached New York 
in 1872, and at once started west, his first stop 
being Titu.sville, Pa. Remaining there a short 
time he decided to go elsewhere, and went down 
to Williamsport, Pa., where he staid until 
1874, when he came to Jamestown, where he 
has resided ever since. His first work here was 
in a planing-mill, and he continued to work for 
others until 1885, when he decided to embark 
in business for himself The result is the fine, 
large- grocery store located at the corner of 
Windsor and Second streets, in connection with 
which he conducts a first-class meat shop. 

He was married to Anna A. Lawrence, a 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



daughter of John E. Lawson, of Jamestown, 
who is in business as a carpenter and cabinet- 
maker. They have had two children, David 
L. and A. Jonatiian. 

Like many of his countrymen, Mr. Solomon- 
son is a republican in political matters, is a 
good and respected citizen, and has a pleasant 
and comfortable home. 



HON. EGBKRT E. WOODBURY, a man 
of great natural ability, of superior legal 
attainments, of rare independence and earnest 
convictions, who deservedly won and modestly 
wears the honors of political life, is the gentle- 
man whose name heads this sketch. He is the 
only son of Frank and Philetta (Mills) Wood- 
bury, and was born March 29, 1861, in the 
town of Cherry Creek, Chautauqua county, New 
York. George Woodbury, grandfather of Eg- 
bert E. Woodbury, was a farmer who for many 
years lived and finally died in Cherry Creek 
town, a well-known and respected citizen. His 
death occurred in the early sixties. He married 
and reared a family of one son and two daugh- 
ters. Frank Woodbury was born in Cherry 
Creek and lived there nearly all his life, follow- 
ing the occupation of a farmer. He married 
Philetta Mills, who bore him one child, tlie 
subject of this sketch. He died in 1862, while 
Mrs. Woodbury is still living. 

Egbert E. Woodbury was reared on his 
father's farm and received his education in the 
common schools, with a three years' course at 
Chamberlain institute, at Randolph, Cattaraugus 
county, where he was graduated. After this, 
deciding to adopt the profession of the law, he 
began reading law with Hon. R. R. Crawley, 
of Randolph, and later attended the Albany 
law school. After this, in 1882, we find him a 
student in the law office of Lakin & Sessions, 
one of the leading legal firms of Jamestown, 
and in 1884 he was admitted to the bar of 
Chautauqua county and has since been practic- 
ing his profession. It must not be overlooked 



that the early loss of his father put great re- 
sponsibility upon the young man, and before 
the triumphs which we have recorded were 
achieved the hard work of a monthly farm 
laborer was known to him, and afterwards ex- 
perience taught him that a school teacher's life 
is not a bed of roses. On attaining his majority 
he cast his fortunes with tiie Republican party 
and has been active in politics ever since. In 
1886, when less than twenty-five years old, he 
was elected a justice, which difficult office he 
filled so satisfactorily (hat his constituents re- 
quested him to accept a re-election in the spring 
of 1890, but he declined. In the fall of that 
year his party made him its nominee to repre- 
sent Chautauqua county in the State Assembly, 
and although but twenty-nine years of age, his 
ability was recognized and the people elected 
him with a flattering majority. It has been 
stated that Mr. Woodbury was active in the 
party — for two years, 1888 and 1889, he was 
chairman of the county committee and in the 
elections in which he led them they were 
victorious. 

On Christmas day, 1880, Mr. Woodbury 
united in marriage with Florence E. Holhrook, 
daughter of Wills F. Holbrook, of Cattaraugus 
county. Their union has been blest with two 
children: Grace E. and Frank C. 

Hon. E. E.Woodbury is an example of Ameri- 
can possibilities, if to a good physical constitution 
there be added push, determination and perse- 
verance. Still a young man, the eminence to 
which he may attain cannot be foretold, and to 
the world it looks as if he had everything neces- 
sary to make a man contented. 



JOHN F. O'COXXELL is a son of Patrick 
^ and Honora (Finley) O'Connell, and was 
born July 10, 1860, in Busti (Ashville), Chau- 
tauqua county, New York. His paternal grand- 
father, Patrick O'Connell, was a native of 
County Kerry, Ireland, where he married Helen 
Gregg, by whom he had five children. They 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



all caQie to America, four of whom, Michael, 
Morris, James and Patrick, settled in Chautau- 
qua county, and John, the fifth son, settled in 
Toledo, Ohio, where he has charge of the L. 8. 
& M. S. R. R. grain elevator. Morris entered 
the army and near the close of the war went 
home on a furlough, where he died. John Fin- 
ley (maternal grandfather) was a native of Abhy 
Fail, County Ijimerick, Ireland, where he spent 
his life. His wife was Julia Sullivan and they 
had several children. Patrick O'Connell (father) 
was born in County Kerry, Ireland, and came 
to America in 1849, locating at Buffalo, this 
State, for a short time, when he removed to 
Danville, from thence to Lakewood, this county, 
and afterwards to Ashville on a farm, where 
he lived about four years. He next went to 
Kentucky, where he became interested in a 
whiskey distillery, in which business he con- 
tinued but a short time. He then returned to 
this county and the succeeding autumn sought 
new fields in Missouri and other western states, 
being absent about a year, during which time 
he speculated in fruit. He again returned to 
this county and, after having invested in real 
estate in Jamestown, he removed to that city 
where he now resides. He worked as a sailor 
on the great lakes before coming to this county 
and since his residence in Jamestown has under- 
taken contract work of various kinds. Politi- 
cally he is a democrat, and in religious faith a 
member of the Catholic church. He married 
Honora Finley, by whom he had five children, 
four sons living in Jamestown and a daughter 
at home : Michael, Morris, Daniel, John F. and 
Mary. 

John F. O'Connell received his education in 
the common schools and the academy at James- 
town and by self-study and close application. 
He worked for the Jamestown bedstead works 
for two years, afterwards with D. C. and J. W. 
Breed & Co. for eight years and five years with 
A. P. Olson. Considering himself well skilled 
in the business, he, with Andrew P. Quigley, 



commenced the manufacture of various kinds of 
furniture. This firm continued but three 
months, when he formed a partnership with W. 
T. Marsh and John Dschuden under the firm 
name of O'Connell & Co. They make a spe- 
cialty of parlor and library tallies and hall 
racks and employ seventeen men, besides having 
five salesmen on the road. Mr. O'Connell is a 
liberal democrat, always voting for the man 
whom he thinks is best fitted for tlie place. He 
lias served as a delegate several times to the 
county conventions and for eleven years lias 
been a member of the Deluge Hose Co., No. 
1, having been assistant foreman for three 
years. Mr. O'Connell is liberal in his views, 
generous in temperament, and is always willing 
to aid in any movement which is for the in- 
terest of the city. 



CI RTHUR C. WADE, a prominent lawyer 
**■ of Jamestown, N. Y., is a son of George 
L. and Jane E. (Pearson) Wade, and was born 
December 12, 1852, in the town of Charlotte, 
Chautauqua county, New York. His grand- 
father, George Wade, was a native and life-long 
resident of the town of Charlotte, where he was 
engaged in the occupation of farming. His 
marriage to a Miss Bowen resulted in the birth 
of eight children. Maternal grandfather 
Pearson was born in England, emigrated to 
America while yet in the vigor of life and 
located in the town of Charlotte, Chautauqua 
county, in 1828, where he finished his labors 
and died. At the time of his emigration to 
America, his daughter, the mother of Arthur 
C. Wade, was but eight years of age. George 
L. Wade (father) was born in the State of 
Pennsylvania, in the year 1823, emigrated to 
Chautauqua county when iu early manhood 
and at present lives in the town of Ellington, 
where he operates a farm and carries on his 
trade of a mechanic. He is a republican in 
politics, a methodist in his religious views, and 
a warm supporter of religious enterprises. His 



BIOGRAPHY Ayn HISTORY 



marriage to Jane E. Pearson, resulted in the ' 
birtli of seven ciiiklren, five sons and two 
daughters : William, now living at Cherry 
Creek, this State ; Jennie E., wife of Henry 
Irwin, a resident of Warren, Pa. ; Charles E., 
of Pine Valley, Cattaraugus county, this State; 
Alfred E., a jeweler, conducting a business in 
Buffalo, N. y.; John T., of Ellington, N. Y.; 
Lilian A., wife of Bert Willsie, a citizen of 
Cattaraugus county, this State ; and Arthur C. 
Arthur C. Wade received his elementary- 
education in the common schcj^ls of his native 
county and later attended Ellington academy. 
Upon the completion of his education he took 
up the study of law with Theodore A. Case, of 
EIHngtou, with whom he remained one and 
one-half years. With this preliminary ac- 
quaintance of the law, in the fall of 187G, 
he entered tlie Albany law .school and was 
graduated therefrom in May, 1877, and in 
June of the same year commenced the 
practice of law at tiie village of El- 
lington. Here he remained until January, 
1883, when he removed to Jamestown, where 
he has since remained, being at present a 
partner of the legal firm of Cook, Fisher & 
Wade. Mr. Wade is still a young man in the 
midst of an active and successful professional 
career. He is a profound student of law, a 
hard worker, a skilled advocate and an eloquent 
pleader at the bar of justice. Aside from his 
legal qualifications he is a man of recognized 
worth and ability in the fields of politics and 
literature, being a political speaker of rare 
brilliancy and force. Personally he is a man 
of fine address, possessing many genial and 
social qualities, affable and well liked not only 
by the members of his profession but uniformly 
by the citizens of Jamestown. 



FREDERICK N. 3L\.RVIX is a son of 
David R. and Elizabeth (Cone) Marvin, 
and was born October 25, 18G0, in Ellicott, 
near Jamestown. His paternal grandfather was 



a native of Connecticut. He had three sons 
and one daughter : Henry C, David R., Miolon 
R. and Hattie. Henry C. married Belle 
Barlow, a daughter of Attorney Barlow, of 
Jamestown. He is employed by Gokey & Son, 
shoe manufacturers in Jamestown ; David R. 
was born in Connecticut, in 1821, and died in 
Ellicott, in 1887. He came to that town from 
Connecticut, in 1855, and remained there until 
his death. He was a farmer and owned much 
real estate in Jamestown. He was a republican, 
an active member of the Congregational church 
in Jamestown, of which he *was a trustee. 
Hattie married W. N. Gokey, of the firm of 
Gokey & Son ; Newton R. married Edith 
Jewett, of Jersey City, N. J. He is corres- 
ponding secretary of the A. A. Griffing Iron 
company in Jersey City. 

Frederick N. Marvin was educated in the 
Jamestown High school, and after graduation 
was employed by W. N. Gokey & Sou, and for 
six years had charge of a department there. In 
August, 1889, he .severed his connection with 
the firm and with C. E. Tucker engaged in the 
manufacture of shoes, under the firm name of 
Tucker & Marvin. They are located on Steele 
street, and make all kinds of ladies and misses' 
shoes, employing fifty men. Seven active com- 
mercial travelers and the rapidly extending 
reputation of the productions are combining to 
build up a fine business. Mr. Marvin has full 
charge of the manufacturing department and 
inspects every shoe before it leaves the factoiy. 
He believes in the old axiom, " If you want 
your business attended to as it should be, do it 
yourself." Politically he is a republican, and 
belongs to the Royal Templars of Temperance. 
He and his wife are members of the First Con- 
gregational church. 

Frederick N. Marvin married Beruice E. 
Bates, June 16, 1886. She is a daughter of 
Ira C. Bates, one of the first settlers of James- 
town. They have one child, a daughter: 
Beruice E., born June 8, 1887. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



593 



CLAYTON E. BAILEY. One of the raeu 
wlio assists in distributing the comforts of 
life to many families in Jamestown, is Clayton 
E. Bailey, of the firm of INIorgan, Maddox & 
Co. He is a son of Edward C. and p]lizabeth 
(Eddy) Bailey, and was horn in Jamestown, 
November 25, 1865. His paternal grandfather, 
Putnam Bailey, was a native of Connecticut, of 
English descent. He was a clock manufacturer. 
Politically he was an old-line whig and served 
his party in the legislature of Connecticut. He 
married a Miss Griswold, and had two sons and 
two daughters, one of the latter being dead. 
Edward C. resides in Jamestown; Joseph in 
New York city, and Jennie in Connecticut. 
Joseph has retired from business, having accu- 
mulated a competency. He was a member of 
the Connecticut legislature one term. The 
maternal grandfather of Mr. Bailey, Rev. 
Hiram Eddy, was a native of Jamestown, where 
he is now living. He is a minister of the Con- 
gregational denomination, and still preachesocca- 
sionally. He is a graduate of Oberliu college and 
has held several important charges. He served in 
the army during the Rebellion as chaplain of 
112th regiment, enlisting in Co. B. He married 
Elizabeth Hawlez and they had several children. 
The father of jSIr. Bailey was born in Go.shen, 
Connecticut, September, 14, 1839, and emigra- 
ted to Jamestown in 18G2, where he still 
resides. He has engaged in various kinds of 
business, mainly forming and mercantile. He 
is at present a member of the firm of INIorgan, 
Maddox & Co., manufacturers of furniture. 
Politically he is a republican. He married 
Elizabeth Eddy and they have three children : 
Edward P., employed by the People's Gas 
company of Jamestown ; Frances E. and Clay- 
ton E. 

Clayton E. Bailey was educated in the 
Jamestown High school, and later was employed 
as clerk for three years in the Chautauqua 
County Bank in Jamestown. In 1886 he en- 
tered the firm of Morgan, Maddox & Co. 



They occupy a handsome block on Steele street, 
and in addition a work-room 80 x 40 feet in 
dimensions, on Second street. The factory is 
90 X 50 feet, four stories, and employs one hun- 
dred men. Eight men represent the firm as 
traveling .salesmen, and the fine grades of furni- 
ture find a ready market in all parts of the 
Union, and their business is rapidly and steadily 
increasing each year. Mr. Bailey has full 
charge of the financial and correspondence de- 
partments. Politically, Mr. Bailey adheres to 
the principles of the republican party. 



lUTAJOR ALONZO C. PICKAK1>, who has 

V received wounds and won honor on 
southern battle fields, is a well known member 
of the Chautauqua county bar, and one of the 
most successful business men of southwestern 
New York. He was born at Ellery, Chautauqua 
county. New Y'ork, February 17, 1842, and is 
the fourth son and sixth child of Major Henry 
and Maria (Vandework) Pickard. His pater- 
nal grandfather, John Pickard, was born and 
reared in Madison county. New Y''ork. When 
the colonies engaged in the Revolutionary 
struggle, he was one of the first in central 
New York to enlist in the Continental armies. 
He was captured by Indians and carried to 
Canada. After being held prisoner for a long 
time he was released and returned home. In 
1816 he came to Chautauqua county. His wife 
was Margaret Becket and bore him eight chil- 
dren: Charity, Marin, Major Henry, Adam, 
James, John, Peter, wlio served in the war of 
1812; and Abram. Of these children Major 
Henrv (father) was born in MadLson county, 
this State, July 9, 180-3, and died at Bu.sti in 
1882. He was a carpenter and joiner by trade. 
In early life he was a democrat, then joined the 
Free-Soil party and afterwards became a repub- 
lican. He was a man of ability, honesty and 
honor, and an influential citizen in the commu- 
nity in which he resided. He was a member 
I of the Christian church, and served as major in 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



the New York militia, and was twice married. 
His first wife was Maria V^andework, a daugh- 
ter of Adam Vandeworlf (maternal grandfather), 
who was a native of Madison and an early settler 
of Chautauqua county, in which he followed 
farming until his death. By this marriage he ' 
had eight children: Lucinda, widow of Henry 
Lacer; Laura, wife of Phineas S. Weatherby, 
of Crawford county, Pa. ; Adam, who enlisted 
iu the l;3th Pa. Vols., in 1861, and died in 
December of the same year; Sylvauus, who 
married Laura Hazzard and died in 1865; 
Corporal Charles G., enlisted in Co. B, 72nd 
regiment, N. Y. Infantry (which was the first 
company to go from Chautauqua county), and 
served in all the battles of the Army of the 
Potomac until Second Bull Run, where he was 
killed ; Alonzo C, Maria C, wife of John Bur- 
ton, of Nebraska; Fannie, married to Richard 
Starsmeare, of Kane, Pa.; Corporal Melvin E., 
who served iu the same company with his 
brother Charles G., was wounded at Gettys- 
burg, married Laura Weatherby, and resides 
in Crawford county. Pa.; and Abram L., a 
railroad conductor, who lives in Wheeling, 
W. Va. 

Alonzo C. Pickard received his education in 
Meadville academy and Allegheny college. Pa. 
In 1861 he left the college when ready to enter 
the graduating class of 1862 and enlisted as 
orderly sergeant in the 10th regiment of Penn- 
sylvania Reserves, but after six months service 
was transferred to a Company of U. S. sharp- 
shooters. He served until the close of the war, 
was promoted through the lieutenancies to a 
cajjtaincy and was brevetted major for merito- 
rious conduct. He participated iu the battles 
of the Army of the Potomac until the Wilder- 
ness fights, in one of which he was wounded. 
After partially recovering from his wound he 
was detailed and kept on court martial duty 
until he was discharged. Returning home he 
taught school for eight years, was principal of 
Bust! graded school for several terms, and was 



elected county school commissioner for a term 
of three years. He rendered efficient service as 
school commissioner, and at the end of his time 
engaged in the milling business at Busti which 
he followed for four years. While conducting 
his mill he took up the study of law under the 
tuition of Judge Cook, of Jamestown, and in 
1878 was admitted to the bar. Since then he 
has been a resident of Jamesto\vn and engaged 
in the practice of his profession. Maj(»r Pickard 
while an active republican is not an obtrusive 
zealot. From time to time he has filled various 
local offices with credit to himself and benefit 
to the public. He was town clerk and justice 
of the peace of Busti, where he also served in 
several other town offices. 

On June 16, 1S64, he married Rose Flagg, 
daughter of Madison Flagg, and their union 
has been blest with three children: Clara A., 
Ray F., and Fern. 

Major Alonzo C. Pickard is a member of 
Post, No. 285, Grand Army of the Republic, 
and of the Free and Accepted Masons. He 
also is a member of the Phi Kappa College 
Fraternity and the Royal Templars of Temper- 
ance. He owns a very fine and well-improved 
farm, and gives some of his time to its super- 
vision and iraj)rovement. He has great energy 
and talent for organizing and conducting busi- 
ness affairs, which have given him success in 
his various enterprises and a very respectable 
competency. He enjoys a good |)ractice at the 
bar, and by his natural ability and indomitable 
perseverance has attained to the prominent posi- 
tion in life which he now occupies. 



'fA ELSON H. HILL, is a son of Horatio and 
4 Sophia (Weatherby) Hill, and was born 

September 19, 1834, at Cherry Creek, Chautau- 
qua county, New York. His paternal grand- 
father was a native of Connecticut, but 
emigrated to Vermont where he died. He was 
a farmer and served as a soldier in the Revolu- 
tion under Gen. Israel Putnam. Nelson H. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Hill's maternal grandfather (Weatherby) was a 
native of Massachusetts, but removed to Otsego 
county, New York, where Mr. Kill's mother 
was born. Afterward her father removed 
to Chautauqua county and lived with his 
children until summoned to another world. He 
was a farmer and in politics a whig. Horatio 
Hill (father) was born in Vermont about 1798 
and died in July, 1890, iu Lowell, Michigan, 
where he was living with a son. He was a 
farmer and a whig and republican in politics. 
He has held the offices of justice of the peace and 
highway commissioner. His children were : 
Orton and Oron, living in Lowell, Michigan, 
the former being a commercial traveller and the 
latter a farmer ; Lucinda (married), Josephine, 
Orseba, Mary and Nelson PL 

Nelson H. Hill was educated in Ellington 
and Randolph academies, the former located in 
Chautauqua and the latter in Cattaraugus 
county. He began the study of law in the 
office of Charles B. Green, iu Ellington, having 
been previously engaged in the avocation of 
school teaching. He concluded his legal studies 
in the office of Thomas Grosvenor, in Dun- 
kirk and was admitted to the bar in 1861; 
opening an office in the city of Dunkirk, where 
he remained until 1867 when he removed to 
Jamestown. Politically he is a republican and 
religiously a member of the Presbyterian 
church. He held the office of special county 
judge of Chautauqua county during 1865, 1866, 
1867, and was also Register of Bankruptcy, at 
that time an important office. It was abolished 
by law in 1878. He is a Mason, being a Royal 
Arch and a member of Irondequoit Lodge, of 
Dunkirk. 

He married Anna M. Wilkinson, a daughter 
of Elisha Wilkinson, who bore him two 
children : Mary B., who, while a student at 
Cornell university, met with a fatal accident, 
being precipitated into a deep gorge while re- 
turning from Ithaca to the university, June 12, 
1887. She was a special favorite with all who 



knew her, being a very brilliant and accom- 
j)lished young lady ; and Myron IL 



JOHN WOODWARD. A distinguished 

^ mend)cr of Jamestown's legal fraternity 
is John Woodward, who is a son of Daniel and 
Cornelia (Lake) Woodward, and was born at 
Charlotte, this county, August 19, 1859. John 
Woodward carries the blood of two distinctive- 
ly American families in his veins, both branches 
being citizens of this government when it .saw 
its birth. John Woodward, the paternal grand- 
father, was the son of one who bore the same 
name, the latter served with credit iu the war 
for independence, and at its close came from 
New England to the Em25ire State, and finally 
settled in Chautauqua county, where he died. 
He was comfortably fixed and reared a large 
family. His son, John, subject's grandfather, 
was a prominent whig and secured the distinc- 
tion of representing his district in the General 
Assembly of New York. He was a farmer by 
occupation and took for his wife, Sarah Eddy, 
who came from a well-to-do and respectable 
family. Six children blessed his household, 
two sons and four daugliters, who attained ma- 
turity and reared families. The maternal 
grandfather, Calvin Lake, was an influential 
man, who came from Vermont to Chautauqua 
county and settled in the town of Charlotte 
about 1820. Following farming he made a 
comfortable income and marrying Margaret M. 
Ames, reared a family of children. His family 
were well educated and some of them of the 
present generation are prominent in politics. 
Daniel Woodward was born iu Ellington, this 
county, in 1831, and died while yet a young 
man, in 1870. In 1853 he went to Michigan, 
and followed mercantile pursuits. In politics 
he was a republican. He married Cornelia 
Lake, who bore him six children : Nellie, dead ; 
Charles D. resides in Kansas, but was formerly 
a coal operator in the Hocking Valley of Ohio; 
Mary died young ; John ; Florence is a popular 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



teacher in the public schools of Herkimer coun- [ 
ty, this State ; and Henry L. is a law student in 
the office of Grosvenor & Jones, at Athens, 
Ohio. 

John Woodward married Mary E. Barker, a 
daughter of Hon. George Barker, and they have 
one daughter, Mary E. 

John Woodward received iiis early education 
through the usual channels, and in 1878, when 
nineteen years of age, he graduated from the 
State Normal school, and began the study of 
law with Morris & Lambert, the well-known 
barristers of Fredonia. Shortly after he en- j 
tered the law department of the New York City j 
University, and graduated from it with honor 
in 1881, and coming to Fredonia began to prac- 
tice. Seven months later he came to James- 
town and practiced in association with Walter 
L. Sessions, with whom he has since been cou- 
uected. Politically he is a republican, and has 
served four terras as supervisor of the city of 
Jamestown, and has been the city attorney for ' 
two years. Although comparatively a young 
man, Mr. Woodward has made his mark and 
it is conceded that he stands in the front rank 
of his profession. 



HON. HAKVBY 8. ELKINS, the son of 
Abiel A. and Mary (Nevins) Elkins, was 
born November 26, 1835, in the town of Po- 
land, Chautauqua county, New York. His pa- 
ternal grandfather was a native of Vermont, 
and was a cooper by trade. He died in his 
native town at tiie close of a long and useful 
life. His maternal ancestors were all natives of 
Ireland. Abiel A. Elkins (fatiier) was born iu 
Vermont and emigrated to the vicinity of Que- 
bec, Canada. He came to Pennsylvania, and 
engaged in the lumber business, in which he 
was very successful. In 1845 he started to 
Pittsburgh on business and was never heard of 
afterwards. As he was known to have a large 
sura of money on his person at the time, it is 
supposed he was murdered. He married Mary 



Nevins, who was a native of Ireland, and by 
her he had eight children : William and 
Maria (twins); Robert aud Ruby (twins); Ed- 
ward and Edwin (twins) ; Mary and Harvey S. 
William, Robert and Mary are dead. Maria 
married Seth Haight and is now living at Ken- 
nedy, this county ; Ruby is the wife of Eli 
Shultz and lives in Iowa ; Edwin lives in Wis- 
consin ; and Edward in Poland, this county. 
William entered the civil war as a volunteer in 
Co. G, 49th regiment. New York Infantry, 
August 1, 18G1, look part in all the battles of 
the Peninsidar campaign, and died at Point 
Lookout, Maryland, in October, 1862. Edwin 
was also in the civil war as a member of the 
14th Wisconsin regiment. He served all 
through tiie war and took part in the battle of 
Pittsburg Landing ; he enlisted as a private, 
and gradually rose to the rank of first lieuten- 
ant, serving for a time as brigade quartermaster. 
Edward entered Co. G, 49th New York regi- 
ment as a volunteer, but was rejected on ac- 
count of physical disability. 

Harvey S. Elkins received his education in 
the common schools of his native town. At 
the time of his father's death the family was 
living in Jefferson county, Pa., but soon after- 
wards they went to New York, and the chil- 
dren were employed by various families in the 
neighborhood of their home. Harvey S. was 
taken by a citizen of Randolph, New York, but 
he became dissatisfied and ran away. When 
about eleven years of age he went to live with 
an uncle with whom he remained about four or 
five years, after which he returned to Pennsyl- 
vania and worked by tiie month. His mother 
came to Kennedy, tiiis county, and he cared for 
her and other members of the family. He had 
earned enough money to buy a comfortable 
home for his mother which she occupied until 
her death in 1876. He next embarked in the 
mercantile business at Kennedy for five years, 
then became overseer of a large farm in the 
county and also did some farming for himself 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Hon. H. S. Elkins is a republican in politics 
and is at present superintendent of the poor for 
this county. He first took the ofBce January 
1, 1885, serving for a term of three years, when 
he was re-elected. In 1874 he served his party 
faithfully as a member of the General Assem- 
bly of New York. His is a striking example 
of what a man may accomplish by perseverance 
and industry despite the discouragements of the 
environments of his early life. 

Mr. Elkins married for his first wife INIaria 
Nichols, of Jefferson county, and after her 
death he married Jennie Stratton, of Jamestown. 



TO.SEPH M. \VAL,Tf:R. Among the brave 
^ defenders of our country during the late 
civil war was Jo.seph M. Walter, a son of Joseph 
and Susan B. (Coates) Walter, who was born in 
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, May 26, 1842. 
The Walter family is of German descent, one 
of its members, Jo.seph Walter, Sr. (great-grand- 
father), having emigrated froiu that empire to 
Pennsylvania, and bought a farm in what is 
now the heart of Philadelphia. His son, 
Joseph Walter, Jr., was born on his father's 
farm in Philadelphia county, owned a farm in 
the same locality, but afterward sold it. He 
was an old-time whig and left a family of six 
children, three sons and three daughters. Joseph 
Walter, 3d, was born in Philadelphia in 1810, 
and died there in 1864. He was a copper and 
steel-plate printer by trade, and for years was 
in the employ of the United States government 
as printer of bank notes, in the treasury depart- 
ment at Washingtou, and at the time of his 
death had charge of the hydraulic presses. He 
■was a member of the Universalist church, in 
politics a whig, and a member of the home 
guards. He married and had eight children : 
Anna, wife of Harry B. Steele, of Harrisburg ; 
Hannah; Harry, who has not been heard from 
for twenty-six years; Joseph M. ; Florence; 
Mary, wife of George W. Barber, of Philadel- 
phia; Sarah and Susan. 



Joseph M. Walter, after attending the public 
schools of IMiiladelphia, learned the trade of a 
printer, which he followed for a short time, but 
in 1879 he left it to become a pension agent. 
In April, 1889, he removed to Jamestown, New 
York, and formed a partnership with A. H. 
Stafford, and engaged in business. On April 
17, 1861, Jo.seph M. Walter enlisted in Co. A, 
26th regiment, Penu.sylvania Volunteers, for 
three months service, and was in the scrimmage 
in Alexandria, wherein Colonel Ellsworth met 
his death. In May, 1S62, he enlisted at Brandy- 
wine in a Penn.sylvania regiment, for a period 
of three years, but was promoted to the rank of 
a corporal, and was afterward appointed clerk 
in the ([uartermaster's dei)artment. He partici- 
pated in the Seven Days fight, and in the battles 
of Williamsburg, Malvern Hill, Bristoe Station, 
Fredericksburg and in the second battle of Bull 
Pun, beside numerous petty skirmishes. He 
was discharged September 2, 1864. 

Joseph M. Walter is an attendant of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, a republican in 
politics, and a member of Post No. 285, G. A. 
R., holding the honorable position of post 
adjutant. 



"PI>W1N l>R.\Ki:. Ordinarily the early 
-*"^ settlers of this county came from eastern 
New York, New England or across the great 
waters, but quite the reverse is to be recorded of 
Mr. Drake. Edwin Drake is a son of William 
and Keziah (Clay) Drake, who gave him birth 
March 12, 1827. Grandfather Drake was 
born in Ohio, near Ashtabula, followed farming 
and died a large land owner, and, for the times, 
a wealthy man. William Drake was born in 
Ashtabula, county, Ohio, in 1796. He heard 
of the fertility of Chautauqua's .soil, and came 
here and settled in Portland, now Westfield 
town. He married Keziah Clay, of Vermont, 
and by her had several children. 

His health failed him and while yet a young 
man, he was called to the unknown world in 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



1831, aged thirty-live years. From his arrival 
in the county until his death he had been 
engaged in clearing a farm and tilling the soil. 

Edwin Drake was left without a father when 
but four years old. He had a mother though 
whose heart was stout and whose determination 
and will was strong, and to this may be at- 
tributed Mr. Drake's present standing. A good 
mother is of more value to a young man when 
starting in life, than a pocket full of gold. He 
was reared on the farm and has never forsaken 
it. To-day he has a good place on the main 
road one and a half miles from Westfield. 
Like many of his neighbors in north-western 
Chautauqua, he devotes considerable attention 
to grape growing, which is the source of a good 
portion of their income. 

Edwin Drake married Eliza Law in 1858. 
She was a daughter of Thomas Law, a native 
of Ireland, but living in Westfield town. They 
have two children living : William and George. 
Their only daughter, Malinda, died November 
21, 1890, aged twenty-eight years. 

Edwin Drake is a democrat of unswerving 
loyalty and conducts his farm in a way that 
commands the admiration of his neighbors. 



"P H. I»1CKERMAN, one of the energetic 

^•^* and progressive business men of West- 
field, was born in the city of Milwaukee, Wis- 
consin, and is a son of Edward B. and Margaret 
(Hull) Dickermau. Tiie Dickerman family is of 
New England descent. Edward Dickerman, 
the father of E. H. Dickerman, was born and 
reared in the beautiful city of New Haven, 
Connecticut. He married Margaret Hull and 
left his native city to seek an inviting field of 
labor in the great west, where he settled in 
Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He engaged success- 
fully in the pork packing business on a large 
scale for many years, acquired considerable 
wealth and died in 1876. 

After six years of age E. H. Dickerman was 
reared in Connecticut and New York. He 



received his early and academic education in 
these states and attended Yale College for two 
years. He then commenced the study of law, 
and in 1877 entered Columbia Law school from 
which he was graduated during the same year. 
Immediately after graduation he was admitted 
to the bar in New York city where he practiced 
until 1878 when he came to Westfield and soon 
left the active practice of his profession to 
engage in manufacturing. He became interested 
in the Wilson Boiler company of which he 
was president from 1879 until it went out of 
existence. When the present company was 
formed, ]\Ir. Dickerman became a large stock- 
holder and has taken an active part in its man- 
agement ever since. The works cover about 
one and one-half acres of ground and are well 
equipped with all necessary machinery and mod- 
ern appliances. The company employs a regu- 
lar force of forty men and ship their manu- 
factured goods to all .sections of the State and 
to different parts of the Union. The prospects 
for future success of this enterprise are bright 
and encouraging. 

In 1876, he married Kate B. Willey of 
Brooklyn, who died in 1879 and left two chil- 
dren : Arthur W. and Mary C. 

In 1880, Mr. Dickerman united in marriage 
with Emily W. Willey, a sister to his first wife. 

By his second marriage he has three children : 
Harry E., Lucille and Marion. 

Mr. Dickerman has been supervisor of the 
village of Westfield for three years. He is a 
man of good judgment and business ability as 
is attested by the success that has attended his 
different enterprises. He is one of Westfield's 
substantial and influential citizens. 



j^ WIGHT DICKSON, a man who enjoys 

'*■' the respect and confidence of the citizens 
of Ripley, is a son of William and Elizabeth 
(Dickson) Dickson, and was born in Ripley, 
Chautauqua county, New York, June 5th, 1824. 
Two generations of his ancestry have been 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



native to the United States, wliile beyond and 
back of that time tlie family stock was confined 
to that little emerald isle across the Atlantic, 
which has been so prolific in poetry and literature, 
so unique in the pictures([ueness and contrariety 
of its scenery, so perfectly nondescript in its 
national life — Ireland. Here iu the land of the 
shamrock, near the town of Londonderry, was 
born the paternal great-grandfather of our sub- 
ject. He emigrated to Ot.sego county. New 
York, located at Cherry Valley and there, with 
his family became a victim to those barbarities 
of Englishman and savage, which, during the 
Revolutionary war, became an indelible blot 
upon the escutcheon of martial England. His 
wife and two children were captured by the 
Indians and held about a year in captivity, 
when certain overtures of marriage were made 
by one of the chiefs. These were promptly re- 
jected and a short time subsequent the wife and 
children were released and returned to their 
friends at Buifalo. Grandfather Robert Dickson 
was born iu Otsego county, New York, and 
emigrated to Chautauqua in 1809, locating in 
the town of Ripley. Here he purchased a farm 
and made it part and parcel of his cares. Poli- 
tics claimed considerable of his attention and at 
one time he was elected and served as as.«ociate 
judge of the county. He died in 1832 at the 
age of seventy years, and now lies buried in the 
Ripley cemetery. His marriage to a Miss 
Hungerford resulted in the birth of eight chil- 
dren — six sons and two daughters. Subject's 
grandfather on the maternal side was Samuel 
Dickson, a native of Otsego county, New York, 
where he also died. He was joined in mar- 
riage to Miss Eleanor Campbell of an old 
and distinguished Scotch family connected with 
the Duke of Argyle. William Dick.son, father 
of Dwight Dickson, was a native of Otsego 
county, New York, born July 30th, 1790, and 
removed to Chautauqua county in 1809, where 
he died December 31st, 1840. He was a life- 
long farmer by occupation, took an active interest 



in politics and the public welfare. He married 
and reared a family of seven children. 

Dwight Dickson received a common school 
education, is and always has been a farmer, 
devoting most of his time at present to the cul- 
tivation of grapes. He is a republican in polit- 
ical affairs, a member of the Equitable Aid 
Union and the Knights of Honor. Both he and 
his wife belong to the Presbyterian church. 

Dwight Dickson was married first time to 
Miss Jeannette Webster, who bore him three 
children : Walter H., a sheep dealer in Texas ; 
Warren, married to Sadie Arnold and living in 
Pittsburg, Pa., where he holds the position of 
mail inspector ; and Carleton, a resident of Texas. 
His second marriage was to Miss Charlotte 
Brown, a daughter of Jonathan Brown of 
Dutchess county, New York, but formerly of 
the State of Massachusetts. By his second 
wife he had two children : Edward D., in the 
mail service ; and Jeannette M., now attending 
a music school. 



nAX.S03I F. COWING is a citizen of Chau- 
tauqua county by adoption only. He 
was born October 25, 1832, iu the town of 
Chesterfield, Massachusetts. His paternal 
grandfather belonged to the Puritan stock of 
New England, which has given so much sta- 
bility and character to American social, reli- 
gious and political institutions. He was also 
a native of Massachusetts, where he spent his 
entire life and died at an advanced age. His 
maternal grandfather was also of New Eng- 
land birth and parentage. Our subject's 
father, Thomp.son Cowing, was born about the 
year 1794, and came to Chautauqua county. 
New York, in December, 1839, locating in the 
town of Busti, at what is now the famous and 
popular summer resort of Lakewood. Here 
he purchased some two hundred and twenty- 
five acres of laud from Joseph Barker, and 
devoted the remainder of his life to clearing 
it and bringing it into a proper state of cul- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



tivation. He was a man of close application 
to his work — a hai'd toiler in every sense of 
the word, who knew the value of a dollar 
measured by honest labor. In ])olitical caste 
he was a whig during the existence of that 
party, but with the rise of the Republican 
party he cast his lot anew. He united in 
marriage with Saloma House, and had a fam- 
ily of nine children, six boys and three girls; 
one girl died in infancy. Tliey are : Char- 
lotte, dead ; John, who has retired from farm- 
ing and now lives in Jamestown, New York; 
Charles, now living in Busti, New York; 
Samuel, a farmer living near Lakewood, New 
York ; Julia, dead ; Marietta, married to Sam- 
uel Butler, a merchant of Cambridge, Wiscon- 
sin ; Fortis, now dead, but formerly a resident of 
Jamestown, New York, until his death in 
November, 1890. He entered the civil war as 
a member of Co. F, 9th Regiment, N. Y. 
Cavalry, in 1863, and served until the close of 
the war ; and James, lives in the town of Elli- 
cott, a farmer by occupation. 

Ransom F. Cowing was united in marriage 
to Martha A. Duryea, a daughter of Jacob 
Duryea, of Long Island New York. By 
this marriage he had two children : Ransom T., 
born January 18, 1862; and Nellie A. Ran- 
som T. was twice married ; first to Mattie 
Steward, of Watts Flats, New York, and after 
her death to Elizabeth Crouch. He now re- 
sides at Meadville, Penna., where he is employed 
in the service of the N. Y., P. & O. division 
of the Erie railway company. 

Ransom F. Cowing, in early life, was forced 
by circumstances to carve out his own fortune, 
and hence his educational advantages were 
necessarily circumscribed. However, when the 
throes of the civil war were upon us, he was 
among the first to place himself at the service 
of the nation to preserve its honor, its flag and 
its political autonomy. He enlisted in Co. F, 
9th Regiment, N. Y. Cavalry, and served three 
years and three months. At Brandy street, 



Virginia, his arm was shattered by a shell. 
During his term of service he took part in six- 
teen engagements, and, as a reward for valor 
he was promoted first to a sergeancy and then 
to a lieuteuancy. For the past fifteen years he 
has been in the employ of the Eric R. R. com- 
pany in the capacity of baggage agent. He has 
always been an ardent supporter of the Repub- 
lican party, and has served in several town 
offices, though they have always come to him 
unsought. His soldier's record, his honesty of 
principle and purpose and his uniform kindness 
have won for him the respect and confidence of 
his fellow-citizens. 



T ^EROY P. COAXES is a son of Anson J. 

-'■^ and Anna B. (Dow) Coates, and was born 
August 6, 1822, in the town of Pomfret, Chau- 
tauqua county. New York. His paternal grand- 
father was a native of New England, but emi- 
grated to Pittston, N. Y., where lie died. His 
paternal grandfather was a native of New 
Hampshire. Fatiier of subject, Anson J. Coates, 
was born in Pittston, N. Y., and removed to 
the town of Pomfret, Chautauqua county, in 
1816. He spent his youtli as a farmer boy, 
and adopted farming as an occupation. He 
married Anna B. Dow, resulting in a family ot 
four boys and one girl, only one of whom still 
survives. 

Leroy P. Coates was eduated in the com- 
mon schools of his native county, learned the 
business of and is at present an architect. In 
conjunction with his business, he formerly car- 
ried on that of contracting and building. He 
has been in business as an architect about forty 
years, and his wide range of experience, as well 
as his professional proficiency, has given him a 
high standing among leading architects. Mr. 
Coates is a democrat in politics, public-spirited 
and interested in progressive education. 

He married Matilda Knapp, of Jamestown, 
by whom he had six children, three of whom 
are now deceased : Helen M. died at the aare 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



of tvv'enty-four years, Charlotte M. at the age of 
twenty nine years, and Anna B. at the age of 
twynty-one years. Of those still living, Edgar 
L. is married to Ellen Abram, and now resides 
at Warren, Pennsylvania, where he is engaged 
in the business of grocer and baker. Llewellyn 
A. and Jennie B. still reside at home, the for- 
mer as an assistant to his father in the line of 
architecture. 

Mr. Coates has always been most liberal to 
his children in matters of education, aiding and 
guiding their intellectual powers to a full and 
free development, realizing that the best basis 
for a successful career in life is not a pecuniary 
basis, but one of self-help, self-confidence and 
inherent self-power. Recognizing the ideal in 
the family, he has likewise transferred it to the 
community, aud is thus recognized as an uj)right, 
e.xeraplary citizen, who always has the best in- 
terests of his neighbors, his city, his county, 
and his State at heart. 



TA>^ILSOX C'AaiP, a citizen of the town of 
-** Ellery and a soldier of the late civil war, 
is a son of John and Abigail (Simmous) Camp, 
and was born in the town of Ellery, Chautauqua 
county, New York, May 27, 1841. He is a 
descendant of an old New England family. 
His grandfather, Samuel A. Camp, Jr., was a 
native of the State of Connecticut and a son of 
Samuel A. Camp, Sr., a graduate of Yale 
University, a clergymen of the Presbyterian 
church at that day. He was married to Lemira 
Wilson, aud had eight children, — six sous and 
two daughters. Grandfather Jonas Simmons 
was a native of Rens.selaer county. New York, 
near Troy, but emigrated to Chautauqua county 
in 1818, where he purchased a tract of laud 
in the town of Ellicott, and located upon it. 
He was a hunter, pioneer and farmer, and 
through his combination of pursuits became 
well and ftivorably known in connection with 
the early settlement and development of Chau- 
tauqua county. He was united in marriage to 



Miss Strunk, a daughter of one of the old 
Dutch families of Rensselaer county. John 
Camp, father of Wilson Camp, was born in 
the year 1800, aud died in 1856. He was a 
steady-going farmer, in politics a whig of de- 
cided anti-slavery proclivities. His marriage 
with Miss Abigail Simmons resulted in the 
birth of three children : John, deceased; Wil- 
son, subject, and Herman, deceased. 

In March, 1879, Wilson Camp was united in 
marriage to Mrs. Nancy Halladay (n^e Wilkins). 
In 1862 he enlisted in the One Hundred and 
Forty-second Regiment, Penn.sylvania Volun- 
teers, in which he served until discharged for 
promotion. On September 1, 1864, he accepted 
acoraniissiou as second lieutenant in the Eighth 
Regiment U. S. colored troops, and shortly 
afterward received a promotion to the first 
lieuteuancy. Mr. Camp took part in thirteen 
engagements, the most important of which were 
Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg and Gettys- 
burg. At Gettysburg he received a severe 
wound, but, notwithstanding, continued in the 
service, and was present at Lee's surrender at 
Appomattox. Throughout his entire service 
he was faithful to duty, all of which is fully 
attested by his numerous promotions from pri- 
vate to captain, to which latter rank he was 
promoted in the winter of 1865.. At the close 
of the war he returned to civil pursuits, and 
first engaged in lumbering, which business he 
continued to follow until 1876, when he came 
to Chautauqua county. In farming and allied 
pursuits he has been engaged ever since. He is 
a stanch supporter of the Republican party and 
its principles, and is also a member of the 
Grange. Mr. Camp is an honest, unassuming 
man, well liked by all those who have come to 
know him. 



HON. JEROME BABCOCK, ex-member of 
the general assembly of New York, and 
a well-known business man of Jamestown, is a 
son of George and Abigail (Pickering) Babcock, 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



mid was born iu tlie town of Busti, Chautauqua 
couuty, New York, July 21, 1836. His great- 
grand fatlier, Barber Babcock, was of P^nglinli 
extraction, and was a resident of Rensselaer 
county, where he followed farming until his 
death. He owned a large tract of land which 
is still in the hands of the Babcocks of that 
county who are descended from him. He mar- 
ried a Miss Cropsey, of German extraction, and 
reared a ftimily of four sons and four daughters. 
One of these sons, Henry Babcock (grandfather), 
was born in Rensselaer county, April IG, 1782, 
and ciime in 1807 to the town of Ellery, this 
county, where he was engaged in farming for 
several years. He then removed to Cherry 
Creek, iu 1815, and then to Busti, where he 
])asse(l the remainder of his days. He was 
an old-liue whig in politics. He married Lovina 
Boyd, who was born March 15, 1780, and their 
union was blessed with nine children: Harry, 
born March 18, 1804; John B., born June 17, 
1805 ; Palmyra, born April 4, 1807 ; Sophronia, 
born March 13, 1809 ; George, born April 10, 
1811 ; Amanda, born February 3, 1813; Eme- 
line, born September 6, 181G; Leonora, born 
September 22, 1818; Laura, born December 3, 
1820; and Lovina, born October 31, 1822. 
George Babcock (father) first settled in Cherry 
Creek, but afterwards removed to Busti, where 
lie followed farming until his death, which 
occurred August 18, 1867. He was a whig and 
afterwards a republican, and favored compromise 
in reference to the slavery question. He served 
as constable and held various other town offices 
during his lifetime. He was twice married ; his 
first wife was Abigail Pickering, a daughter of 
Artemus Pickering, and sister to Angeliue Pick- 
ering, wife of John B. Babcock, who taught 
the first summer school in the town of Cherry 
Creek, and a relative of the celebrated Timothy 
Pickering, of Revolutionary fame, who settled 
in Cherry Creek at an early day. By his first 
marriage George Babcock had two children : 
Jerome, and Abigail, wife of Hon. L. T. Palmer, 



a prominent lawyer of Warren, Pa., who served 
for several years as collector of the port of 
Philadelphia, and was a member of the Legis- 
lature of Pennsylvania for two terms. Mrs. 
Babcock died iu November, 1836, and Mr. 
Babcock married for his second wife Sarah 
(Miller) Andrews. By his second marriage he 
had four sons and three daughters. One of 
these sons, Perry Babcock, is a lawyer of Min- 
nesota, where he was elected and served as a 
proI)ate judge of one of the counties of that 
State. He was elected, after retiring from the 
bench, president of the State Bar association, 
of Minnesota. 

Jerome Babcock was reared on a farm, received 
his education in the common schools of his boy- 
hood days, au<l commenced life for himself as a 
farm hand. He soon quit working on the farm, 
and engaged iu the lumber business on the 
Allegheny river in Pennsylvania which he fol- 
lowed for fiftecju years. He then went to Sugar 
Grove, AVarren county, that State, where he 
purchased a farm which he cultivated for about 
eight years. At the eud of that time he re- 
turned to this county where he located at Busti, 
and was in the hotel and mercantile business 
for several years. Leaving that place, he fol- 
lowed farming for one year and then (1889) 
])urchased his present business establishment on 
Brooklyn .square in Jamestown. 

On January 1, 1863, he married Celia O. 
Smith, daughter of Asa Smith, of Warren 
county. Pa. They have one child, Grant B., 
who was born November 28, 1868, graduated 
from the Jamestown business college, and now 
is bookkeeper for his father. 

Jerome Babcock has been a republican ever 
since the organization of that party. He voted 
for John C. Fremont in 1856, and while iu 
Sugar Grove was president of the school board 
of that place for four years, and president of 
Union agricultural society for two years. After 
he returned to Busti he was elected supervisor 
of the town in 1873-75, and in 1887 and 1888. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



603 



In 1885 he was elected to represent the First 
Assembly district of Cliautaiiqiia county in the 
Legislature of New York, and served one terra. 
Mr. Babcock devotes his time largely to his 
mercantile and other business interests. He is 
a member of tlie Bnsti Lodge, No. 85, Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, and a man wiio 
encourages all worthy enterprises. 



HKNHA' K. CHRISTY is a well-known 
Christian gentleman living in the town 
of Hanover, where he has a farm of thirty -seven 
acres, five of which are planted in grajies. 
Henry R. Christy is a son of Leonard and 
Ruth (Hal!) Christy, and was born in Dutchess 
county, New York, January 8, L821. His 
great-grandfather came from Scotland and set- 
tled in Rhode Island, where he died, leaving a 
son, .fohu Christy, who was born in the State 
named, but emigrated to Dutchess where he fol- 
lowed farming ; was a Quaker in religion and 
a wiiig in politics. He married Ann Tripp and 
reared a family of four sons and two daugliters. 
He died in Dutchess county. The maternal 
grandfather, Peter Hall, was a native of the 
last mentioned place, followed farming and 
weaving, was very prosperous and became 
wealthy. He married and had a family of 
three sons. 

Leonard Christy was born in Dutchess county 
and came to Chautauqua county in the autumn 
of 1885. Our subject, who was but thirteen 
years of age, having preceded him one year. 
He secured subsistence for himself and family 
by tiUing the soil, his farm being located in the 
town of Hanover. He.wasa whig and married 
Ruth Hall, who became the mother of five sons 
and five daughters — two of each are yet living ; 
of the sons, Gilbert H. resides in Dutchess 
county. New York ; and subject. 

Henry R. Christy received a common school 
education, and stepped forth in the arena of life 
as an agriculturist; but shortly after he learned 
carpentering and ship-building, and for twenty- 



five years worked at the latter trade. One- 
fifth of that time he was foreman of the yard, 
and it was not until 1890 that he relinquished 
the work. Henry R. Christy married Amanda 
Wood, and she bore him four children : Henry 
died young ; Mary reached the age of twenty- 
four and died ; Ada married John Orr, has 
three children and lives in the town of Hano- 
ver ; and Ella A. is living at home, and has 
successfully taugiit several terms of school. 

Henry R. CHiristy is a republican in politics, 
and before the formation of this party acknow- 
ledged allegiance to the wliigs. He served nine 
successive years as commissioner of higiiways, 
which is the extent of his ofticc holding. In 
religious matters Mr. Christy takes a deeji inter- 
est — is a mend)er of and a class leader in the 
Methodist Episco|)al church, and belongs to 
the Equitable Aid Union. 



/^-HAKLKS R. CHAPIN, the subject of this 
^^ sketch, was born Novend)er 8, lj'^24, in 
the town of Winfield, Herkimer county. New 
York. His paternal grandfather and also his 
father were natives of Massachusetts, but emi- 
grated to Herkimer county. New York, at an 
early period, where the former died at an ad- 
vanced age. Subject's fatiier, Tiorin Ciiapin, 
was brought up on his father's farm and re- 
ceived a common sciiool education. Ho has 
been farmer, merchant and distiller by occupa- 
tion, and in early life shared in those experi- 
ences that have always been attendant upon the 
pioneer. He has the distinction of having 
hauled the first load of merciiandise from Al- 
bany to BuH'nlo, is republican ]>olitically but 
without undue political aspirations. He was 
also a member of tiie State militia and an active 
member of tiie Presbyterian church at Silver 
Creek, in which he held the office of deac(5n for 
many years. He married Miss Sarah Brace, and 
had, as a result of this union, two girls and 
three boys. Mr. Chapin died in the county of 
his adoj)tioi). 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Cliarles B. Chapin was educated in tlie com- 
mon schools and engaged in farming, which oc- 
cnpation lie has since followed. He married Cal- 
ista A. (lage, daughter of Sullivan Gage, a native 
of Connecticut originally, but by adoption a 
citizen of Hanover Center, New York, and has 
a family of three boys and one girl : the eldest, 
James M., is married to Miss Allie Thurston, 
and conducts a successful lumber, contract and 
real estate business in Newark, N. J, He was 
educated at the State Normal school ; Lizzie O., 
niarried to A. Morgan Harrison, a promising 
young lawyer of Minneapolis, Minn.; Bradley, 
married to Emma Mead, daughter of Edmund 
Mead, of Sheridan, residing at home, was en- 
gaged in cattle dealing ; and Fred N , married i 
to Miss Allie Smith, of Bradford, Pa., now lo- 
cated in Chicago as foreman of a large factory. 

Charles B. Chapin is the owner of a good 
farm, which he has acquired by his industry 
and fnigalily. He is a good citizen, a supporter 
of all worthy educational and charitable move- 
ments and takes a lively interest in jiublic af- 
fairs, having always been an ardent republican 
in politics. 



TTJILLIAM T. COLEMAJV is the presi- 
^-"^-^ dent of the Lake Shore National bank 
of Dunkirk, having succeeded his father, the 
founder of the bank, who died in 1884. He is 
a son of Freeman R. and Sophia (Beecher) 
Coleman, and was born in Ellicottsville, Catta- 
raugus county, New York, February 18, 1845. 
The Coleman family is of English extraction, 
but grandfather, Asa Coleman, was a native of 
Connecticut where he followed farming. He 
died in 18G0, aged seventy-eight years. Free- 
man R. Coleman was born in Connecticut but 
came to Madison county, this State, when a 
mere child. He remained there only a few 
years, until about fifteen years of age, and then 
went to Utica, New York, where he engaged 
as a clerk in a general merchandise store, owned 
by Ferrin & Backus. He remained with them 



three years and was then entrusted with a stock 
of goods and sent into the new country of Catta- 
raugus county, settling at Ellicottsville. Reali- 
zing that this business was more profitable than 
working for a salary he bought the outfit and 
ran it on his own account up to 1854. Ten 
years prior to the date mentioned he engaged in 
the law business. He opened a land oflice and 
ran it in connection with his store. At the 
date mentioned he came to Dunkirk and opened 
a bank which later was known as the Lake 
Shore Banking Co., and was nationalized in 
1882, when it assumed the name of the Lake 
Shore National bank of Dunkirk, with a capi- 
tal slock of one hundred tliousand dollars. Mr. 
Coleman was president of this bank until he 
died in August, 1884, being at that time ,'eveuty- 
five years old. He was a member of the Epis- 
copal church and a warden af the time of his 
death. In early life he was an anti-slavery 
man, then a whig and finally a Horace Greeley 
republican. He was a pushing energetic man, 
and always ready to help a deserving cause. 
He started in life worth ten shillings and left 
at his death quite a large estate. He married 
Sophia Beecher and had a number of children. 
She was a native of New Haven, Connecticut, 
born in 1812 and died in 1867, aged fifty-five 
years. Mrs. Coleman, too, was a member of 
the Episcopal church. 

William T. Coleman was reared in Dunkirk 
until eleven years of age, when he was sent to 
Trenton, New Jersey, to be educated, where he 
remained until eighteen years old. Upon 
reaching the latter mentioned age he returned 
to Dunkirk and began work as a clerk in his 
father's bank. One year later he was promoted 
and made cashier, which position he filled for 
twenty-one years. When the elder Mr. Cole- 
man died in the fall of 1884, W. T. Coleman 
was elected to the presidency of the bank. 

In 1870, he married Grace, daughter of 
Charles Kennedy, of Dunkirk, and they have 
two sons and two daughters: Agnes, Essie, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Royal C. and Shirley T. Mrs. Coleman died 
in February, 1885, aged tliirty-ninc years. 

W. T. Coleman is a republican, liberal in his 
views and of original ideas. He has served as 
])resident of the council and is now a member 
of the board of water works. Mr. Coleman's 
bank is a sound financial institution. The last 
statement shows the surplus fifty -eight thousand 
dollars. Deposits over five hundred thousand 
dollars, and the total balance for the day nearly 
three-quarters of a million dollars. 



CHAKLES R. CROSBY is a progressive 
nierciiant of Portland, carrying, in addi- 
tion to a regular stock of merchandise, a big 
supply of flour and feed. The Crosby family 
was originally English but has been in America 
for several generations. Cliarles R. Crosby is 
a son of Ervin S. and Harriet E. (Shavei) 
Crosby, and was born in the town of Portland, 
Chautauqua county, New York, November 8, 
1839. His grandfather was Luther Crosby, a 
native of Connecticut, from which place he 
came and settled in this town in 1816, buying 
a farm wliich he tilled for many years. He 
went to Boone county, Illinois, in 1843, where 
he died in 1855, aged eighty years. His wife 
was Amy Salsbury, who came from Rhode 
Island, and by whom he had twelve children. 
Ervin S. Crosby was born in Otsego county, 
New York, in 1809. When seven years 
of age his father brought him to Portland, 
where he lived for fifty years. He was a 
carpenter and Joiner by trade, which he fol- 
lowed all his life, all of which was spent 
in this town excepting ten years when he lived 
in Akron, Ohio. Many of the buildings of 
this locality are specimens of his handiwork. 
He died here in 1876, when sixty-seven years 
of age. Mr. Crosby was a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church and a democrat, 
although formerly a whig. He married Har- 
riet E. Shaver, who came from Schoharie 
county, this State, where she was born in 1809. 



She died in 1874, cou.soled by the faith of the 
Methodist church. They had eight children. 

Charles R. Crosby was reared in Portland, 
and was educated in her .schools, and after 
gaining sufficient education began life as a clerk 
in a mercantile house at Portland. In 1861, 
he enlisted in Co. D, 9th regiment, New York 
Cavalry, with the rank of sergeant. He served 
one year and was mustered out on account of 
impaired health, but after recovering he en- 
gaged in farming, which he followed for 
twenty-five years. In 1887, he opened a 
grocery and feed store and his business ability 
has enabled him to build up a good trade. He 
carries a nice stock of the best grades in his 
line. Since 1880, he has given a good share of 
his attention to grape culture and still grows a 
large quantit_y each year. 

In 1861, he united in marriage with Delia 
Webster, a daughter of Jason Webster, well- 
known in Portland town, and their union has 
been blessed with seven children, three sons and 
four daughters : Townsend W., Carrie M., 
Hattie D., Carlton L., Archie D., Lottie M. 
and Bessie E. 

C. R. Crosby is a member of the Congrega- 
tional church and of Lodge, No. 219, F. & A. 
M., of Westfield ; Portland Lodge, No. 461, 
Knights of Honor, Equitable Aid Union and 
J. A. Hall Post, No. 292, of the G. A. R. He 
affiliates with the Democratic party and has 
held the office of justice of the peace for twelve 
years. 

e 

^ELIX BURGESS. One of the great in- 
^^ dustries of this country and which today, 
in this State, has over fifteen million dollars in- 
vested and nearly six hundred thousand cows, 
is the dairy business. A prominent representative 
of this industry in the town of Ripley is the gen- 
tleman whose name heads this sketch. Celin 
Burgess is a son of Walter S. and Delitha 
(Welch) Burgess, and was bora in Madison 
county, New York, July 23, 1830. Levi Bur- 



606 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORi 



gess (grandfather) was a native of the Green 
Mountain State. Like his illustrious compatriot, 
Ethan Allen, he served in the Revolutionary 
war, and at its close moved from Vermont to ' 
the Empire State and settled in Madison county, 
where he died. He united in marriage with 
Ruth Sabin I'.ud reared a flunily of four sons 
and three daughters. Nicholas Welch (maternal 
grandfather) came from Germany during the | 
first decade of the present century and when the I 
mother country was a candidate for her second I 
chastisement this newly arrived citizen went 
forth to assist the forces of his adopted country. 
At the battle of Queeustown, about the same 
time and place that Lieut. Winfield Scott, after- 
wards the renowned general, was wounded, 
Nicholas Welch was so severely wounded that 
it was necessary to amjjutate both hands. He 
returned to his home in Madison county, finally 
became blind and then lived with his daughter, 
Mrs. Burgess, until his death. Walter S. Bur- 
gess was born in Vermont, and when central 
New York was pretty well "out West" he 
moved to ISIadison county. Later he came to 
Chautau<jua county and selected for his home 
a site that was covered with stately monarchs of 
the forest. His ax laid low the mighty mon- 
archs and with wedge and maul transformed 
the vast trunks into boards and rails for houses, 
barns and fences. A double duty was performed 
by clearing and building simultaneously. When 
a few acres were cleared he tilled the soil to 
provide food for his family. He married De- 
litha Welch, a native of Germany, who was a 
helpmeet to him in all that the term implies. 
They reared four children : Alfred, a miller, 
resides in Iowa ; Celin ; Henry, occupying the 
responsible position of master mechanic for an 
Ohio railroad ; and Lucy, wife of William O. 
Case, who lives in this town. 

Celin Burgess did not pass his early lite in 
ease nor as a pampered child of luxury. His 
parents were in straitened circumstances and he 
soon learned to depend upon his own exertions. 



Such education as he found means of securing 
he got in the |)ublic schools and then began life 
as a farm laborer. Industry, economy and good 

judgment soon began to tell, and it was not 
many years before he had money of his own. 
To-day he owns one hundred and teventy-eight 
acres of as good land as may be found in Rip- 
ley, upon which he keeps a herd of cows that 
is the delight of the county. He is a member 
of the Farmers' Alliance. 

Mr. Burgess married Laura Edwards and 
has two sons: Andrew lives in Ripley, where 
he is a farmer. His wife was Mary Imbury, 
who has borne him two children, Laura and 
Louisa; and Albert is marrietl to Ida Ruter 
and lives with his flither. 

Politically Celin Burgess is a republican, but 

, it is not in politics that he has become promi- 
nent. He who can show his fellow-farmers 

j how to make agriculture profitable, aye, a well- 

j spring of wealth, is worthy of place beside 
statesmen, warriors and genii. We know too 

' much of war but the arts of peace develop 

I slowly. 

<s> 

J ABIES C. BLANCHAKl), one of the pub- 
lic-spirited and substantial farmers of the 
i town of Charlotte, Chautau(pia county, was 
born in that town on December 16th, 1856. 
His parents were Carlos and Lydia(McCutcheou) 
I Blanchard, natives of the State of New York, 
village of Dryden, where his father was a farmer 
I and speculator. His grandfather was Moulton 
[ Blanchard, one of the earliest settlers in the 
1 town of Charlotte, whither he had come in 
I 1810, the greater part of the county at that 
time being in a state of comparative newness. 

J. C. Blanchard was educated in the district 
schools of his native town and at the age of ten 
commenced working on the farm, which business 
he has practically followed ever since in connec- 
j tion with related lines of work. He is is now 
I owner of the old McCutcheon homestead, con- 
taining one hundred and fifty acres, and is 



OF CHAUTAVQUA COUNTY. 



engaged quite extensively in the manufacture of 
cheese, owning two large factories, one at Beiuus 
Point culled the Bemus Point fiictory, with an 
output of from fifty to sixty tons annually, and 
one in the town of Gerry, known as the Warner 
factory, with an output of about thirty tons per 
annum. In addition to this industry he also 
raises and deals in thoroughbred cattle and 
registered sheep. Mr. Blanchard finds sale for 
his dairy products mainly in Buffalo, New York, 
to which city lie is a large shipper. He is a re- 
publican of the most radical and steadfast type 
and has not stinted his services to the party of 
his choice. On several occasions he has been 
sent as delegate to both county and State Re- 
publican conventions. All matters pertaining 
to agricultural and dairying development claim 
his warm interest and attention. 

On January 25th, 1882, Mr. Blanchard was 
joined in marriage to Emma Pickard, daughter 
of Elisha Pickard, of P]Ilery, who has given 
birth to four children : Ira E., Inez J., Everett 
\V. and Hazel E. 



nUSH BKOWX was born in Hanover town, 
Chautauqua county. New York, Decem- 
ber 12th, 1839, and is the son of Sidney and 
Harriet (Green) Brown. Marshal Brown, his 
paternal grandfather, emigrated to Chautauqua 
county. New York, from the State of Vermont. 
His grandfather on his mother's side was also a 
native of Vermont, where he lived the life of 
a farmer and died. In politics he was a Jack- 
sonian democrat, was married and reared a 
family of seven children. His son, Sidney 
Brown, father of the subject, was born in Ver- 
mont in 1809 and after he had received his edu- 
cation and had attained his majority removed 
to western New York and located near the 
present residence of Rush Brown. In politics 
he had changed from the Democratic to the 
Republican regime. He married Harriet Green 
and had a family of two children, one of 
whom, Emilv, is wife of Almarion INIcDaniels, 



a farmer living near Smith's Mills, Hanover 
town. 

Rush Brown on June oOth, 1865, was united 
in marriage to Sarah Newbury, a daughter of 
John Newbury, of Ripley, New York. They 
have one son, Sidney M., married to Irene 
Melissa Peters, a graduate of Bryant & Strat- 
ton's commercial college at Buffalo, New York, 
and at present a resident of Clyde, Cloud county, 
Kansas, where he is engaged in tiio merchan- 
dising and feed business. 

Rush Brown gained his present education 
through the common schools and from actual 
experience in life. He commenced his career as 
a farmer, was reared upon a farm and has al- 
ways been attached to that business. He owns 
a good farm in a fair state of fertility and repair, 
ten acres of which are in grapes. He is a pro- 
hibitionist, a member of the Hanover Baptist 
church and belongs to the Royal Arcanum, at 
Silver Creek. 



lliriCHAEL BAKRiS was born in Villanova, 
4'^ Chautauqua county. New York, on De- 
cember 5, 1818, and is the son of Benjamin 
and Betsey (Stebbins) Barris. His paternal 
grandfather was a native of Vermont, a farmer 
of English extraction. Grandfather Stebbins 
(see sketch of Abraham Stebbins) emigrated to 
Chautauqua county during its formative period, 
originally being a resident of New England. 
He was one of the pioneer settlers of the town 
of Sheridan. Benjamin Barris (father) was 
born in the State of Vermont in 1789, came to 
Chautauqua county in the year 1805, and first 
located in the town of Sheridan, thence remov- 
ing in the Autumn of 1818 to the town of 
Villanova. In 1833 he removed to the town 
of Hanover, purchased a farm in 1854, and 
erected upon it the iiouse in which IMichael 
Barris now resides. Mr. Barris owns about one 
hundred acres of land in a high state of culti- 
vation and in first-class repair. In politics he 
was a democrat and served in the war of 1812, 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



during which war lie was present at the siege 
aud burning of Buffalo. He was united in 
marriage to Betsey Stebbins and had a family 
of ten children, all of whom grew to maturity. 
He married a second time, to Anna Webb. 

Michael Borris was united in marriage on 
the i;Uh of March, 1842, to Lucinda Bushee, 
a daughter of Anthony Bushee of Chautauqua 
county, but formerly a native and resident of 
Vermont. They have had six children : Caro- 
line, married to Walter Howard; Oren, married 
to Loana Griswold, a farmer by occupation, and 
at present living with his father; Emory, a 
car])euter and joiner, married and living iu 
California; Sarah, wife of Doane H. Griswold, 
a tinner living in Dunkirk, New York; Emma, 
wife of Frank Burthwick, a farmer and sailor 
living near Sheridan Centre ; and ]\IcClellan, 
at home. 

Michael Barris attended the common schools 
and has always followed farming as an occupa- 
tion. He is a democrat in politics, and was at 
one time a commissioner of highways. He is 
one of the most progressive farmers in the town 
of Hanover, owning two hundred and two 
acres of laud. 



-Ronald S. brown, a resident lawyer of 

^^ Jamestown and a member of the Chau- 
tauqua county bar, is a son of Colonel James M. 
and Charlotte (Cook) Brown, and was born in 
the city of Jamestown, Chautauqua county, New 
York, September 24, 1854. The Browns are 
of that wonderful Scotch-Irish race that made 
its impress for morality and progress on every 
land in which its members have settled. Major 
James Brown, the paternal grandfather of Don- 
ald S. Brown, was born in Scotland where he 
died at an advanced age. He served as a major 
in the British army and married Margaret 
McConaghie, by whom he had three children, 
of whom two lived to maturity : Col. James H. 
(father), and Flora, who has always resided in 
Scotland. 



On his maternal side the subject of this 
sketch is descended from the Cooks, and his 
great-grandfather, Thomas Cook, was born in 
County Cork, Ireland, in 1765, and became one 
of the pioneer .settlers of Washington county, 
where he died. He was a covenanter in religi- 
ous belief aud married Ann Mehan, who bore 
him eight children, one of whom was Dr. Rob- 
ert Cook (maternal grandfather). He was born 
at Lansingburgti, N. Y., in September, 1775> 
.served as a surgeon in the war of 1812, and 
married Elizabeth Sutherland, daughter of a 
Major Sutherland who served in the British 
army during the war of 1812. Dr. Cook 
practiced medicine at Argyle, AVashington 
county, for forty years, then practiced for 
some time iu New York city, and in 1854 came 
to Jamestown where he afterwards died. 

Colonel James ]\I. Brown (father), was born 
November 24, 1825, iu Scotland, from which 
he came to New Y'^ork city iu the autumn of 
1844, and on the 22d of January, 1845, enlisted 
in the 4th U. S. Infantry to which Gen. Grant 
belonged. He tented for some time witli Gen. 
Grant, and on account of having studied medi- 
cine was successively made hospital steward and 
assistant surgeon of the regiment. He was in 
all of the battles of Taylor's army until his 
company was detached to join Scott under 
whom he participated in the struggles from 
Vera Cruz to the Mexican capital. After the 
Mexican war he was stationed at Ft. Mackinaw 
until January 22, 1850, when he retired from 
the army and went to Detroit where he read 
law, was admitted to the bar aud practiced for a 
short time. In 1853 he came to Jamestown, 
where he practiced law and served as captain of 
Co. B, 68th N. Y. Militia aud the Lowry Light 
Guards until 1861. In May of that year he 
recruited and organized Co. B, 72d regiment 
N. Y. Infantry, which was first known as the 
3d regiment of the Excelsior brigade. He 
commanded this company until November 9, 
1861, when he resigned to organize the 100th 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



New York of which he was coQimissioned 
colonel. This regiment became a part of the 
" Eagle " brigade, and was commanded by 
Col. Brown until he fell at its head on May 
31, 18G2, at the battle of Seven Pines or Fair 
Oaks. He was a good officer, a brave soldier 
and a man who never feared danger. He fell 
in defense of his adopted country's liberties, 
and left a record of which his county may be 
justly proud, while his name is honored by 
James M. Brown Post, No. 285, of the Grand 
Army of the Republic at Jamestown, and his 
memory will live for all time to come in the 
history of his county and State. He was a 
democrat until 1860 when he became a repub- 
lican, and prior to the war had .served as a 
justice of the peace for Jamestown. On June 
15, 1852, Col. Brown was married in Detroit, 
to Charlotte Cook, aud they were the parents of 
five children: Robert M. (dead); Donald S., 
Edward C, of Jamestown; A. F. Allen of 
New York city, who is an oil operator; and 
Malcolm J., who is dead. 

Donald S. Brown received his education at ! 
Rochester University, from which he was grad- 
uated in the class of 1878. He then read law 
with Bootey & Fowler, was admitted to the 
bar in 1883, and since that time has been in 
the active practice of his profession in James- 
town. He is a republican in political affairs, 
and was elected as a justice of the peace for 
Jamestown. Mr. Brown gives close attention 
to his professional duties and is a member of the 
Sous of Veterans. : 



TTLPHA BAKXES, a prominent owner of 
■'^*- farming land, the proprietor of a vine- 
yard, fifty acres in extent, and a genial and 
companionable gentleman, is a son of James and 
Amanda (Noble) Barnes, and was born in 
Portland town, Chautauqua county. New York, 
on the property where he now resides, June 9, ; 
1823. His people had long been residents of 
the State of New York, having lived in the ! 



central and eastern part of that State for many 
years. James Barnes was born in Rome, Oneida 
county, N. Y., May 5, 1796, and came to this 
county in 1818 with an ox-team, settling in Port- 
land where he took up one hundred acres of 
land, but not being suited with it he sold it and 
bought the farm on which his son now resides. 
He was a hard-working, enei'getic man and 
cleared a large farm from the forest. Politically 
Mr. Barnes was a whig and republicau. He 
maiTied Amanda Noble in 1818, a native of 
Oneida county, who was born June 4, 1798, 
and they had four children. Mr. Barnes died 
January 19, 1864, aged sixty eight years; his 
wife followed him April 21, 1884, having be- 
come an octogenarian. 

Alj)ha Barnes was reared on the farm which 
is now his home. The education which has 
since carried him through life was received in 
the public schools. He has always been a 
farmer and has added to the original homestead 
of his father's, until now he is the owner of five 
hundred and sixty acres — fifty acres are set to 
vines. He has been postmaster at Prospect Sta- 
tion for more thau twenty years. 

December 22, 1847, he married Sarah L. Bige- 
low, a daughter of Thomas aud Jerusha Bigelow. 
She was born in Verona, Oneida county, Nov. 
7, 1823. Her father came to Portland town 
when she was but two years old. Mrs. Barnes 
died May 30, 1889, aged sixty-six years. To 
Alplia and Mrs. Barnes were born three child- 
ren, one son and two daughters : James T., 
born February 3, 1852 ; Eva J., born June 30, 
1855; and Haltie L., born May 3, 1863. 
Eva J., married Edgar Scrivens, a farmer of 
Portland town. They have two sons, Alpha 
and Archie. Hattie L., is the wife of George 
Mawhir (see his sketch), they have one child, 
Bert. James T. married Eva L. Webster, 
daughter of Samuel and Lydia Webster, March 
25, 1874, aud lives with his father. He is a 
farmer, but also buys and ships grapes. He 
commenced this business in 1887 and shipped 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



the first car loiid of grapes from Westfield. 
Apples also receive his attention, of which he 
has shippeil a large quantity. He built an oil 
refinery on his farm, and ran it with profit for 
a number of years and is now trading in oil, 
together with other extensive business interests, 
in addition to his farm. He is a republican. 
Samuel Webster was born at Warsaw, N. Y., 
INFarch (5, 1806, and was married to Lydia Hall 
(born March 5, 1814) on November 19, 1830. 

Alpha Barnes is a good citizen, is a kind 
and gentle neighbor and has the respect and 
esteem of the entire community. In politics he 
is a republican. 

© 

TA>^ILIJA>I A. BOSWORTH, a man prora- 
-*'*■ iuently connected witii the mercantile 
and grape-growing interests of the town of 
Hanover, is a son of Oliver Cromwell and 
Electa (Hale) Bosworth, and was born April 
22, 1833, in the village of Nashville, Chautau- 
qua county, New York. His paternal grand- 
father, Alfred Bosworth, originally came from 
Rhole Island, located at Saratoga Springs, New 
York, and finally in the State of Illinois, where 
he spent the remainder of his life. He was a 
man of great energy and industry, and by slow 
degrees arose from the position of a hatter to 
that of considerable afHuence. In his later life 
he became a money-lender. Politically, he 
cast his lot with the Whig and Republican 
parties, having, however, no official ambition. 
He received a good education in the beginning 
of his life, and throughout his entire career has 
been a man devoted to study, reading and self- 
culture. His wife was a Miss Childs, a native 
of and prominently connected in Rhode Island. 
They reared a family of five children, — three 
boys and two girls. The eldest son, Franklin, 
is a practicing physician in the State of Illi- 
nois, whose HKHlical education was received 
both in Illinois and the east. Father of sub- 
ject was born at Troy, New York, in the year 
1803, his father at that time being a resident 



of that place and engaged in his occupation of 
hatter. In 1840 he removed to Cliautauqua 
coiMitv, and located at what is now the village 
of Nashville, town of Hanover, where he em- 
barked in the mercantile business. From here 
he went west to Chicago, engaged in the mer- 
c^intile business there, and finally in the bank- 
ing business at Elgin, Illinois. He died in 
Chautauqua county. Father of subject was a 
man of good education, and in politics belonged 
to the Whig party. His wife was a daughter 
of Aaron Hale, a native of Maine, but who 
became a resident of Saratoga Springs and died 
at the age of ninety years. Aaron Hale was 
a farmer and lumberman, and died in Saratoga 
county. Mr. and Mi-s. Bosworth were the parents 
of four children, — two daughters and two sons, 
three of whom are still living, — two sons and 
one daughter : William A. ; Franklin, a resi- 
dent of Elgin, Illinois; and Julia E., married 
to Edwin L. Bishop, a large farmer and ice 
maimfacturer of Elgin, Illinois. 

William A. Bosworth was united in mar- 
riage to Achsah Horton, daughter of Benjamin 
Horton (see his sketch), and are the parents 
of five children : George H., marrietl to 
Miss Bertha H., daughter of Rev. John Wil- 
son, of Corry, Pennsylvania, now living in 
Corry, and engaged as a commercial traveler ; 
Belle, wife of Clarence AY. Edwards, a com- 
mercial traveler of Chicago, Illinois (Mr. and 
Mrs. Edwards iiaving one child, — Helen); 
Rexford ; Lucy H. and Harry A., at home. 

William A. Bosworth received his education 
in the common schools of his native countv, 
first engaged in mercantile pursuits at Nash- 
ville, Chautauqua comity, New York, and sub- 
sequently iu the lumber business at Chicago, 
Illinois. In 1857 he returnetl east, and again 
embarked in the mercantile business in Catta- 
raugus county, shortly afterward going to New 
York city, where he became a traveling sales- 
man for a wholesale grocery house. At present 
Mr. Bosworth is the owner of a small farm. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



and joint-owuer of one of the largest vineyards 
in the county, to which he devotes considerable 
attention. He is unqualifiedly a democrat in 
polities, but without political or oflicial aspira- 
tions. 



GEOROE BILSBOKKOW, a skillful me- 
chanic, successful merchant and retired 
farmer, is the son of James and Catherine 
(Davis) Bilsborrow, who were of P^nglish and 
Welsh descent, respectively. He was born in 
Oneida county. New York, February 6, 1832, [ 
came to Chautauqua county in 1870 and has 1 
since made it his home. James Bilsborrow was 
born in England in 1793, and came to America 
in 1822. He loaited in New York city and re- | 
mainetl there eight years. In 1830 he moved 
to Oneida county, this State, and engaged in 1 
farming until 1869, when he came to the town 
<if Westfield, and lived, until he died in 1878. ! 
having discontinued active business some years 
before. His wife was Catherine Davis, who 
was born in Wales and came to this country 
while young. She died in 1853, and had borne 
her husband several children, all of whom he 
gave a pecuniary start in life. Mr. Bilsborrow 
was a Jacksonian democrat, and his word once 
given he kept inviolate. 

George Bilsborrow spent fifteen years of his 
life on the farm and at school, and then learned 
the carpenter and joiners' trade, which he has 
followed more or less ever since. In 1857 he 
went to Grant, Herkimer county, and engaged 
in contracting, building and operating a saw- 
mill, employing at times a force of twenty-five 
men. He remained there thirteen years, and 
for eight years of that time conducted a general 
store in connection with bis other business. 
This proved profitable and Mr. Bilsborrow 
made money, but the place was not all that one 
could desire, and iu 1870 he removed with his 
family, and bought a farm in the town of West- 
field, where they remained until the spring of 
1891 when he sold the farm, moved into the 



village and has retired from active business life. 
While flirming he gave a portion of his attention 
to a vineyard, twenty acres in exteut, which was 
very productive. 

In 1859 Mr. Bilsborrow married Mary Rich, 
a daughter of Henry Rich, living in Herkimer 
county. They have had one daughter, Sarah. 

He is a disciple of Jeflfersonian jn-iuciples and 
an enthusiastic admirer of ex-President Cleve- 
land and supported him for the nomination for 
governor, when his obscurity was relieved only 
by the political honors of a well-filled sheriff's 
office and mayor's chair. Mr. Bilsborrow is 
now filling his sixth term as town assessor, and, 
simultaneonsly, is excise commissioner. His 
personal popularity is .shown in the fiict that, 
although the Republican party has a large ma- 
jority in his town, he has never been defeated in 
his candidacy. George Bilsborrow although of 
strong will power is of a modest and unassum- 
ing disposition. The competency, which his 
industry and good management has accumulated, 
is not used for vain display or vulgar show, but, 
instead, is used with taste and common sense. 
He is a courteous gentleman who pleasantly en- 
tertains those with whom he comes in contact in 
business or social life. 



PAIL H. KIKSWETTEK, I^I.l)., a distin- 
guished German physician, of May ville, is 
a son of Theodore and Louisa (Eberhart) Kies- 
wettcr, and was born in Thuringen, Germany, on 
December 15, 1857. His grandfather, Peter 
Kieswetter, was a manufacturer and lived during 
his life-time in the same German State in which 
the subject of this sketch was bo)-n. At one 
time he served iu the capacity of private secre- 
tary to the distinguished soldier and statesman, 
Gen. Vou Moltke. He was a very intelligent 
man, educated in a German university and mar- 
ried a Miss Lucass, who bore him a family of 
two sons and four daughters. Theodore Kies- 
wetter (father) was born in Germany in the 
year 1828 and is still living in his native land. 



612 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORV 



He was educated at the Gymnasiiini of Arm- 
stadt, and upon the completion of liis education 
he embarked in the manufacturing business 
wliich he has pursued uninterruptedly and with 
success ever since. His marriage to Louisa 
Eberhart took place when he was twenty-seven 
years of age. They were the parents of four 
children : Kathrinka, Rudolph, Withbald and 
Paul H., all of whom with the exception of 
Paul H. are residing in Geriuany. 

Paul H. Kieswetter received his preparatory 
education through the public schools of Germany 
and in 1881 entered the University of Berlin, 
where he remained until 1884, after which he 
completed his medical course at the University 
of Jena. Immediately after the completion of 
his medical education he emigrated to the United 
States and first located in Cortland county, 
New York, where lie began and continued the 
practice of medicine until the year 1886. At 
tiie end of this period he removed to the State 
of Ohio and practiced in Cleveland until 1889, 
when he came to Chautaucpia county, where he 
has since remained and practiced his profession 
in the village of May ville. In connection with 
his medical practice he operates a drug-store — 
the leading store of that description in the vil- 
lage. In politics Dr. Kieswetter is a republican 
and also a member of. the Lodge No. 1105, 
Royal Arcanum, at Mayville. 



i^HARLES J. FL.\HAVEX, a member 
^^ of the city council of Dunkirk and a 
foreman in the Brooks Locomotive works, is a 
son of John and Mary (Stewart) Flahaven, and 
was born in Erie, Erie county, Pennsylvania, 
May 28, 185G. John Flahaven (father), was 
born in County Limerick, Ireland, and emi- 
grated to Canada, where he learned the trade 
of machinist, and in the autumn of 1855, came 
to the United States and located in Erie, Peun- 
sylvania^ where he worked at his trade two 
years and then came to Dunkirk, where he has 
since resided, pursuing tlie same vocation. In 



religion he is a member of the Roman Catholic 
church. He married Mary Stewart, a native 
of County Limerick, Ireland, by whom he has 
several children. Mrs. Flahaven is also a 
member of the Roman Catholic church. 

Charles J. Flahaven was brought up in Dun- 
kirk, and acquired his education in the public 
schools, after which he followed the example of 
ids father and learned the machinist's trade, 
being now considered a fine workman. He 
entered the employ of the Brooks Locomotive 
works, where he now occupies the position of 
foreman of the tools and plant department. In 
politics he is a democrat and in religion accepts 
the faith of his ancestors, being a member of 
the Roman Catholic church, and his heart and 
purse are always open to the needs of the 
deserving portion of humanity. He was 
elected a member of the city council of Dun- 
kirk in 1889, and attends carefully to the needs 
and welfare of his constituents. 

Charles J. Flahaven was married in 1883, to 
Agnes McKenney, a daughter of John Mc- 
Kenney, of Dunkirk, by whom he has two 
sons : Charles and Paul J. 



/^EORGE R. DEAX, a prominent news- 
^^ paper mau of Chautauqua county, is a 
son of Riley and Lucretia (Briggs) Dean, and 
was born January 10, 1837, in Wyoming 
county, New York. William Dean, his pater- 
nal grandfather, was a native of Onondaga 
county, of English parentage aud emigrated 
into Chautauqua county, town of Harmony, 
about the year 1814, and took up a farm near 
Blockville. He was married three times: 
first, on October 27, 1799, to Asenith Hamlin, 
who bore him ten children ; on June 29, 1824, 
he was united to Rebecca Brown, by whom he 
had three children ; and on March 13, 1852, he 
was again married to Sarah lugersoll, but with- 
out issue. Grandfather George Briggs traces 
back his ancestry to an early Now England 
familv of that name. He settled in Wvominjj 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



(then Genesee) county, N. Y., in the year 1808. 
He was a farmer, a member of the Methodist 
church at Atlica, New York, and was united 
in marriage to a Miss Esther Paul, by wiioni 
lie iiad seven children. Riley Dean, the father 
of George R., was born in Onondaga county, 
October 1, 1809, and died in the county of 
Chautauqua, New York, where he had spent 
the greater part of his life, on January 17, 
1883. While in Chautauqua county, he car- 
ried on farming, which had been practically his 
life-long occupation. He was a whig and later 
a republican in politics, a member of the Free 
Methodist church and was the father of four 
children, two sons and two daughters : Esther, 
Sophi'onia, Orlando D. (a lumber producer of 
Sherman, Michigan), and George R. Riley 
Deari was married the second time to Mrs. 
Jonathan Eddy. 

George R. Dean united in marriage with 
Alice Ward, a daughter of William O. Ward, 
of Sinclairville, New York, March 13, 18(J4, 
by whom he has one son, George W. 

George R. Dean was educated in the common 
schools, which by reason of his environments 
and circumstances, was very me.ager. He com- 
menced his active career in life by working on 
a farm until he arrived at the age of sixteen, 
when he went to Mayville in 1854, and com- 
menced the printer's trade. His residence has 
been practically at Mayville ever since. At 
the breaking out of the civil war in 18G1, he 
held the position of local reporter on the 
Buffalo Courier, when he received a call 
from Oscar Johnson and others to take charge 
of the Dunkirk Union, which he continued 
to edit and publish until 1867, meanwhile hav- 
ing become owner of the paper. He sold the 
Union about this time, returned to May- 
ville, purchased a farm which he still owns, 
operated it for a short time and then purchased 
the Dunkirk Journal, which he published 
one year. In 1880, he established the Chau- I 
tauqua Ura and has conducted it ever since, ; 



having besides, in 1882, purchased the May- 
ville Sentinel, both of which papers are now 
under his management and editorship. Mr. 
Dean is a democrat in politics and conducts tiie 
Sentinel in the interests of that j)arty. He is a 
vigorous and talented writer, thoroughly 
abreast of the great political and social ques- 
tions which are agitating the American peo|ile 
and in the elucidation of which the editorial 
columns of his journals are used with much 
iudy;meut and common sense. 



y%AVll) A. TOKKEY, a highly moral and 

''^ enterprising citizen of Charlotte Centre, 
was born on April IGtli, 18.50, in the town of 
which he is now a resident, and is a sou of 
Sheldon and Ruth (Main) Torrey. His father 
was a highly respected citizen of the same town, 
a farmer by occupation and in politics, a repub- 
lican. Justice Torrey, the paternal grandfather 
of David A., came from the east to Chautauqua 
county over seventy years ago and was the 
original ancestor of the Torrey family in Chau- 
tauqua county. 

David A. Torrey was reared in the town of 
Charlotte, was educated in the district school 
and remained with his father upon the farm un- 
til twelve years ago, when he purchased and 
moved upon the farm which he now possesses, 
containing some two hundred and eighty acres. 
His principal business is dairying and raising 
cattle of a high grade. He is also engaged in 
the manufacture of cheese, maple sugar and 
syrup. Of the former he produces about six 
tons annually, of the latter about one thousand 
pounds of sugar and one hundred barrels of 
syrup. David A. Torrey is a .stanch republican, 
a man whose character is beyond reproach and 
who is unusually public spirited and enterprising. 
Any movement towards the imj)rovement of the 
masses or the alleviation of the sufferings of 
mankind is sure to receive his warm and cordial 
support. 

In 1879 Mr. Torrey joined in marriage with 



BIOQRAPIIY AND HISTORY 



Mary, daugliter of Charles Tarbox a prominent 
citizen of Fredoiiia, New York. To them have 
been born three ciiiidren : Haddie A., Helen E. 
and Charles W., all of whom are still young. 



"pnwiN F. LAKE, an intelligent and ener- 
■^^ getic farmer, was born upon the farm on 
which he now lives in Charlotte Centre, Chau- 
tauqua county. New York, on August 20, 183(3, 
and is a son of Daniel B. and Elvira B. (Boyu- 
toii) Lake. His parents were both residents 
and natives of Rockingham, Vermont, the 
former being born in the year 1802. Daniel B. 
Lake was a New England farmer, but at the 
age of twenty-eight he removefl to Chautauqua 
county, New York, took up a ^arm from the 
Holland Land company, imjirovcd it and lived 
upon it for some thirty years subsequent. 
He then retired from the farm and took up his 
residence at Charlotte Centre, where he died at 
an advanced ago. He was a man who took 
pride in military affairs, and after his arrival 
in the State of New York, was captain of a 
company of militia. His wife died at the 
age of eighty-three years. Grandfather Henry 
Lake was also a native of Rockingham, Ver- 
mont, and was a soldier in the war of the Revo- 
lution, which he entered at the age of sixeen. 

Edwin F. Lake was reared and educated in 
the town of Charlotte, attended the common 
schools, supplementing his elementary education 
at the Fredonia academy and at Cleveland, 
Ohio, commercial college. At the age of six- 
teen he began teaching .school and alternated his 
time for several years by teaching school in the 
winter and working on tiie farm in the summer. 
At the age of twenty-one he purchased the old 
homestead upon which he has since resided, and is 
now engaged in its operation, besides manufac- 
turing butter, cheese and maple sugar. Mr. 
Lake is also the owner of a large bearing 
orciiard, from which he has realized consider- 
able profit. He is a democrat in politics and 
has held the office of supervisor two years, 



assessor eigiit years and commissioner of high- 
ways three years. In the line of fraternal or- 
ganization,s, he belongs to the Grange only, and 
is master of the branch at Charlotte. 

On February 7, 1859, E. F. Lake was mar- 
ried to Mary B. Brooks, a daugliter of the late 
John Brooks of the town of Charlotte. Their 
children are Daniel F., Addie M. and George E. 



HENRY L,. KENDRICK combines modern 
farming with the important adjunct of 
dairying, and sets an example worthy of emula- 
tion by other agriculturists. He is a .son of 
Oliver and Anna (Gleason) Kendrick, and was 
born in Heath, Franklin county, Mas.sachu- 
setts, December 31, 182G. His grandfather, 
John Kendrick, was also a native of Massachu- 
setts, in which State he pa.ssed his whole life, 
dying April 28, 1808, aged sixty-two yeans. 
By occupation lie was a tiller of the soil, and 
possessed somewhat the spirit of Mars, being a 
lieutenant in the State militia, and participating 
in the war of the Revolution, which resulted in 
the greatest republic on earth. In religion he 
wa.s a congregationalist. John Kendrick mar- 
ried Keziah Baldwin, by whom he had nine 
children, si.x sons and three daughters. His 
wife died in 1830, aged .seventy-seven years. 
The maternal grandfather of H. L. Kendrick 
was Solomon Glea.son, who was a native of 
Ma.ssachusetts, where lie followed the occupation 
of a farmer, affiliated with the old line whig 
party, and believed in the tenets of the Congre- 
gational church. Solomon Gleason was mar- 
ried — the union resulting in twelve children. 
Oliver Kendrick (father) was likewise a native 
of Ma.ssachusetts, being born in 1786, and 
learned the trade of a mason, at which he 
worked, meanwhile owning and cultivating 
a farm. In religion he was a member of 
the Baptist church, and in politics was an 
old line whig, lieing elected to several town 
offices. Oliver Kendrick married Anna Glea- 
son, by whom he had fen children, five sons 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



and five daughters, six of whoru are still 
living. 

Henry L. Koiulrick was educated in the 
common schools of his native county, and began 
his active life as a farmer near the place of his 
birth, where he remained until 1853, in which 
year he came to this county and settled in Sher- 
man, where he has since resided, owning one 
hundred and fifty acres of land within the cor- 
poration of this village, on which he keeps 
thirty cows and runs a dairy. In religion 
he is, as is also his wife, a meuiber of the 
Presbyterian church, in which he has been 
au elder for twenty years. Politically ho is 
a republican, and is also a member of the 
Grange. 

Henry L. Kendrick was married May IG, 
1849, to Frances Bennett, a daughter of Solo- 
mon Bennett, a native of Brattleboro, Vermont, 
born January 6, 1790, a graduate of Middle- 
bury college in that State, who took also a full 
theological course and became a Congregational 
minister, occupying pulpits in that denomina- 
tion for the period of half a century. He was 
a strong abolitionist, and married Hepzibah N. 
Jewell, who belonged to an old and distin- 
guished family, Honorable Marshall Jewell, 
of Hartford, Connecticut, a noted statesman, 
once governor of Connecticut, j)ostmaster-gcn- 
eral and United States minister to Russia inider 
President Grant's administration, being her 
relative. Frances Bennett was born in Marl- 
boro, Cheshire county, New Hampshire, in 
July, 1826, being one of a fixmily of six chil- 
dren, three sons and three daughters, the sons 
dying young and the daughters still living : the 
eldest married to Leonard Scott, of Frctlonia, 
this county ; Louise, who married Ivoomis 
Clark and lives in Sherman ; and Mrs. H. Ij. 
Kendrick. The father of Mrs. Keudrick died 
in October, 1882, and her mother, who was 
born November 16, 1805, died January 22, 
1890. The Jewell family are of Scotch ances- 
try, one of them, John Jewell, being bishop of 



Salisbury, England, during the reign of Heury 
de Valois, know'n as Henry II. 



PPHKAOI T. KINO, an old and highly 

^"^ resjiected resident of Jamestown, was 
born on his father's farm in Saratoga county, 
New York, August 17, 1818, and is a son of 
Elisha (}. and Sarah (Wigiit) King. The King 
tamily is of early New England stock and has 
always been noted for its industry and thrift. 
Joseph King (grandfather) came from Con- 
necticut and settled at an early date in Ver- 
mont. Not finding this congenial to his ideas 
he again gathered his i>ossessions about him and 
went into Saratoga county, this State, where bj' 
hard labor he made him a home where he 
might wrap the mantle of his couch about him 
and rest in peace. During America's second 
struggle with the mother country, he forsook, 
for the time being, the quietness of home life 
and shouldering his flintlock marched off with 
many of his neighbors to repel the invader. 
When success to his country's arms was as- 
sured, he returned to his family, which he left 
when duty called, and continued to farm until 
his death. His wife was Thankful Hames and 
ten children was the result of the union. He 
embraced (he faith of the Baptist church some 
time before his death and passed away in its 
consolation. Jacol) Wight (maternal grand- 
father), too, was of New England origin, and 
was known as a good citizen in the locality 
where he lived. Elisha G. King (father) was 
three years of age at the commencement of the 
present century, and was born in New England 
but came to Saratoga county with his father 
and hewed himself a farm out of the forest 
where he lived all his life, following agricul- 
tui'al pursuits and died, a communicant of the 
Universalist church, although earlier in life he 
was a methodist. In life Mr. King was a whig 
who voted as he felt disposed and with no desire 
for political honors. 

Ephraim T. King began life acquainted with 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



hard work and remained in Saratoga county 
until he was thirty years of age, when he moved 
to this county and located near the present town 
of Falconer, where he engaged in the manufac- 
ture of half bushel measures. This work was 
continued for fourteen years when he bought a 
farm of twenty-five acres within the present 
municipal limits of Jamestown, and is also the 
owner of thirty acres just outside the city and 
for nearly a third of a century has cultivated 
them, conducting his work with skill. Among 
the many republicans of his locality, he is one 
of them, and is recognized as an influential and 
highly respected citizen. 

He was married twice. His first wife was Maria 
Scribner, and after her death he married Susan 
J. Washburn, a daughter of Luther Washburn, 
of Saratoga county, this State. This last union 
has been blest with four children : Frank B., 
who is married to Mary Edwards, of Saratoga 
county, and is now engaged in the manufacture 
of gloves and mittens in Jamestown, where he 
resides ; Sidney, superintendent of an oil lease 
at Titusville, Pa., and married to Lottie Dunn ; 
Ida M., and George at home. 



HIKAM I.. IvXOWLTOX, a man firm in his 
convictions, willing to see the right, and, 
when convinced, unswerving in adherence to 
the action he has decided to sustain, is an agri- 
culturist, grape-grower and ex-defender of his 
country. He was born in the town of Harmony, 
Chautauqua count}'. New York, June 29, 1835, 
and is a son of William and Maria (Barney) 
Knowltou. William Knowltonwasa native of 
Vermont, where he was born in 1796, but left 
that country of ice, snow and marble, and came 
to this county about the year 1820. He secured 
him a farm and pursued the calling of a farmer 
in Harmony and Clymer towns until his deatli, 
which occurred in 1882, in the eighty-sixth 
year of his age. Mr. Knowlton was an active, 
energetic man, full of business and of marked 
executive ability. He was but sixteen years of 



age when England made her second attempt to 
subdue the young American government, but, as 
many of the other boys did in the original and 
final struggle, he donned a uniform, shouldered 
a musket and marched away with the men. He 
was wounded aud drew a pension up to his 
death. He married Maria Barney, a native of 
Genesee county, this State, who was born in 
1800, and they had eleven children, ten of whom 
attained manhood, and marrying, bore families. 
Mr. and Mrs. Knowlton were both members of 
the Methodist Episcopal church, aud were hap- 
piest when they were advancing its work. She 
died in 1875, aged seventy-five years. 

Hiram L. Knowlton was reared on his fath- 
er's farm and educated in the common schools. 
He remained at home until twenty-five years 
old, and then started to acquire the carpenter 
trade, which learned he followed for five or six 
years, but finding farming more congenial to 
his taste and disposition, he went back to it and 
has since been an agriculturist. In 1874 a 
pretty place of eighty-five acres, where he now 
lives, two miles from Westfield, was secured, 
and has ever since been his home. A portion 
has been set to grapes, aud makes a veiy prom- 
ising vineyard. Mr. Knowlton enlisted in Co. 
G, 49th Regiment Inf., N. Y. Vols, when 
President Lincoln called for troops in 1861, but 
he was discharged in the spring of 1862, on ac- 
count of failing health, and he returned to his 
home. 

In 1864 he married Selina McCollom, a 
daughter of Alexander McCollom, of this town, 
and they have two children, William A. and 
Carey J. 

H. L. Knowlton is a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church, and of William Sackett 
Post, No. 324, G. A. R. He is a pronounced 
republican, and one of the foremost citizens of 
the town. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



617 



JOHN" KEWLEY, a well-to-do and iutelli- j 
o-eut farmer of Hanover town, was born a 
subject of the King of England, on May 9, 
1823, on tlie Isle of Man. His parents were 
Piiilip and Christiana (Clater) Kewley, who 
trace back their ancestry to old feudal England. 
John Kewley (grandfather) was a native of the 
Isle (if Mau,where also was born his son Philip 
(father of our subject), on February 10, 1795. 
In 1832 Philip Kewley bid farewell to his na- 
tive land and boyhood home to cast his lot in 
the land of free institutions. His voyage hith- j 
er was fraught with many new experiences and 
strange impressions, but he had firmly resolved 
to cast off the monarchical shackles and iience- 
forth swear his allegiance to the stars and 
stripes, so there was no turning back. His 
first place of location in America was in Erie i 
county. State of New York, where, strange to j 
say, he sjient all but about a year and a half of 
his remaining life, which year and a half was 
spent in Chautauqua county. For quite a while 
after arriving here Philip Kewley followed the 
trade of a shoemaker, indeed, until his fail- 
ing eye-sight compelled him to give it up. He 
then purchased a farm of seventy-five acres 
from the Holland Land company, which he 
worked, cleared and finally reduced to a state 
admitting of cultivation. At his death, which 
occurred April 14, 1885, this old homestead 
fell to his son, in whose possession it now is. 
His marriage was blest with the birth of four 
children : Jane, wife of Lyman Balcom, a far- 
mer of Otsego county, New York; Betsey, 
dead; John; and William, single, lives with his 
brother John. 

John Kewley received his education in the 
common schools of his native country, learned 
the busine.ss of and is at present a farmer. 
During the past three years, in addition to his 
farming interests, he has purciiased an interest 
in a saw-mill and now devotes considerable 
time to its operation and management. Mr. 
Kewley after a careful study of a republican 
33 



form of government and republican institutions, 
has politically allied himself with the Republi- 
can party. 

John Kewley was joined in marriage to Miss 
Dorcas Witlierby, a daughter of Asa AV^ither- 
by, of Erie county, but formerly of the State of 
Massachusetts. They have three children : 
Ellen, wife of Henry Gedley, a prosperous far- 
mer of the town of Hanover; Emma, wife of 
William Christy of the town of Hanover, 
mother of one child — May; and Frank (mar- 
ried to Ida Dolly), a farmer, stock-raiser and 
speculator of tlie town of Hanover, New York. 

By virtue of his long residence and citizen- 
ship in the United States, he has come into 
closest sympathy with American governmental 
principles and policies, and is now as deeply in- 
terested in the fortunes and possibilities of the 
American people as if he were a native born cit- 
izen. Mr. Kewley is an agreeable, pleasant 
man, always kind and considerate and generous 
to those who need his assistance. He is regard- 
ed as an honest, straight-forward citizen. 



EMMETT T. KINGSLEY, a resident of 
Ripley, New York, is a son of Albert 
and Anna (Meade) Kingsley and was born in 
AYarren county, Pennsylvania, July 19, 1842. 
His ancestors were of New England birth and 
trace back their earliest authentic history to the 
landing of the Mayflower. Grandfather James 
Kingsley first emigrated from New England to 
Washington county, New York, and later to 
the town of Ripley, Chautauqua county. He 
was a whig politically, pursued farming and 
was married to a Miss Jenkins, who bore him 
a large family. Grandfather Meade was one 
of the earliest settlers of Washington county, 
Pennsylvania. Albert Kingsley, father of 
Emmett T., was born in Washington county, 
New York, in 1804 and learned the trade of 
mill-wright. Upon coming to Chautauqua 
county, he built a mill at Fredonia, one of the 
first in the county. He removed to the State 



BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY 



of Indiana, where he owned four hundred acres 
of land in the immediate vicinity of La Porte, 
and on which a portion of tiie city of La Porte 
now stands, but was compelled to leave on 
account of climatic condition.-;. He died in 
Ripley, May 2, 1875. His union with Miss 
Anna Meade resulted in the birth of three 
childreu, two sons and one daughter: Louisa, 
living with subject; Marvin "\V. (married to 
Miss Nellie French of Cleveland, Ohio), assis- 
tant engineer of the Cleveland water-works, 
formerly a civil engineer on the Canada South- 
ern railroad ; and Emmett T. 

Emmett T. Kingsley was educated in the 
common schools and academy, learned the busi- 
ness of telegraphy and since 1869 has been 
more or less engaged in that calling. He is at 
present relief agent of the eastern division of 
the L. S. & M. S. R. R., and besides this, deals 
in coal, tile and brick, with headquarters 
at Ripley. Mr. Kingsley also owns a grape 
farm of about twenty-five acres, eight acres 
of which are now producing vines. He is demo- 
cratic in politics and has been a member of the 
school board a number of terms. For over 
twenty years he has been a member of the 
Masonic Lodge at Westfield. 

Emmett T. Kingsley was united in marriage 
on June -3, 1873, to Harriet Cosgrove, a daugh- 
ter of John Cosgrove of the town of Ripley, 
ChautauqXia county, New York, and is the 
father of three children : Marvin "W., Alfred 
C. and Florence. 



GEORGE W. JONES, who is the present, 
and has been for the past three years, 
street commissioner and city surveyor of James- 
town, is a son of Luther C. and Angeline (Put- 
nam) Jones, and was. bora in Ellery, Chautau- 
qua county. New York, February 26, 1846. 
Luther C. Jones was a native of Massachusetts, 
where he was born February 26, 1806, and 
when about twenty years of age came to Ellery 
and afterwards removed to Harmony, this 



county, where he lived until the beginning of 
the late war, when he went to Randolph, Catta- 
raugus county and remained until the spring of 
186.5, when he came to East Jamestown. Mr. 
Jones' life-long profession was surveying which 
he taught to his son George W., who still fol- 
lows it. He was a republican politically and 
.served a number of years as justice of the peace 
in the town of Ellery. He married Angeline 
Putnam and had several children: one who died 
in infancy; Mehitable, married Abrara Wing 
and died July 11, 1865; Miles, entered the 
Union army in Co. G, 72d regiment. New 
York Infantry, in 1861 and died of quinsy in 
1862, having been promoted to corporal ; Al- 
bert C, entered the service August 20, 1862, in 
Co. H, 112th regiment, and served to the close 
of the war, entering as a private and receiving 
promotion advancing him to second lieutenant. 
He \vas with the Army of the James and re- 
ceived a severe wound in the battle of Cold 
Harbor, again, at the Chapin's farm fight, he 
was shot in the side and at Fort Fisher, re- 
ceived a severe wound in the hand. He now 
resides in Jamestown. 

George W. Jones was educated in the com- 
mon schools and from his father learned the 
profession of land surveying which has been 
his occupation through life, excepting about 
three years when he was in the Union army. 
He entered Co. H, 112th regiment. New York 
Infantry, August 20, 1862, and remained in 
the service until the final mustering out, in 
1865. His division participated at Chapin's 
Farm, Cold Harbor, Fort Fisher and in many 
minor engagements and skirmishes, although 
he was but nineteen years of age at the close 
of the war. 

He married Matilda .Jones, a daughter of 
Abraham Jones and a niece of Sidney .Jones, 
who resides in Jamestown, on February 26, 
1868. They have been blest with four chil- 
dren : Wilber M., Leonard F., Grace L. and 
Clyde G. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY. 



Politically Mr. Jones is a member of the 
Eepnblican party and by it was nominated to 
the office of street commissioner and city asses- 
sor of Jamestown, and both himself and 
brother, Albert C. Jones, are members of James 
M. Brown Post, Grand Army of the Republic. 



life and conduct which he conceives to be es- 
sential and necessary to the iiighest form of 
manhood. 

In 1851, he was united in marriage to Miss 
Emily Murray of Chenango county, New 
York, who bore him nine children, seven of 
whom are married. 



OSCAR W. JOHNSON is a son of William 
and Olive Johnson, aud was born on the 
8th of September, 1823, in Otsego county, 
New York, a county long since made famous by 
the pen of James Fenimore Cooper. His great- 
grandfather had been a soldier in the Colonial 
wars, and the succeeding generations down to 
the time of the subject had been confined in 
their nativity to the New England States. 
William Johnsou (father) was born in the 
State of Vermont, removed to Chautauqua 
county, New York in 1837, thence to Chenango 
county, iu 1852 where he remained the balance 
of his life-time. He died in 1877 at the age 
of seventy-six j'ears. 

Oscar W. Johnson, after his preliminary educa- 
tion, entered upon the study of law in the office 
of John Wright of Chenango county, and was 
admitted to the bar in 1848. For a number of 
years he practiced in Chenango eouuty and in 
1852 removed to Fredouia, New York, where 
he continued his profession. He was appointed 
postmaster for the village of Fredouia under 
Pierce's administration. Mr. Johnsou is a 
strong adherent of the Democratic party and, 
because of his extreme radicalism, has never 
held any important offices. He is practically 
retired from professional work and devotes most 
of his time to settling up estates and to the con- 
trol of his money interests. He is a director of 
the Fredouia National bank and is always di- 
rectly or indirectly engaged in every movement 
for the development and improvement of his 
village and county. Persoualh', Mr. Johnson 
is a man of geniality and affability to them who 
are fortunately his acquaintances ; while at all 
times he strictly adheres to those principles of 



JOHN JOHNSON, a comfortably situated 

^ farmer of the town of Ripley, was born in 
the town of Norwich, Chenango county. New 
York, in July, 1824, and is a son of Homer 
and Roxauua (Skinner) Johnson. The 
Johnsou family is of English stock, but 
for two centuries has been American by 
residence. From its early New England home 
various branches have been planted in different 
parts of several States, where a numerous 
posterity exists to-day. Dr. Jonathan Johnson^ 
the paternal grandfather of John Johnson, was 
born in Connecticut, where he read medicine 
for four years and received his diploma April 
3, 1791. In tliat or the following year he 
became the pioneer physician of Chenango 
county, where he soon acquired an extensive 
practice and he soon became au important citi- 
zen. He conducted his business affairs with 
such good judgment as to amass a large for- 
tune in lands, mills and stores. He was a 
Presbyterian and a whig and married Hannah 
Graves, who lived to be ninety-six years of 
age. 

Of their four sons and one daughter, but 
one, Homer Johnson (father) ever married. He 
was born October 31, 1803, (the third child) in 
the town of Norwich, Chenango county, where 
he followed farming until his death May 9, 
1862. He was a republican and a trustee of 
the Baptist church and mai-ried Roxanna Skin- 
ner, by whom he had five sons and five daugh- 
ters, of whom six are living : John, Mary, 
Jonathan D., Abbie, Emily and J. M. (see 
sketch). One son, Charles, was a minister of 
the Baptist church. Mrs. Johnson is a daughter 



BIOGRAPHY AXB HISTORY 



of Daniel Skinner (maternal grandfather) who 
wedded for his second wife a IMiss Green. 

John Johnson was reared in his native town, 
where he was carefully trained to all kinds of 
farm work. He attended the schools of his 
neighborhood, which were then almost in the 
woods and afforded but a limited education. 
Leaving school, he worked with his father until 
he was twenty-eight years of age, when he com- 
menced farming for himself, which business he 
has followed ever since. In 1869 became to 
Ripley where he purchased his present farm. . 

He married Delilah, daughter of Clark and 
Hannah Lewis. Mr. and Mrs. Johnson had no 
children of their own but adopted and reared as 
their daughter Roxanna, who married Martin 
Harrington and died leaving one child, Truman, 
now residing with Mr. Johnson. 

He owns fifty-six acres of good farming land, 
vdneh he has carefully cultivated for the last 
twenty-two years. His farm is conveniently 
located to church, school and market. Mr. 
Johnson is a republican in politics and a mem- 
ber of the Baptist church. 



T ^OnS L. JOHNSON was born in Dun 

-■-* kirk, Chautauqua county, New York, 
February 13, 1862, and is a son of William 
V. and Louisa (Hazle) Johnson. His father 
was born in Boston, Lincolnshire, England, in 
1830, educated in the common schools of his 
native town and learned the baker's trade. 
Emigrating to America in 1852, he located in 
Dunkirk, and at once opened a bakery, to whicli 
he added a grocery, and continued in the busi- 
ness until his death, which occurred November 
5,1857. He had built up a fine, large trade, 
which was left to Mrs. Johnson and his son L. 
L. Independent in politics, in religion he was 
a member of the Episcopal church. He mar- 
ried Louisa Hazle and had several children. 

Louis L. Johnson was brought up in Dun- 
kirk and educated in the public schools. Since 
leaving school, he has devoted liis attention to 



the business established by his father, being 
assisted by his mother. Politically he is a 
liberal republican, and in religion inherits his 
father's Episcopalian tendencies, and is a mem- 
ber of the same church. He is a member of 
the F. & A. M. 

Louis L. Johnson was married in 1883 to 
Helena Allenbraud, a daughter of Elias Allen- 
brand of Dunkirk. 

TIITAKCUS ALPHOXZO PELTOX was born 

■ 4 in the city of Dunkirk, Chautaucjua 

county. New York, November ID, 1855, and is 
the son of Theodore and Maria (Phillips) Pel- 
ton. His father is at present a resident of 
Lyons, Iowa; is a machinist by occupation, a 
democrat in politics, and, although sixty years 
of age, is still actively engaged in the duties of 
life. 

Marcus A. Pelton, though born at Dunkirk, 
New York, was brought up and educated at 
Rutledge, Cattaraugus county. After leaving 
school he commenced farming, and operated a 
farm in the town of Conewaugo until he bought 
the " Star Creamery" in the town of Gerry, in 
the management of which he has since been 
busily engaged. The output of this creamery is 
about thirty-five thousand pounds annually, the 
greater part of which is shipped to New York 
city. Mr. Pelton has always been an exemplary 
citizen, a man of honor and reliability, and has 
been a warm supporter of the Democratic 
ticket. At one time he served as postmaster. 

On July 30, 1890, Mr. Pelton was united in 
mai-riage to Gertrude E. Terry, daughter of the 
late Freeman Terry of Gerry. They have one 
child, Bei-nice Gertrude. 



SEXTUS H. HUXGEKFORD was born in 
Smithfield, Madison county, New York, 
January 14, 1806. When quite young he re- 
moved with his parents to Yernon, Oneida 
county. He was the eldest of nine children, 
and was about twentv-oue when his father died. 




''•-^"-■•"-•-^ ^-^ ■ 






OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



623 



at which time the care of a small farm and a 
large family devolved upon him. lu 1830 he 
was married to Maria P. Skinner, who survives 
him and now resides at Westfield. He contin- 
ued iu the farming business in Vernon until 
1837, when he removed to Westfield and pur- 
chased of Joshua R. Babcock, and continued in 
the mercantile business about six years in con- 
nection with his brother-in-law, H. J. Miner, 
under the firm name of Hungerford & Miner. 
In 1843 he removed to Ripley on a farm, and 
after about two years returned to Westfield, 
where he resided until his death, May 15, 1867. 
In 1848 he established the bank of Westfield, 
of which he was president and John N. Hun- 
gerford, his brother, cashier. In 1864, he, with 
others, organized the First National Bank of 
Westfield. During the late war Mr. Hunger- 
ford was untiring iu his efforts to sustain the 
government, and devoted much time gratuitously 
furnishing men and means. By the policy 
suggested by him the town of Westfield escaped 
the pressure of a heavy war debt. In 1 865 he re- 
presented the assembly district in the Legislature, 
where he discharged with fidelity and to the gen- 
eral acceptance the trusts confided to liim by his 
fellow-citizens. He was for many years a ruling 
elder in the Presbyterian church, and aided in 
sustaining the institutions of the church and of 
religious and benevolent institutions generally, 
by pei'sonal effort and liberal pecuniary contri- 
butions. By his will he bequeathed to the 
Presbyterian Board of Home Missions and the 
Theological Seminary about fifteen thousand 
dollars, and sums of considerable amounts to 
other benevolent institutions. Mr. Hungerford 
during his life-time was a man of force and 
deep moral convictions, enjoying the high confi- 
dence and esteem of a wide range of acquaint- 
ances. He left no children to inherit the estates 
accumulated through a successful career ; but 
has devoted the sum total of his life's work as 
a heritage of philanthropy and the perpetuation 
of moral and religious institutions. 



TAaiES WILSON was born November 24, 
^ 1806, in Scotland and is a son of William 
and Margaret (Reid) Wilson. His grandfather 
James Wilson was also a native of Scotland, of 
plebeian birth, where he passed his life and died. 
His grandfather on the maternal side was like- 
wise a Scotchman and a merchant by occupation. 
He died in his native land. William Wilson, 
fiither of James Wilson, was born in Scotland, 
and died in 1832. 

The son, James Wilson, received what educa- 
tion he has in the schools of his native country 
and in 1827 he bid adieu to his Scottish home 
and sailed for America. He first took up his 
residence in the town of Hanover, New York, 
near Silver Creek, an uncle, John Reid, who 
died March 16, 1837, and himself settling upon 
the farm where he still lives. Here they built 
a cabin in the midst of dense woods and began 
to clear the tract of land upon which they had 
settled. The present condition of his farm is 
in a great measure due to his own efforts and 
untiring energy. 

James W^ilsou was thrice married ; first, to 
Philena Davison, by wliom he had twelve chil- 
dren. His second wife was Harriet Flint, upon 
whose death, he again married, Mrs. Matilda 
(Ton-ey) Johnson. His surviving children are 
Margaret, wife of S. L. Mead, a resident of 
near Forestville, Chautauqua county, New 
York ; Henry, a farmer by occupation, living 
with his fatlier ; and jNIary C, wife of Robert O. 
Bradley, a farmer living near Silver Creek. 

James Wilson has always followed the voca- 
tion of farming, and, as such, has been very 
successful, gathering about him considerable 
real and personal property. He is a thorough- 
going republican iu his political allegiance and a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church. 
He was formerly a member of the I. O. O. F. 
j in good standing, but has allowed his member- 
ship to lapse. Mr. Wilson enjoys the respect 
and good will of his neighbors. 



BIOGRAPHY AXD HISTORY 



TlirATTHEW WALLACE is an agriculturist 
"*- of Ripley town where he has lived for 
thirty-two years. He was born in County 
Down, Ireland, in June 1838, and he is a son 
of Samuel and Nancy McKee (McMeekan) 
Wallace. His grandfather, John Wallace, was 
a native of Ireland, followed farming and died 
a member of the Episcopal church. He mar- 
ried Nancy Mel vin and had seven children. The 
maternal grandfather, Benjamin McMeekan, 
too, resided in Ireland. His wife was Nancy 
Blair and they had a family of eight children. 
Samuel Wallace was born in County Down, 
was a farmer and was twice married. First to 
Nancy McMeekan, who bore him nine children, 
three of whom, Matthew and two sisters, came 
to America. After his first wife died he united 
in marriage with Margaret Sigh, who bore 
him four children, three of whom crossed the 
great water, and one, David, is yet living at 
Sewickley, Allegheny county. Pa. The two 
sisters mentioned above who came to America 
are married. 

Matthew Wallace spent his youth in his 
native land and came here when twenty-one 
years of age. Locating in Westfield he worked 
as an ordinary farm laborer for seventeen years 
and then bought the farm of one hundred 
and twenty-seven and one-half acres, where 
he now lives. On it are nine acres of grape- 
vines. He was drafted to serve in the Union 
army but bought a substitute. 

Matthew Wallace married Sarah Strain, a 
daughter of James Strain. They have one 
child : James S., who married Emily J. Cocli- 
rane, a daughter of Alexander Cochrane and 
they have three children : Matthew, Alexander 
and Hurlburt. 

Politically he is a republican, a member of 
the Presbyterian clinrch and belongs to the 
Knights of Honor. 



^TO.SEPH H. ANDREWS, a well-to-do and 



u 



L'omfortably-situated farmer of the town of 



Hanover, and a Union soldier in the late civil 
war, is a son of Sylvester and Rachel (Harris) 
Andrews, and was born in the town of Portland, 
Chautauqua county. New York, October 27, 
1827. His paternal grandfather, Benjamin 
Andrews, was a native of Massachusetts, and in 
1813 came to the town of Portland, but sub- 
sequently I'eraoved to Erie county, where he 
followed farming until his death. He was a 
member of the Baptist church, served as a 
soldier in the Revolutionary war, married and 
reared a family of three sons and two daugh- 
ters. One of these sons was Sylvester An- 
drews (fiither), and was born in Massachusetts 
near the Connecticut State line about 1790. 
In April, 1828, he came to the town of Han- 
over, near the village of Silver Creek, where 
he purchased a farm of one hundred and six 
acres of laud, which he tilled until his death, 
in 18()5. He was successively a whig, repub- 
lican and democrat in politics, and had been 
a member of the Free-Will Baptist church 
for many years previous to his death. He 
married Rachel Harris, who was a daughter 
of Harry Harris, of Massachusetts, who re- 
moved to Erie county, ■where he died. Mrs. 
Andrews, who died in 1883, aged fifty-nine 
years, Avas the mother of nine children, six sons 
and three daughters. 

Joseph H. Andrews attended the early com- 
mon schools of tJie town of Hanover, and has 
always followed farming and stock-raising on 
the old homestead farm. 

Mr. Andrews married Jane, daughter of 
Thomas and Rachel De Laney. To their union 
have been born two children, a son and a daugh- 
ter : Louella, wife of Walter Lanphere, assistant 
postmaster of the progressive and manufactur- 
ing village of Silver Creek ; and John, who is 
now dead. 

Joseph H. Andrews is a democrat, politically, 
bu: is no aspirant for offices. He is a charter 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



member of Lodge No. 10, Aucient Order of j 
United Workmen, at Silver Creek, organized 
in 1875. He enlisted in June, 1863, and 
served as a corporal in Co. F, GBth Regiment, 
N. Y. Infantry Volunteers. They were or- 
dered into Pennsylvania to aid in driving 
General Lee from northern territory, and arrived 
within five miles of Gettysburg, where they 
were held as a part of a reserve force while that 
great battle was fought. He gives the necessary 
attention to his farm to keep it well improved 
and in a good state of cultivation. This farm, 
which lies one-half mile from the manufacturing 
centre of Silver Creek, is well adapted to farm- 
ing and grazing, and has been very productive 
under the careful and judicious management of 
Mr. Andrews. 



yNEKMOl'TH K. BAKER was born in the 

*^ town of Charlotte, C.iautauqua county, 
New York, on December 12, 1846, and is the 
son of Henry and Ella E. (Hindus) Baker, the 
former being born June 27, 1833, in the town 
of Charlotte, the latter in 1834, in the town of 
Gerry. Henry Baker has been a farmer, but 
recently has retired to the village of Ellington 
Centre. The Bakers were originally native to 
Vermont, where the grandfather of subject was 
born, reared and died. 

Dermouth R. Baker spent his youth and early 
life in the town of Charlotte, and there took his 
first steps in education, soon leaving school to 
engage in the more active work of the farm. 
This he has continuously pursued until two 
years ago, when he relinquished his claim on 
the old homestead, and purchased in the town 
of Gerry what is known as the Thompson farm, 
containing about one hundred and fifty acres. 
He now occupies his time in managing his farm, 
raising sheep of the South-Down variety, and 
in the manufacture of cheese and maple sugar. 
In politics Mr. Baker has been a life-long re- 
publican, and is a member of the Emjiire State 
Legion of Honor. 



Dermouth R. Baker united in marriage 
with Mary A. Brown, daugiiter of J. C. Brown 
of Ellington. To them have been born two 
daughters : Lita May, wife of Ransom Liver- 
more of the town of Ellington ; and Ella Ame- 
lia, wife of Dorritt C. Davis, also of Ellington. 



i^APT. C03IF0RT BIRDSEY, of EngTish 
^^ descent, and a well-respected citizen of 
the town of Hanover, was born in the town of 
Paris, Oneida county, New York, November 23, 
1813, and is a son of John J. and Clarissa Ward 
(Crampton) Bird.sey. The first members of the 
Birdsey family who settled in the new world 
were two brothers, John and Joseph Birdsey, 
who came from England to Stratford, Connec-' 
ticut, in 1639. John, the great-grandfather of 
Comfort Birdsey, in 1710, removed to Middle- 
town (now Middlefield), Connecticut, where he 
purchased eight hundred acres of land. His 
son, Seth Birdsey (grandfather), was born in 
1 736, and while engaged at work in the woods 
was killed by a falling tree. He was married 
and left a widow and fliraily of seven children, 
five sons and two daughters. One of the sons, 
John J. (father), was born in Middletown, 
Conn., in 1774, and in 1811 removed to the 
town of Paris, Oneida county, N. Y., where he 
died April 8, 1826. He was an industrious 
farmer, and married Clarissa W. Crampton, by 
whom he had two sons and three daughters (see 
sketch of Phineas Birdsey). Mrs. Bird.sey, who 
passed away in 1857, aged 76 years, was a daugh- 
ter of Josiah Crampton, an old Revolutionary 
soldier, who removed from his native State of 
Connecticut to Genesee county, N. Y., where he 
died when well advanced in years. 

Comfort Birdsey was reared in Oneida coun- 
ty, where he attended the short winter schools 
of that day. He has always followed farming 
and, in 1828, came to the town of Hanover, 
in which he purchased his present desirable 
farm of one hundred and seventy-five acres of 
land. During the earlier years of his life he 



BIOGEAPHY ASD HISTORY 



was quite acti\-e in the military affairs of the 
county. He served in 1839 as second lieuten- 
ant, was promoted to first lieutenant the follow- 
ing year, and in 1841 was commissioned as cap- 
tain of a light infantry company in the 9th 
Regiment of the New York militia. On Novem- 
ber 24, 1842, he married Margaret, daughter of 
Thomas Waxham, a native of England, who 
rcame to the town of Hanover, in which he fol- 
lowed farming. They are the parents of four chil- 
dren, one son and three daughters : Abbie G., 
widow of Samuel Rollins, has five children — 
Archie B., Hortense, Eugene, Dana and Louis 
A. ; Francilla B., who married Reverdy C. 
Clothier, an extensive farmer of Hanover, and 
has two children, Hamilton B. and Fred- 
erick B. ; Mary, wife of Sheldon H. Burgess, of 
Silver Creek, and has one child, Cora M. ; and 
Eugene G., married Cornelia Baker, and is a 
farmer by occupation. 

Comfort Birdsey is a republican in politics, 
has served as commissioner of highways and has 
assisted in building quite a number of bridges 
in his community. Capt. Birdsey is well pre- 
served for his years, has always taken an intei-est 
in the material and mental development of his 
community and is one of the substantial and 
successful farmers of the county. 



-^HINEAS BIRDSEY, of the town of Han- 
-*- over, who has been successfully engaged 
in carpentering and cabinet-making for over 
fifty years, is a son of John J. and Clarissa 
Ward (Crampton) Birdsey, and was born in the 
town of Paris, Oneida county, New York, Feb- 
ruary 29, 1812. The Birdsey family in the 
United States was founded by two brothers, 
Joseph and John Birdsey, who came in 1639 
from England to Stratford, Connecticut. In 
1710 John (great-grandfather) settled in what 
is now Middlefield, that State, where his son 
Seth (grandfather) was born in 1736 and after- 
wards killed by a falling tree. One of his seven 
children was John J. Birdsey (father), who was 



born in 1774, and in 1811 removed to Oneida 
county, where he died in the town of Paris on 
April 8, 1826. He married Clarissa W. 
Crampton, a daughter of Josiah Crampton, an 
old Revolutionary soldier, who died in Genesee 
county. They had five children: Phineas, 
Capt. Comfort (see his sketch for full ancestral 
history) ; Eunice (deceased), who married Mr. 
Southridge, and after his death William Yates, 
who is now dead ; Clarissa, widow of Samuel 
Russell, a republican jwlitician and once port- 
warden of New York city ; and Abbie, widow 
of AVells G. Russell, now a resident of Hamil- 
ton, Madison county. 

Phineas Birdsey was reared in his native 
town, where he received his education in the 
common schools of that early day and learned 
the trades of carpenter and joiner and cabinet- 
maker, which he has followed ever since. He 
came to the town of Hanover, and is an in- 
dustrious and useful citizen. He is a dem- 
ocrat in politics, always supports his party, but 
is no politician or office seeker. 

He married Jeannette, daughter of Benjamin 
Horton, and they have two children : John J., 
a resident of the town of Hanover, who married 
Hattie Dagett and is extensively engaged in 
buving and selling lumber ; and Elmer J., who 
was in the lumber business for ten years, mar- 
ried Mary Cockbnru and is now engaged in 
farming and raising small fruits. 



HENRY BURN3HASTER, now resident of 
Irving and an industrious and respected 
citizen of the county, was born in Germany, 
December 21, 1823, and is a son of Cort and 
Isabella (Bronte) Burnmaster. His paternal 
grandparents were natives and life-long residents 
of Germany. His father, Cort Burnmaster, 
was reai'ed and educated in his native laud, 
where he followed farming until his death. He 
raan-ied Isabella Bronte, by whom he had eight 
children, of whom some did not live to reach 
maturitv. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Henry Burnmaster received his education in 
the common schools of Schenectady, New York, 
to wliich city he had been brought from Ger- 
many at an early age. He also learned there 
the trade of broom-maker, which he followed 
successfully for many years and at times manu- 
factured very large quantities to meet the de- 
mand made for his brooms, which always sold 
well in the markets as a reliable and first-class 
article. In 1856 he came to Irving, where 
he has resided ever since. He married Aun 
Waite, a native of Schenectady, New York, 
aud a daughter of Oliver Waite, a carpen- 
ter, who came from Massachusetts to Schenec- 
tady, where he married Anna Reese, by whom 
he had six children. To Mr. aud Mrs. Burn- 
master have been born nine children : Helen L., 
wife of Lyman Newton, of Irving; Charles, a 
farmer, who married Lydia Taylor ; Josephine, 
wife of Reuben McPherson, of jNIarion, Oliio, 
where he is in the employ of a railroad com- 
pany; Anna, married to \V. H. Parsons, a 
druggist of Forestville ; Mary, wife of George 
Parks, a merchant of Irving ; Kate, married to 
George Sackett, a farmer ; Allen, married to 
Agnes Gleason and in the employ of a railroad 
company ; Henry, married to Mary Baird aud 
likewise in the employ of a railroad company ; 
and Cora, wife of William Bolden, a grocer of 
Evans Centre. 

Henry Burnmaster was formerly a whig and 
is now a republican in politics. He at one time 
gave some attention to farming in the town of 
Hanover, where he then owned one hundred ami 
twenty-one acres of land. He is a member of 
the Irving Baptist church and of the Independ- 
ent Order of Odd Fellows. 



/^ALVIX W. BARXES, one of the leading 
^^ and most successful business men of the 
prosperous village of Ripley, is a son of Calvin 
W., Sr., and Anna (Frazee) Barnes, and was 
born in Oneida county, New York, June 23, 
1823. The Barnes family is of English de- 



scent and grandfather James Barnes was boru 
at Austin, aud died in Oneida county, N. Y., 
where he had been a farmer for several years. 
He was an old-line whig, married Anna Marcy 
and reared a family of fourteen children. The 
Frazee family is of English extraction and 
Eliphalet Frazee (maternal grandfather) was a 
native of Blenheim, Albany county, but be- 
came one of the early settlers of tlie town of 
Verona, Oneida county. He was a farmer, a 
whig and a baptist, and married a Miss Soule, 
of Blenheim, by whom he had twelve children. 
Calvin W. Barnes, Sr., M'as born in the town 
of Floyd, Oneida county, about 1795, served in 
the war of 1812, and was engaged principally 
in farming until his death. lu early life he 
was a contractor and builder, a life-long whig 
and a member and deacon of the Baptist church. 
He married Anna Frazee aud they were the 
parents of eleven children ; eight grew to man- 
hood and womanhood. 

After receiving a good common school edu- 
cation, Calvin W. Barnes left the farm to 
become a manager for a lumbering company 
which had large lumber intei"ests at the village 
of Oneida. He remained seven years and then 
resigned his position and established a foundry 
at Durham, N. Y., which he operated for six 
years. In 1865, he removed to the oil regions 
of Penn.sylvania and has owned aud operated 
oil territory ever since. After one year's resi- 
dence in Pennsylvania, he returned to New 
York and settled at Ripley, this county, where 
he established his present cider-mill aud vinegar 
manufactory. In addition to the management 
of his factory and oil interests he owns a vine- 
yard of thirty acres near the village aud also 
deals in real estate, at the jiresent time owuiug 
thirty-two village lots. 

He married Alzuria Toby, who was a daugh- 
ter of Franklin Toby, of Oneida county, and 
died in 1864, leaving one child that died in 
infancy. Mr. Barnes then united in marriage 
with Jane Y. Siggins, of Forest county, Penn- 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



sylvania. By his second marriage he has liad 
three ciiildren : Alice, the wife of C. B. Clark, 
now engaged in the lumber, business at Hen- 
dricks, West Virginia, has one child. Donna 
Virginia ; Albert, who died in infancy ; and 
Bertha, at home. 

Calvin W. Barnes is a republican in politics 
but no aspirant for office, although he has been 
frequently solicited to become a candidate. He 
is a member of the Ripley Baptist church, of 
the Ancient Order of United Workmen and 
the Equitable Aid Union. 



•>-ARLISLE DURAKB, a prosperous farmer 
^^ of the town of Ripley and a descendant 
from one of the early families of the county, is 
a son of Fisk and Nancy (Forsythe) Diirand, 
and was born near the village of Westfield, in 
the town of the same name, Chautauqua 
county, New York, February 4, 1834. The 
Durand and Forsythe families are both of New 
England stock. Fisk Durand, Sr., (paternal 
grandfather) was of French descent and during 
his early life was engaged in the coast trade on 
the North Atlantic, between New England 
ports and Halifax, Nova Scotia. He served in 
the war of 1812, and three years later came to 
the town of Westfield. He reared a family of 
ten children, one of whom, Fisk Durand, was 
born in 1797, in Connecticut, and in November, 
1855, died in the town of Westfield, this 
•county, whither he had come in 1815. Fisk 
Durand was a carpenter by trade and built a 
great many houses during his forty years resi- 
dence in this county, but the latter years of his 
life were devoted chiefly to farming. He was 
a republican and a well-thought-of-member of 
the Presbyterian church. Having married 
Nancy Forsythe, he reared four children, of 
whom three are yet living: Carlisle; Nellie, 
who married ly. S. Terry, of Westfield ; and 
Addie, the wife of H. C. Evans, now living at 
Chattanooga, Tennessee. Mrs. Nancy Durand 
is a daughter of Charles H. Forsythe, who, in 



1805, came from New England to the town of 
Ripley, purchased a tract of five hundred 
acres, upon which, in 1834, he built the brick 
house where the subject of this sketch now 
resides. He was a prominent whig and repub- 
lican. 

Carlisle Durand attended the early common 
.schools of his town and Westfield academy. 
He commenced for himself as a farmer which 
he has since followed without intermi.ssion. 

Carlisle Durand married Frances Cordelia 
Coy, who is a member of the Presbyterian 
chiu-ch and a daughter of Alvy Coy, who set- 
tled in the town of Clymer in 1816, and mar- 
ried Nancy ]Marsh, whose father was one of the 
early settlers of the county. Mr. and Mrs. 
Durand are the parents of six children, four 
sons and two daughters : Frederick C, an 
engineer by profession but now engaged as a 
postal clerk at Chattanooga, Tenn., married 
Kate McElroy ; Herman F., married Minnie 
Shepherd, of Clymer ; Donna, is the wife of C. 
C.Otis, of Buffalo, N. Y. ; Sarah; Joseph, a 
telegraph operator and car inspector at Buffalo ; 
and Louis. 

Carlisle Durand is an activ-e republican and 
has served as constable besides holding other 
town offices. He is a regular attendant at 
church and profitably conducts a farm which he 
owns. He is a member of the Knights of 
Honor and of the Ancient Order of the United 
Workmen. 



n LFRED -T. LUXT, the courteous and popu- 
•**■ lar cashier of the Lake Shore National 
bank at Dunkirk, is a .son of Thomas and Ann 
(Batchelor) Lunt, and was born in Dunkirk, 
Chautauqua county, New York, October 19, 
1855. Thomas Lunt is a native of Liverpool, 
England, where he was born in 1829. When 
nineteen years old he decided to seek a home in 
America, and with this object in view came to 
the United States in 1848. He stopped in 
different places until 1850, when he came to 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTY. 



629 



Dunkirk which has since been his permanent ' 
home. For thirty-five years he was roadmaster 
of the Erie railway. He married Ann Batch- 
elor, by whom he had six children. Mrs. 
Lunt is still living, and is sixty-three years of 
age. Both she and her husband are members , 
of the Episcopal church. He is a democrat, 
and has served as street commissioner in Dun- 
kirk, and is also a member of the Free and 
Accepted Masons, Iroudequoit Lodge, No. 291. 

Alfred J. Lunt is an example of what any 
American boy, with a good constitution, may 
accomplish. He was reared in Dunkirk, and 
educated in the public schools of the city. His 
first experience in business life was gained in 
the post-office where he was employed for three 
years. From here he went to the Lake Shore 
National bank, first serving as its messenger. 
His work was characterized by the careful and 
systematic manner in which it was performed, 
and it could not help but reach the favorable 
attention of his superiors. Courteous and 
respectful in manner, he retained the good-will 
and advanced in the estimation of his employers 
until, when a vacancy presented, he was advanced 
to fill it. Here, again, application to the work 
before him was observable, and this was a dis- 
tinguishing feature through life. In 1883, 
when the bank needed a cashier, and the question 
was asked, " Who shall we get?" the answer 
met the eye when it fell on him. Mr. Luut 
received the appointment because he deserved 
it and was prepared to fill it. Thus at the age 
of twenty-eight he was the executive manager 
of one of the strongest financial institutions in 
southwestern New York. 

In 1884 Mr. Lunt married Dora Popple, 
daughter of Alexander W. Popple, a citizen of 
Dunkirk, and they have two interesting chil- 
dren, Helen and Gurney. 

He is a member of the Episcopal church, 
one of its vestrymen, and has attained to 
the thirty-second degree in the Dunkirk Lodge, 
No. 767, Free and Accepted Masons. AVe 



were about to say that Mr. Lunt was a 
fortunate man, but his good fortune came 
because he was possassed of sterling qualities of 
integrity and social qualities of good fellowship, 
which, combined and intelligently administered, 
will bring good fortune to any man. He is a 
representative citizen of Dunkirk, esteemed by 
the business men, and admired by society. He 
is treasurer of the board of water works of 
the City of Dunkirk, of the Dunkirk wagon 
company, and of the F. & A. M. 



ALBKKT P. I^OWELL, an enterjjrising 
business mau and prominent hardware 
merchant of Brocton, is a son of James W. and 
Jane (Sellick) Lowell, and was born in the 
town of Pomfret, June 24, 1847. Mr. Low- 
ell's ancestors came from Scotland. His grand- 
father, James Lowell, was born in Connecticut, 
but came to Chautauqua county, where he 
bought a farm in Pomfret town, which he tilled 
until his death in 1856. He was a democrat 
of the old school and an influential man among 
his associates. 

James W. Lowell was born in Hartford, 
('onnecticut, and, hoping to improve his con- 
dition, came to western New York, and settled 
at Pomfret. He has always been a leading 
farmer, having good crops and fine stock. Mr. 
Lowell is a democrat, and still lives on his 
farm in Pomfret, aged seventy-three years. He 
married Jane Sellick, and is still living at 
sixty-five years of age. 

Albert P. Lowell was reared on his father's 
farm, and secured his education at the public 
schools and the academy iu Fredonia. He 
prepared for teaching, and upon leaving school 
followed the pedagogue's profession for seven 
years with a remarkable degree of success; but, 
as many of the best teachers are doing to-day, 
on account of the meagre remuneration, he de- 
cided to enter a business more profitable. A 
person capaljle of becoming a first-class teacher 
cau easily make two thousand dollars or more 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



per year iu other pursuits. This is discour- 
aging to the instructor who i-eceives but one 
hundred dollars or less per month, and tliat for 
but seven to ten mouths iu the year. In 1872 
Mr. Lowell entered a partnership with H. B. 
Crandall, the firm being Crandall & Lowell, 
for the manufacture of fruit and berry baskets. 
This business was profitably and successively 
continued for fifteen years, during which time 
they turned out an immense quantity of bask- 
ets. In February, 1888, Mr. Lowell decided 
to open a hardware store, and stocked it with a 
complete line of shelf and heavy hardware. 
He still conducts this business, carrying a fine | 
and assorted stock, and enjoys a large and in- 
creasing trade, and, like many another, can 
look back and smile quietly at thoughts of 
days spent as teacher in the little school-house. 
Albert P. Lowell married Emily M. Risley 
in 1871. She was a daughter of Ira Risley, a i 
farmer in Pomfret, and has one child : Anna 
S. He is a member of the Methodist church, 
where he is a steward, and belongs to the Royal 
Templars of Temperance and the Knights of 
Pythias. Politically a democrat, he has held 
the office of justice of the peace, and was the 
first '' No License " excise commissioner of 
Portland town. Mr. Lowell is a pushing and 
enterprising man, who has reached the position 
in the business world he now occupies through 
his own efforts, and few men are held in higher 
esteem by their neighbors and acquaintances. 



T.\3IES 3IcALLISTER was born in the 
^ town of Gerry, ou September 1, 1825, 
and is the son of John and Sarah (Brewster) 
McAllister. His great-grandfather, William 
McAllister, was born in Scotland and emigrated 
to New York State in the Adirondack region with 
a surveying party, where he was taken sick and 
died. His grandparents were born in the New 
England States, where also was born our sub- 
ject's father. The father was by occupation a 
tanner, and in the earlier part of his life removed 



from Boston, Massachusetts, to Amsterdam, New 
York, where he operated a tannery and rti con- 
junction therewith dealt in boots and shoes. In 
1817 he moved to the town of CTcrry and ]iur- 
chased a farm from the Holland Land company, 
upon which one of his sons now lives. Here 
he engaged in farming and other collateral lines, 
through which he acquired considerable money. 
In politics he first voted with the Whig party 
and afterwards allied himself with the Demo- 
cratic party, under the latter of which he held 
the office of justice of the peace, supervisor and 
collector for a number of years. He was a 
member of the Baptist church, in which he 
held the offices of deacon and trustee at different 
times. His death occurred in the town of 
Gerry on the old fiirm, which he had originally 
cleared and impx-oved, at the age of ninety 
years. 

James McAllister was reared and educated 
in the town of Gerry, left school at an early 
age and worked with his father iu the tannery 
and ou the farm. He shoi-tly afterward com- 
menced his independent career on the old home- 
stead, where he carried on the business of farm- 
ing, lumbering and dairying. At the age of 
twenty-tw'o he purchased the old farm, erected 
a saw-mill and increased his facilities for manu- 
facturing and shipping lumber. 

James McAllister, on June 21, 1863, was 
united in marriage to Laura, daughter of Jonas 
Willow, of the town of Poland, New York, who 
bore him five children : Cora Bell (deceased) ; 
IjOttie (deceased) ; Joseph Lynn, a graduate of 
Sinclairville academy and a student at the 
University of Michigan, where in 1890 he 
was taken sick and died; Guy Brewster ; and 
Ray Barnard. 

James McAllister has always been a repub- 
lican in politics, while his religious views were 
Unitarian. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



G31 



RLEXAJVDER M. MINIGER. One of 
Westfield town's prosperous and contented 
fariufn-s is tlie gentleman whose name appears 
above. He is of German descent; a sou of 
Orville and Mary J. (Riddell) Miuiger, and was 
born in "Westfield, Chautauqua county, New \ 
York, May 25, 1840. Tiie family is indigenous 
to the town and county almost since its forma- 
tion. In 1806 Low Miniger, the paternal 
grandfather of Alexander M., bought a tract in 
section 26, and a year later, a part of section 18 
from John McMahan, who had secured it from i 
the Holland Laud company. Previous to the 
first date mentioned, Mr. Miniger had lived 
about two years at Fredonia. This would place 
his arrival from Pennsylvania at about 1804, 
which is believed to be correct. He served 
bravely with the American army in the war of 
1812, and died when eighty- four years of age, 
beino- a whig in politics. When "Westfield 
town was formed he was elected the first ovei-- 
seer of the poor and one of the fence viewers, a 
committee of three to pass upon the quality of 
a fence in case of damages by a stock. 

Orville Miuiger, the father of our subject, 
was born in this town in 1813 and is now liv- 
ing in Ripley, aged seventy-eight years. He 
has always beeu a farmer, in which avocation 
he is still employed, and his farm is character- 
ized by the neatness of all its surroundings. 
He is a pushing, energetic man and pushes the 
seasons instead of letting them push him in his 
farm work. Mr. Miniger is a member of the 
Free and Accepted Masons, and also belongs to 
the Republican party. Like many of the best 
thinking minds of this enlightened day, he is 
strongly in favor of the temperance movement 
and hopes to live to see it successful. He mar- 
ried Mary J. Riddell, who still comforts his 
advancing years and is in her seventy-sixth 
year. She is a member of the Presbyterian 
church. They reared a family of several chil- 
dren. 

Alexander M. Miniger was reared on the 



farm and has spent his life in tilling the soil. 
His education was acquired in the public schools 
of Westfield. He is now the owner of forty- 
four acres of well-kept land, lying two aud a 
quarter miles west of Westfield, on the Buffalo 
road, where he devotes considerable attention to 
grape culture — a fine vineyard in excellent cul- 
tivation being part of his farm. 

In 1867 he married Martha A. Webster, a 
daughter of Warren Webster, of (lowanda, 
Cattaraugus county, New York. They have 
one son and a daughter — George W., aged 
twenty, aud Martha E., who was born in 1876. 
Mr. Miniger is a republican politically and is 
one of the town's most euterprising men. 



SILAS W. MASOX, a member of the Chau- 
tauqua county bar, aud a prominent pro- 
hibitionist of New York, is a son of Fitler M. 
aud Ann (Haskins) Mason, and was born in the 
tov/n of Ellery, Chautauqua county, New York, 
November 21, 1840. His paternal grandfather, 
Thaddeus Mason, who was of Scotch-Irish 
descent, was born either in Massachusetts or 
Connecticut, and served in the war of 1812. 
His maternal grandfather, Ira Haskins, was of 
English descent, and was a native of Clinton 
county. New York. His father, Fitler Mason, 
was born in Clinton county in 1802, and died 
in this county in 1886. He was a millwright 
by trade, and was engaged extensively for several 
years in Clinton county in the lumber business, 
besides building several mills. About 1832 he 
removed to the town of Ellery where he followed 
farming. He also worked at his trade and built 
a number of flouring-mills in different sections 
of the county. 

Silas W. Mason was reared on the homestead 
j and attended the public schools until he was 
fourteen years of age, when he became an insur- 
ance solicitor, which position he resigned after 
one year's service, to enter Westfield academy. 
After attending one year be taught one term in 
the public schools, and then returned to West- 



BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY 



iield academy, from which he was graduated in 
1859, at the age of nineteen years. After being 
variously employed for two years, he entered 
Bryant & Stratton's business college of Cleve- 
land, Ohio, from which lie was graduated in 
18G1 . During the next year he went to Venango 
county, Pennsylvania, where he was engaged 
for about six years in the real estate and oil 
business. He owned a one-fourth interest in 
the celebrated Foster oil farm, besides having 
an interest in several other good oil farms. In 
1870 he returned to this county, where he read 
law at thirty years of age with Austin Smith, 
and two years later entered the Albany Law 
school, from which he was graduated in 1872. 
He was afterwards admitted to practice iu the 
Supreme Court of New York, where he has 
practiced his profession snecessfully. In avoca- 
tions of life other than professional, Mr. Mason 
has been- actively engaged at diiferent times. 
While giving close attention to his large law 
practice, he did not neglect his agricultural 
interests, and has greatly improved the tract of 
land which he owns. 

In 1862 he united in marriage with Amanda 
F. Parsons, a native of Westfield, and a daugh- 
ter of Paul Parsons, a business man, and for- 
merly a resident of Westfield. 

Silas W. Mason is one of the leading prohi- 
bitionists of western New York. In 1887 he 
was the prohibition candidate for Assembly in 
Chautauqua county, where the Prohibition party 
casts about one thousand votes. In 1889 ho 
was the prohibition nominee for judge of the 
Supreme Court of New York, and the next year 
was nominated forjudge of the Court of Appeals. 
He has always polled the full vote of his jiarty 
and at each election has received an increased 
vote, although the prohibitionists have been so 
far in the minority. 



HEXKY FINC'K, a prominent citizen and 
successful business man of the town of 
Dunkirk, Chautauqua county, New York, is a 



son of John A. and Frances (Thuilot) Finck, 
and was born in Prussia on October 19th, 1835. 

His father was a native of Prussia and by 
occupation was a hotel-keeper and brick maker, 
while his mother was of French descent but 
born within the confines of Germany. The 
former was an active, energetic man, conducted 
his business with success and died in his native 
country at the age of fifty-four years. 

Henry Finck was reared in Prussia, where 
he received his education in the common schools 
and passed the first seventeen years of his life. 
At the expiration of this time he emigrated to 
the United States and located in the city of Buf- 
falo, New York, where he received employment 
as a brewer and continued in that business until 
the year 1869. During this period, however, — 
in 1855-56-57, he was employed on a steamer 
on Lake Erie as a dock hand at ten dollars per 
month. He also worked for a short time in the 
city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and other places 
in the West. In 1869 Mr. Finck left Buffalo, 
New York, and located on the farm upon which 
he now resides. There was at that time erected 
upon it a small brewery of the French type, in 
which he commenced business. He continued 
tlie brewing business, gradually increasing the 
business iu its capacity up to the year 1888, at 
which time he erected a large new brick brewery 
and equipped it with the most modern appar- 
atus. This brewery is located within a sliort 
distance of the city of Dunkirk and is also 
within a short distance of two leading railroads, 
so that he is not lacking in facilities for delivery 
and shipment. His business has grown in ex- 
tent and importance year by year until at the 
present time it is one of the most prominent in 
the town of Dunkirk. Mr. Finck has erected 
upon his farm a fine brick house of a modern 
style of architecture, where he lives in compara- 
tive ease and complacency, practically retired 
from the activities of a business life. The life 
of Henry Finck well illustrates what can be at- 
tained through industry, courage and unflagging 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



633 



energy in the business world. His career has 
been marked by self-effort, by patient struggle 
with adverse circumstances, but withal honesty 
and an untiring zeal. He is now recognized, 
though born in a foreign land aud reared under 
a widely difl'erent form of government and type 
of civilization, as a model citizen and in com- 
plete sympathy with our constitution, as well as 
the political and social fabric of America. 

In the year 1864 Henry Finck was united in 
marriage to ^Margaret, daugliter of Alexander 
Hadley of Baden, Germany, who has borne him 
two children, both sons — Henry and Albert. 



nICHARD A. HALL, a gentleman well 
versed in the statute law of the State of 
New York, is a son of Artemus and Almira 
(Mount) Hall, and was born in tlie town of 
Cherry Creek, Chautauqua county. New York, 
in 1864. Tiie paternal grandfather, Abraham 
Hall, was a farmer. Artemus Hall was a re- 
publican in politics and a farmer by occupation. 
He came with liis parents to Cherry Creek and 
still resides here. 

Richard A. Hall i-eceived a public school edu- 
cation, attended the Ellington academy and the 
Fredonia State Normal sciiool. After leaving 
the latter lie read law with the Hon. George H. 
Trout, of Cherry Creek, and was admitted to 
the bar in June, 1889. About the same time 
he associated himself in partner.ship with his 
former preceptor, who resides in Buffalo and has 
a law office there. The firm now do legal bu.s- 
iness in both Erie and Chautauqua counties, 
and in the different courts throughout the State. 
Richard A. Hall is a member of Cherr)' Creek 
Lodge, No. 463, I. O. O. F., and is a republi- 
can in politics. 

He united in marriage with Stella Ellsworth, 
and they have two children : Eugenia, and an 
infant. Mr. Hall is a bright and shrewd lawyer, 
careful and conscientious in his business, up- 
right in his character aud seems destined to make 
a mark. 



rr LMERON McDANIELS, a descendant ot 
■**■ a good old New England family and a 
staunch farmer of Chautauqua county, was 
born July 27, 1845, in the .town of Villanova, 
Chautauqua county. New York. His parents 
were Leonard and Lydia (Howe) McDauiels. 
The McDauiels family were natives of the 
State of Vermont, where the paternal grand- 
father of our subject lived and died. His 
grandfather on the maternal side was a farmer 
of Massachusetts, of which State he was a life- 
long resident. Leonard jNIcDaniels was born 
and reared in Vermont and about the year 1841 
clianged his place of residence to the State of 
New York, town of Pomfret, Chautauqua 
countv. Thence he moved into the town ot 
Villanova, where he remained some time, aud 
finally located in the town of Hanover on the 
public road leading from Silver Creek to 
Forestville. Here he purchased some land 
and went to farming, which he has since fol- 
lowed with success aud good financial results. 
Politically, his tendencies were decidedly re- 
publican, although he always held himself aloof 
from partisanship and office seeking. He held 
membership in the Methodist Episcopal church, 
where his family were constant worshipers. 
During the war of 1812 he was mustered into 
the service and took part in nearly all the 
notable campaigns of that war. Mr. McDaniels 
entered the bonds of marriage with Miss Lydia 
Howe, who is still living in the town of Han- 
over, at the age of seventy-seven years. They 
were the parents of seven children : Sarah, 
married to Philo Osborn (dead) and now 
living in the village of Silver Creek ; Mary, 
married to Albert Bennett, a resident of near 
Forestville, New York ; Ellen, married to 
Abner Stebbins a farmer of Erie county. Pa. ; 
Emily (dead) ; Almeron ; Adelaide, married to 
Mason Cushman, a farmer of the town of 
I Hanover ; aud Charles (married to Nora Mor- 
ris) living in Sheridan, Chautauqua county, a 
farmer. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Almeron McDaniels is indebted to the com- 
mon school system for his education, and to liis 
early life upon his father's farm for a strong, 
robust physical constitution. After leaving 
school he began his independent career as a 
clerk at Silver Creek, where he spent three 
years. At the expiration of this time he re- 
turned to farming, and in 1883 located where 
he now lives in Hanover township. In con- 
junction with his farm interests, he runs a 
dairy, which has proved quite a successful and 
profitable venture. He has been democratic 
in his political proclivities until within a 
few years, when his moral convictions led him 
to ally himself with the Prohibition party. 

Almeron McDaniels united in marriage with 
Emily A. Brown, daughter of Sidney and Har- 
riet (Green) Brown of Hanover Centre, New 
York, but formerly of the State of Vermont. 
He has two children : Sidney B. and Fred A., 

both young. 

© 

ISKAliL G. 3IOORE, a man of influence 
and a leading farmer of the town of Elli- 
cott, is by birth and education a New Eng- 
lauder. He was born in West Boylston, Mas- 
sachusetts, January 2, 1809, and is a son of 
Israel and Mary C. (Goodell) Moore. His 
grandfather whose name was also Israel Moore, 
had been born three generations prior at the 
same place, where he also died. The ISIoores 
have been a succession of farmei's, grandfather 
Moore having been the owner of a large and 
well-improved farm in the native State. He 
was a follower of the Whig party and a member 
of the Congregational church, in which he held 
the office of deacon for many years. His mar- 
riage resulted in the birth of five sons and two 
daughters. Maternal grandfather Goodell was 
also a Massachusetts farmer in comfortable cir- 
cumstances and of Puritan descent. He was a 
whig, a worshiper at the Congregational 
church, and reared a family of seven children, 
three sons and four dauii'iiters. His wife was 



Miss Eunice Lovell of the same place. Israel 
jSIoore, father of Israel G. Moore, was given 
birth at the old Moore homestead in Massachu- 
setts in the year 1779, and died thirty-two 
years later. By occupation he was a farmer, 
in politics a whig and in religion a member of 
the Congregational church. He was united in 
the bonds of marriage with Miss Mary C. 
Goodell, who bore him two sons and two 
daughters, all of whom lived and died in the 
State of Massachusetts, except the subject. Mr. 
Moore inherited in a measure the religious con- 
victions and social views of his Puritan ances- 
tors. He was thoroughly imbued with the 
spirit of conservatism and firmly held to the 
faith and customs which have become such 
potent factors in shaping American life and 
institutions. 

Israel G. Moore gained his education through 
the medium of the common schools, was reared 
a farm lad and, ever since attaining his majority, 
has engaged in the pursuits of agriculture. In 
1836 he emigrated to New York State and 
settled in the town of Ellicott, where he now 
resides. At that time his present farm was en- 

j tirely covered with a heavy growth of timber, 

! but through his toil and tireless energy the 
scene has changed. To-day there is field and 
meadow, waving grain and lowing herds, 
where sixty years ago all was trackless forest 
relieved from the monotony of its primeval 

1 nature only by here and there the cliipping of 
the surveyor's ax. This farm, which still re- 

! mains in the ownership of the subject, is man- 
aged and operated by his sons. 

On March 17, 1831, while still in :Massa- 

I chusetts, he was united in marriage to Abigail 
H. Partridge, by whom he had four children : 
Eliza J., wife of Alva Bush (deceased) who 
lives in Osage, Iowa ; Alfred E., married to 
Mary Sunderland and now residing in James- 
town, New York, a carpenter by trade ; Almau 
P. (married to Anua Lardle) living on his 
father's farm ; and Abbi*; H., wife of Addison 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



E. Holandbeck, a hotel-keeper of Balake, Pa. 

lu politics Mr. Moore is a republican, while 

iu church membership he is a Congregation- 

alist. As a citizen and as a man he is held in 

highest respect. 

^ 

JONAS IHARTLS", one of tiie early grape- 
growers of the town of Portland, and an 
active business man of Brocton, is a sou of 
Jason and Elmira (Hill) Martin, and was born 
in the town of Portland, Chautauqua county, 
New York, November 26, 1828. The Mar- 
tins and Hills were among the early settled 
families of Vermont, and many of them served 
with credit in the Revolutionary struggle for 
Independence. Zadoc Martin (grandfather) 
came into this county in 1816 with an ox team, 
and purchased two hundred and seventy acres 
of land in the town of Portland. He was ac- 
companied by his wife and four children, none 
of whom are now living. He was a carpenter 
and joiner by trade, served in the war of 1812, 
and died in the autumn of 1851, at seventy- 
three years of age. His son, Jason Martin, 
(father), came with him in 1816, and settled 
one and one-half miles east of the village of 
Brocton, where he followed ftirming until his 
death in 1872, when, in the sixty-ninth year of 
his age. He was a prosperous farmer and an 
old-time democi-at, and married Elmira Hill, of 
Vermont, who was born in 1808, and passed 
away in the same year in which her husband 
died. Her grandfether, Reuben Hill, (maternal 
great-grandfather), was a gunsmith, and made 
guns for the Continental army, iu which his 
son, Zimri Hill, (maternal grandfather), served 
in a light-horse company and lost one of his 
hands. He was but eighteen years of age when 
he enlisted in the Continental army, and after- 
wards served as a soldier iu the war of 1812. 
In 1817, Zimri Hill, the hero of two wars, 
settled in Portland where he bought three hun- 
dred acres, one milesouth of Brocton, and where 
he died in 1844. 
34 



Jonas Martin grew to manhood on the farm, 
and received his education iu the common 
schools and a select school of the town of Port- 
land. He commenced life for himself by work- 
ing by the month as a farm hand, and in two 
years acquired sufficient means to purchase 
a small farm of fifty acres. After farming for 
some years he engaged in his pi-eseut business 
of grape raising and speculating in real estate. 
He was among the first grape growers in the 
town of Portland, has over two hundred acres 
of bearing vineyards, and buys and ships large 
quantities of grapes. 

In 1852 he ma rried Elvira, daughter of Phil- 
lip Mericle, of Brocton. Mrs. Martin died in 
1887, leaving one child, Jerome P., and in 
1889 Mr. Martin united in marriage with Julia 
E., daughter of William Strasmer, of Buffalo. 
To this second union has been born one child, 
a son, AVilliam J. 

In politics Mr. Martin is a democrat, and has 
served his town as assessor. He was the first 
man that ever shipped a full car load of grapes 
from Brocton. He is a member of the Ancient 
Order of United Workmen, and of the Knights 
of Honor. 



GEORGE LE ROY MARTIN, the justice of 
the peace at Cherry Creek and a thriving 
merchant, doing business at the same place, a 
son of George W. and Sophronia (Thompson) 
Martin, was born, in the town of Arkwright, 
Chautauqua county. New York, December 22, 
1851. George AY. Martin was born in the 
town of Arkwright, March 20, 1824 and is a 
son of Isaiah Martin. He was a farmer by 
occupation, married Sophronia Thompson, and 
had the following children: Edgar W., born 
May 10, 1847, married Cynthia Waite of 
Cherry Creek, is a farmer and has two daugh- 
ters; Charles W., born November 22, 1849, 
married Addie Brown, of this town, is a mer- 
chant and has two daughters; George L. ; Ella 
S., born' April 26, 1854, married Dr. Charles 



636 



BIOGRAPHY AND IHSTORY 



A. Beebe, a practicing physician, living at Mar- 
shall, Wisconsin, and has two sons; Dewrell C, 
born A])ril 11, 1856, is a cheese maker in this 
town, niarrictl Cora Farniiam, of Hamlet and 
has one sou and two daughters ; James E., born 
in October, 1858, is a butciier, married Effie 
Fluker and lias one daughter ; Annie S., born 
October 26, 18G0, and resides in Arkwright 
with her mother; Oriin I)., born March 8, 
1863 (dead); Frank E., Ijorn April 21, 1865, 
is a butcher in Villanova and married Dolly 
King of Ciierry Creek ; Hattie E., boru April 
26, 1867, married Dewitt C. Erwin a farmer of 
Cherry Creek ; and Otis J., born May 14, 1873, 
is at home in Arkwright. 

George Le Roy ]Martin was educated at the grad- 
ed schools at Rushville, Crawford county, Penn- 
sylvania, where he entered business, remained 
seven years and then removed to State Line, 
McKean county, Pa., where he staid five years 
and then came to Cherry Creek and opened his 
business in October of 1883, since which he 
has carried a good stock of groceries, and being 
a careful business man and a popular gentleman, 
is doing probably the most thriving business 
in town. In politics he is a republican and 
three years ago was elected town clerk, a posi- 
tion which he still retains. He is a member of 
the Methodist church and belongs to Cherry 
Creek Lodge, No. 463, I. O. O. F., Pocahontas 
Tent, No. 101, K. of M., and the Equitable 
Aid Union. ' 

He married Carrie Rice, a daughter of A. J. 
and Carrie Rice, of Riceville, Pa., and has a 
son Earl R., and a daughter Edith M. 



COL. JEFFREY T. MOON, the well-known 
and popular chief of police, of James- 
town, was born March 22, 1828, about two and 
one-half miles north of Jamestown, Chautau- 
qua county, New York, in wiiat was then and 
still is known as Moon Hollow. His ])arents, 
Augustus and Olive (Clark) Moon, were early 
settlers of the locality. Ciiarles Moon (paternal 



grandfather) was boru at Cambridge, Washing- 
ton county, and was a farmer until his death, 
wiiich occurred accidentally. He was a captain 
in the Colonial army during the Revolutionary 
war, and served until hostilities were suspend- 
ed. He married and had four children. 
Grandfather George Clark was a native of what 
at that time was known as Middlesex, now On- 
tario county, this State, and died there. Au- 
gustus Moon, father of our subject, was born in 
Washington county, N. Y., in 1797, and came 
to Chautauqua county in 1814, settling in what 
afterwards took the name of Moon Hollow, a 
short distance north of Jamestown. He took a 
tract of land containing six hundred and forty 
acres, being Section No. 37, Town No. 2, 
Range No. 11, in Ellicott town, the location 
being made in August, 1816. This plau Mr. 
Moon made his home untd his death. While 
practically a farmer he was also a lumberman, 
and did a great amount of business for the 
times. Before coming to Chautauqua county 
he served in tlie American army when the 
United States had her second struggle with the 
mother country and remained fighting until the 
close of the war. Mr. Moon married Olive 
Clark and became the father of twelve children, 
of whom but four reached maturity. 

Jeffrey T. Moon was alucated in the James- 
town academy, and began to teach school when 
eighteen years old. Afterwards he was em- 
ployed lumbering on the Allegheny river, which 
work he left for a farm. j\Ir. Moon came to 
Jamestown in 1862, where he has since lived, 
and was constable for the city twenty-seven con- 
secutive years, and is now serving his second 
term as chief of police. He is a republican, 
and a member of the Ancient Order of Uni- 
' ted W^orkmen. 

He married Electa J. Clark, a daughter of 
Giles Clark. They have been the parents of 
two children : Fred, a sign painter living in this 
city ; and a daughter, the wife of C. S. Grant, 
who resides in St. Louis, Mo. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



JOHN aiAHONEY, father of the senior 
partner of the old and reliable firm 
of Mahoney Brothers, now Mahoney Bro- 
thers & Burland, is a native of the Emerald 
Isle, where he was born in Jnly, 1833. His 
parents were Thomas and Mary (Neville) Ma- 
honey, who were representative people of the 
Irish race. His grandfather, John Mahoney, 
Sr., never came to America nor did his son 
Thomas, the latter dying while our subject was 
yet young — leaving five children : John, James, 
Edward, Thomas and Kate. In 1853 John and 
James came to America and located at James- 
town and have lived here ever since. At a later 
date thev brought over their two brothers and , 
sister, all of whom now reside in this city. 
Shortly after his arrival John Mahoney bought 
a five acre tract of land and built the home 
where lie uow lives. 

He married Margaret Finnell, a dangliter of 
John Finnell, of Ireland. Their union has 
been blessed with eight children : John T., mar- 
ried Ella Quigley, daughter of Andrew Quigley, 
who is a resident of Jamestown. He is the 
senior member of the firm, Mahoney Bro's & 
Burland, contractors and builders, and dealers 
in quarry stone and building supplies. This 
long established company is without a superior 
in their line in western New York. The work : 
they have completed stands a proud monument ' 
to their skill. N. W. Gokey's residence, built 
by them, is said to be without an equal in this 
section of the country — the Gilford block is [ 
without doubt the finest in the city and many 
others are all specimens of their ability to per- 
form which has taken the services of seventy 
men all summer ; Thomas, a twin brother of 
John T., is also a partner in the firm ; James, is j 
engaged in the furniture business at Reading, i 
Pa., the establishment being orfe of the largest 
in the city ; Dana is foreman for the Wright 
Fire Proof Tile company, of Chicago; Edward 
is employed as a mason by his brothers ; David 
works in a foundry ; Richard is engaged in 



the furniture store belonging to his brother 
James; and Julia. John Mahoney is the 
father of a remarkable family. Every sou 
is a successful man and several of them are at 
the head of their respective lines of business. 
It would be a difficult task to find a parallel. 
The father of such a tamily must be a man of 
will and decision and the mother po-ssessed of 
extraordinary love and intelligence. 

Mr. Mahoney is a democrat politically as are 
all the male members of his family, and all are 
members of the Catholic church. 



TOHX McCarthy is another of our well- 
^ known citizens who early in life came to 
this country from Ireland. David and Nellie 
(Bristol) McCarthy were his parents, and he 
was born on the anniversary of America's inde- 
pendence, 1840. His grandfixther, Florence 
McCarthy, was a native of Ireland, a carpenter 
by trade, and was married to Kitty Cahill, who 
bore him three sons and one daughter. His 
maternal grandfather Bristol, was a native of 
England but went over into Ireland, where he 
was a farmer until his death. David McCar- 
thy (father) was born in Ireland and came to 
America in 1831 and first made his home on 
Long Island, New York, at a place called 
Greenport, but later went to Erie county. New 
York, where he died a member of the Roman 
Catholic church. He was a fiirmer by occupa- 
tion and politically independent. He married 
Nellie Bristol, who is still living and is now 
eighty-one years old. 

John McCarthy received his early education 
at an academy in Erie county and went to work 
as a freight shipper in the city of Buffalo which 
he followed for a time and then began the com- 
mission business, and later opened a grocery 
store and securing a good trade, which he con- 
tinued for about twelve years, in the meantime 
going into politics and joining his fortunes with 
the Republican party. In 1876 the people of 
the Tiiirteenth ward, of Buffalo triumphantly 



638 



BIOOBAPHY AND HISTORY 



elected him supervisor of the ward and at the | 
expiration of his term re-elected him. After 
this the deputy supervisorship of the peniten- 
tiary was awarded him, which responsible posi- 
tion he tilled for four years. At the expiration 
of his term, which occurred in 1882, he came to 
.tamestowu and buying the Buffalo house, on 
Lake street, opened a hotel. The house is a 
large three-story brick, forty by thirty-six feet, 
and is conducted in a first-class manner. 

He married Catherine McCarthy and their 
union has been blest with one child : Florence S. 

During the late civil war Mr. McCarthy en- 
listed for service but his father interfered and 
caused his discharge much against his will. 
He belongs to the Roman Catholic church in 
which jNIrs. McCarthy is also a member. 



SV'I.VANUS NORTON was born in Sin- 
clairville, Chautauqua county. New York, 
November 17, 1842, and is the sou of Alphonzo 
and Betsey Norton. His father was a carpenter 
by trade and a man of exemplary life and 
moral worth. He received a common school 
education, pursued his trade and in the year 
1854, moved into the State of Illinois. Here 
he resided for a period of seven years, when he 
returned to the State of New York, and passed 
the remainder of his life, dying at the age of 
sixty-seven. 

Svlvanus Norton spent most of his early life 
in the State of Illinois, from which State in 
1861, at the outbreak of the civil war, he 
enlisted in Co. H., 12th regiment Illinois Vol- 
unteer Infantry for a period of three months 
in pursuance of President Lincoln's first call 
for volunteers. At the expiration of the three 
months, he re-enlisted and served three years, 
the greater part of his service being in the 
army of the Cumberland and under Gen. Wil- 
liam T. Sherman, besides considerable special 
duty as a scout under officers detailed particu- 
larly for that duty. jNIr. Norton took part in 
the engagements at Belmont, Fort Henry, Fort 



Donelson, Pittsburg Landing, where he was 
wounded, Shiloh, Corinth, luka, Vicksburg 
and Chattanooga. From Chattanooga he started 
under Gen. Sherman on his far famed and his- 
toric march to the sea. At Atlanta he received 
a serious wound from an artillery explosion, by 
reason of which he was discharged from a 
longer continuation in service. Upon his 
return to civil life, he went to Illinois, and for 
a while took up his residence at Sheffield, 
shortly afterward making a voyage to Chau- 
tauqua county. New York. From here he 
crossed the continent to California, located for 
a time in Humboldt county and again returned 
to Chautauqua county, where he engaged in the 
manufacture of harness. He has been deputy 
sheriff of Chautauqua county, a member of the 
excise committee and belongs to the Masons, 
'; Royal Arch degree, and G. A. R. In politics 
he is a republican. Mr. Norton is the patentee 
of a bridle-bit and also of an over check loop, 
which has attained a hearty commendation from 
experienced, practical horsemen. 

Sylvauus Norton, on October 21, 1868, was 
married to Laura Foster of Farmington, Pa., 
who bore him four children : Leslie D., James 
H., Newell S. and Lyon F. After the death 
' of his first wife, he married on August 7, 1881, 
Ida, daughter of Walter Cordot of Charlotte, 
N. Y., and they have one child, Clara Emma. 



GEORGE XOBLES, a citizen and business 
man of good standing in the town of 
Gerry, was born in Pomfret, Chautauqua 
county, New York, on April 28, 1826, and is 
the son of Heziali and Polly (Lorrell) Nobles, 
his father-being a native of Massachusetts and 
his mother of Connecticut. Heziah Nobles 
was a tanner by trade, a republican in politics 
and a Universalist in his religious belief. He 
first came to Chautauqua county in the year 
1814, took up his residence and plied his trade 
at the village of jNIilford, at which place he 
died, aged eighty-one years. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



George Nobles, his sou, has been a life-long 
resident of Chautauqua county, having beeu 
educated in the common schools of the town of 
Pomfret, in which town he resided for fifty- 
one years. At the close of his school career, 
which was at the age of eighteen, he engaged in 
the tanning business with his father and com- 
jjleted that trade. Shortly afterwards he be- 
came a partner with his father, the new firm 
doing a large and profitable business. Upon 
his retirement from the tannery, somewhat 
later, he took up the business of growing fruit 
and manufacturing baskets for its shipment, in 
which line of business he is now engaged under 
the firm name of Nobles & Manton. Since 
1876, his business interests have been located in 
the town of Gerry, where he has large orchards 
and extensive basket factories. Mr. Nobles 
was the pioneer nianufiicturer of fruit baskets 
in Chautaufjua county. He is a democrat and 
a charter member of the Building and Loan 
association of Sinclairville. 

On j\Iay 23, 3 850, George Nobles was united 
in marriage to Nancy Cassady Crane, a daugh- 
ter of Henry Crane, of Fredonia, New York. 
They have had but one child, a daughter, INIary 
Crane. 



>\, 



lliriLO p. NEVINS, the accommodating and 
4''*- efficient railroad agent at Smith's Mills, 
is a son of Lyman G. and Bethaqy (Gallett) 
Nevins, and was born April 20, 1849, in the 
town of Hanover, Chautauqua county. New 
York. His grandfather, Thomas Nevins, was 
a native of the Green Mountain State and died 
at Smith's Mills, Chautauqua county, New- 
York. Prior to his coming to Smith's Mills, 
he was a citizen of Forestville, same county. 
He belonged to that sturdy, courageous force 
of pioneers to whom the splendid development 
of Chautauqua county is indirectly due. Upon 
his first arrival the county was still, practically, 
in its primitive garb, but, undaunted by all 
those hardships and privations and nondescript 



conditions that surround the pioneer, he steadily 
fell to work with strong determination and a 
hopeful heart. Through the joint efforts of 
himself and his co-laborers, the evidences of 
civilized life soon began to appear : the process 
of clearing continued, cro])s succeeded, homes 
and barns w^ere built, roads laid out, villages 
arose, industry and education and religion 
obtained a foot-hold, and finally emerged the 
Chautauqua county of to-day, with all its 
machinery of government, its jjolitical and 
educational institutions, its judiciary, its homes 
and culture. All this he did not live to see, 
but he did live long enough to be coguizant of 
the law of progress. During the existence of 
the old Whig party, Thomas Nevins was one 
of its most enthusiastic supporters. He was 
one of those inspired with the spirit of 
patriotism, and during the soul-stirring and 
significant campaigns of that early day, iiis 
inspiration and feeling burst forth in poetry 
and song. As in love of country, so in religion 
he was a man of deep and abiding convictions, 
whose life was rich iu wholesome fruition. He 
was a member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. He was twice married. His sec- 
ond wife was Abigail Baxter, who bore him 
nine children, four sons and five daughters. 
In the latter part of his life Mr. Nevins became 
a lay preacher in the Methodist church. His 
father had been a soldier in the war of 1812, 
and took part in the engagement at Buffalo, 
during the siege and burning of that city. The 
grandfather of Milo P. Nevins on the maternal 
side, Henry Gallett, was born iu New England 
and emigrated to Ontario county. New York, 
where he ever afterward lived and died. He 
was a blacksmith by trade and united in mar- 
riage with Miss Lydia Martin, by whom he had 
a family of three girls and one boy. Lyman G. 
Nevins (father), was born in Forestville, Chau- 
tauqua county, New York, October 25th, 1814. 
He has always been a resident of Chautauqua 
county, and never was outside of the county 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



but once, and rarely left his home in Hanover 
town, where he owned a farm and devoted him- 
self to its cultivation. His death occurred on 
July '20, 1890. Lymaa G. Nevins was married 
on July 15, 1824, and is the father of two 
children : William, born "March 2, 1844, mar- 
ried to Delilah Devinna, and now living in 
Monroe county, Michigan, where he is a farmer 
and mechanic; and Milo P. 

Milo P. Nevins was educated in the common 
schools and Eastman's business college, Pough- 
keepsie. New York, where he was graduated 
in 1870. After graduation he became a brake- 
man on the Erie R. R., and in 1871 came to 
Smith's Mills and received the appointment of 
station agent and operator, in which capacity he 
is now employed. 

In May of 1872, he was united in marriage 
to Miss Anna Wilson, daughter of Edward 
Wilson, an Englishman by birth. Mr. and 
Mrs. Nevius have four children : George, born 
November 1, 1873; Jennie, born June 14, 1877 ; 
Harry, born February 2G, 1879 ; and M. Stan- 
ley, born August 3, 1890. 

In matters of politics, Mr. Nevins is a sup- 
porter of the Republican party, though he takes 
anything but an active part in politics. He is 
a prominent secret .society man, and is a mem- 
ber of the Free and Accepted Masons at Forest- 
ville, New York, and No. 152, A. O. U. W., 
at Smith's Mills, New York. 



HUGH NKILL, a son of the Emerald I.sle, 
who, by his wit and geniality has made 
many friends, and by his industry and economy 
has accumulated a fortune, is farming and 
growing grapes in We.stfield village, this 
county. He is a son of Samuel and Sarah 
(Streau) Neill, and was born in County Down, 
Ireland, May 20, 1825. His parents never 
came to America. Grandfather Hugh Neill was 
a native of Scotland, making our subject of 
Scotcii extraction. Samuel Neill was born in 
the same countv in 1781. He followed farm- 



ing and dealing in stock, and made tjuite a 
success. He married Sarah Streau, a Scotch girl, 
and had several children. He was an elder in 
the Presbyterian church, full of energy and 
ambition and died in 1848. His wife, also 
a member of the Presbyterian church, had 
died nine years previous, a good and noble 
lady. 

Hugh Neill was reared on the farm and 
taught to work. He staid at home and 
helped his father until twenty years of age, 
when that love of adventure so prevalent in 
the breasts of his countrymen, and which was 
caused by the knowledge received from the 
geography studied in the national and private 
.schools, caused him to think of trying his for- 
tune in the new world. AVith his father's 
blessing, a purse in his ])ocket and a stout 
heart, he sailed from home in the spring of 
1845, and on July 4th of the same year located 
in the town where he is now living. The first 
ten years were passed in the lumber business, 
getting out ties, etc., and then he settled down 
to farming, and has since given his attention to 
that. Of his farm, containing one hundred 
and fifty acres, more than one hundred and 
twentv-five of them lay inside the limits of 
Westfield village. He has a fine vineyard of- 
grapes upon the place, which is handsomely 
located and highly improved. 

He was married and had eight children, of 
whom seven are living : Fred S. died March 
24, 1889, aged twenty-six years; Addie A. lives 
near St. Paul, Minnesota, the wife of James A. 
Cosgrave; Emma E. married John R. Fay and 
resides in this village; John H. graduated from 
, a Medical and Dental school; Charles A. is 
engaged in the harness-making business at 
Watertown, Dakota; Frank C. is in business, 
also in Dakota; Alice S. married Fi;ank B. 
Lamb and lives in Westfield ; and Grace C. is 
unmarried and resides with her parents. Mr. 
Neill is a republican and a member of the 
Presijyterian ciuirch, as is his entire family. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



He is a good friend, a pleasant old gentleman 
and a kind ueitrlibor. 



nICH AK1> A. < )S3IEU. One who occnpied 
a high pede.stal in tiie love, esteem and 
respect of all who had knowledge of him, wdio 
fought his way from a fatherless boyhood to the 
success of manhood, and who served his country 
in her hour of need, has obeyed tiie summons, 
"Come up higher." Richard A. Osraer was 
born August 28, 1836, in Warren county, Pa., 
where he lived until 1858. His father died 
when he was eight years old. At twenty-two 
years of age he drove an ox-team across the 
plains to California, in which State he remained 
until 18G6, excepting a term of service with the 
2d California Cavalry, in which he rose to the 
rank of first lieutenant. While a part of the 
regiment was stationed in Nevada, Lieut. Osmer 
distinguished himself during an attack upon a 
camp of hostile Indians. One who participated 
in that fight writes ; " You cannot bestow too 
much praise on Mr. Osmer. He is one of the 
kind who leads the way and says, 'Come on, 
boys,' not one of those who mount a horse and 
keeps out of the way of the bullets." In 1866, 
satisfied with his accumulations, he returned to 
this county and engaged in the clothing busi- 
ness with W. H. Proudfit. 

On July 30, 1867, Mr. Osmer united in mar- 
riage with Amanda Proudfit, who died June 27, 
1874. By this first marriage he had two chil- 
dren : Katie (dead), and William, a book-keeper 
for W. H. Proudfit, in Jamestown. In April, 
1876, Mr. Osmer married for his second wife !M. 
Nellie King, a daughter of John B. King, of 
Ravenna, Ohio, by whom he had one child : 
Richard A., born in 1880. Mrs. John B. King's 
motiier, Mary Ann Wells, with her husband 
lived and died in Ravenna. The grandfather, 
John Wells, was a soldier in the war of 1812. 
By occupation he was a tanner, and at one time 
was in partnership with Jesse Grant, father of 
Gen. Grant, at Ravenua. 



In all his public relations Richard A. Osmer 
was a leader. He was an active republican, was 
chairman of the Republican County committee 
in 1879 and 1880, and presidential elector on 
the ticket of 1880 and president of the village 
of Jamestown in 1876 and 1877. In iNIay, 
1875, he was chosen supreme treasurer of the 
Knights of Honor, which order was established 
January 1, 1874. He was re-elected five suc- 
cessive terms and held the office until his death. 
Over one million dollars ))assed through his 
hands while he was supreme treasurer. He was 
a member of the Royal Arcanum and Empire 
Order of Mutual Aid. Upon the organization 
of James Prendergast Hose company. No. 11, 
in 1873 he was chosen foreman, and unani- 
mously re-elected each year until his death. 
He became subject to hemorrhage of the lungs 
and went to Florida for his health. While at 
Atlanta he was attacked with a liemorrhage and 
died. The Knights of Honor there took full 
charge of the funeral services, escorted the re- 
mains to the depot, and sent a guard of honor 
with them to Jamestov/n. He was greatly 
honored throughout the order for his honor, in- 
tegrity and public-spirited character, and no one 
occupied a higher place in the affections of those 
who knew him. In all his social relations he 
made warm friends, by the many admirable 
qualities he possessed, being singulaidy generous, 
f\\ithful and unselfish, reliable, steadfast and 
kind-hearted in his social life and intercourse 
with his fellow-men. 



"TTL^IER OSBOKX. One of the many en- 
^^ terprising young business men of Silver 
Creek is Elmer Osborn, a member of one of 
the leading furniture firms of Osborn Brothers. 
He was born in Forestville, Chautauqua 
county. New York, April 14, 1861, and is a 
son of Philo and Sarah (McDaniels) Osborn. 
Philo Osborn (father) was a native of Sheri- 
dan, this county, where he was a farmer, a 
member of the Methodist Episcopal church and 



BIOGRAPHY ASD HISTORY 



a republican in politics. He was a stirring, 
hard-working man, and died iu July, 188-"), at 
fifty years of age. He married Sarah McDan- 
iels, a native of Silver Creek, where she now 
resides, in the sixty-first year of her age. She 
is also a member of the Methodist Episcojial 
church. 

Elmer Osborn was reared on his father's 
farm, and inured to hard work until 1879, 
receiving meanwhile a common-school educa- 
tion. In that year he came to Silver Creek, 
and for a time was employed in teaming. In 
July, 1890, he formed a partnership with his 
brother, Havilla, under the firm uame of Os- 
born Bi'others, and engaged in the furniture 
business, in which they are now carrying a 
large and well-selected stock. In politics he is 
a republican. 

In 1885 he united in marriage with Aurelia 
Lincoln, a daughter of James Lincoln, of Sil- 
ver Creek. Mr. and Mrs. Osborn have three 
children, — one son and two daughters : Frank, 
Sadie and Olive. 



f^ANIEL X. PALMER, a gallant and 
-"■^ daring soldier during the civil contest 
between the northern and southern States, and 
who, when the strife had ended, adapted him- 
self to the arts of agriculture and peaceful pur- 
suits, is a son of Ralph and Mary M. (Chides- 
ter) Palmer, and was born in Warren county, 
Pennsylvania, August 15, 1835. His grand- 
father, Nehemiah Palmer, was of English ori- 
gin, the last years of his life being spent iu 
Toronto, Canada, where he died, aged ninety 
years. 

Ralph Palmer was born iu Otsego county, 
this State, and moved to Warren county, Penn- 
sylvania. In 18Go he returned to the Empire 
State, and settled in Harmony town, where he 
has resided ever since. He has retired from 
active life, the infirmities of age making this 
step imperative ; but for the many years that 
he was engaged in farmin<i-, none had a hii;her 



reputation for skill and execution than he. 
He married Mary ]\I. Chidester, of Otsego 
county, who died in 1884, aged .seventy-seven 
years, and had several children. 

Daniel X. Palmer spent the first sixteen 
years of his life in Warren county, Pennsyl- 
vania, and attended the public schools, acqui- 
ring a good ordinary education. In 1851 he 
went to Tuscumbia, Alabama, and drove a 
four-horse stage for the Louisville and Xash- 
ville railroad, remaining there four years; but 
in 1855 he returned north, and engaged in 
lumbering at Spartansbiirg, Pennsjdvania. Sep- 
tember 13, 18(32, he enlisted in Company L, 
Sixteenth Regiment Pennsylvania cavalry, and 
served until June 15, 1865, when he was dis- 
charged at the General Hospital, near Alexan- 
dria, Virginia. The entire terra was passed as 
a private, mostly on detail as a dispatch-bearer. 
When peace followed the four years of carnage 
and destruction, Mr. Palmer came to Chautau- 
qua county, and settled on the farm in Port- 
laud town, four miles from Westfield, where he 
now lives. His property is advantageously 
located between the railroads and beautiful 
Lake Erie, and contains fifty-four acres, eight 
of which are set to vines that are bearing. 

In the latter part of 1865 he married Helena 
A. White, a daughter of Levi While, of Spar- 
tansburg, Pa., and thev have one daughter, — 
Eva M. 

Daniel N. Palmer is a member of the A. O. 
U. W. and of James A. Hall Post, No. 292, 
of Brocton. He identifies himself with the 
Republican party, and is a very pleasant gen- 
tleman, who takes a personal interest in the 
welfare of jjublic atfairs. 



TTLBERT P. PEIRCE, a leading jeweler 
^^ and a resident of Westfield for the past 
fifteen years, was born in Boston, ilassachusetts, 
September 21, 1842, and is a son of Albert A. 
and Mary Knox (Stevens) Peirce. Albert A. 
Peirce was born in Boston and died at A\'estfield, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



this county, in 1879. He was engaged for over 
twenty years in the jewelry business and then 
(1862) removed from Boston to Titusville, 1 
Pennsylvania, where he was an oil operator and 
dealt in oil, besides conducting a jewelry estab- 
lishment until 1876, when he came to Westfield, 
which was his place of residence until his death, 
which occurred three years later. He married 
INIary Knox Stevens, whose people were resi- 
dents of the State of Maine, of which she was 
a native. 

Albert P. Peirce was reared in Boston and 
fitted for Yale college, which he did not enter, 
on account of embarking in the steamboat busi- 
ness between Boston and Newport, lihode Island. 
He was associated with the firm of Andrew J. 
Warren & Company, and remained with them 
five years. He then went to Titusville, where 
he was in the pipe-line business for three years, 
at the end of which time he took charge of the 
Church Run pipe-line, which he managed until 
he came to Westfield, where he establislied his 
present jewelry establishment. 

In 1873 Mr. Peirce married Julia Guild, 
daughter of Joseph O. Guild. To their union 
have been born four children, two sons and two 
daughters : James Alfonso, born January 3, 
1874, and now engaged in the jewelry business; 
Clara Guild, Mary Knox, and Albert P., Jr. 

A. P. Peirce has served as trustee, school 
director and member of the board of water 
commissioners of Westfield. By strict attention 
to business he has built up a lucrative trade as 
a jeweler. His establishment contains a first- 
class stock of jewelry, watches, clocks and 
evei-ything else in his special line of business. 
The jewelry trade is a very important brancii 
of commercial activity, and one deserving of 
mention in a review of the leading industries of 
any place. Mr. Peirce is a representative 
jeweler of his village, where he has met with 
good success. 



"TZ" R. PALMER is a prominent member of 
"^ \* that class of business men so utterly 
indispensable in any community, a butcher and 
meat-market-man, and owns one of the largest 
and most comi)letely equipped markets in tliis 
section. His cjualifications for the business are 
partly inherited, as his father was also a practi- 
cal butcher and market-man. Amos Palmer 
(grandfather) was born in Massachusetts, and 
came to Chautauqua county and settled in 
Fredonia, where he opened a blacksmith shop, 
being considered a very fine workman. He 
married and they had seven sous : Levi, Alonzo, 
Alvinsy, Nelson, Stephen, Orange and Charles. 
Orange Palmer (father) was born in jNIassachu- 
setts and came with his father to this county and 
learned thoroughly the trade of a butcher with a 
Mr. Hughes. After a few years devoted to this 
business, he, with his brother Nelson, opened a 
meat-market and conducted it until his death, 
which occurred in October, 1861. In politics 
he was a democrat. He was a member of 
Forest Lodge No. 386, F. & A. M. at Fredonia. 
He \vas married to Lucy Comstock and had three 
children, one son and two daughters : Cassia 
married Benjamin Pond an operator in the 
stock exchange ; Elzora (deceased) was married 
to Charles E. Bartram, a butcher ; and one 
whose name is not given. Mrs. Palmer died 
in 1865 and was buried beside her husband. 

K. R. Palmer was born in Fredonia, Chau- 
tauqua county, New York, July 3, 1844, and is 
a son of Orange and Lucy (Comstock) Palmer. 
He was educated in the common schools, and 
worked in his fiither's market. In 1868 lie, with 
his cousin, George H. Palmer opened a meat- 
market, under the firm name of Palmer & Pal- 
mer, and have more than kept pace with the 
demand of the times. 

K. R. Palmer is a member of the Baptist 
church, of which body he has been a trustee 
for several years. He was elected a member of 
the board of trustees of Fredonia on the demo- 
cratic ticket in March 1889 and still holds the 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



office. He has also been the chief of the fire 
department since 1885. K. R. Pahiier was 
married to Florence E. Powell, a daughter of 
Charles Powell, a pattern-maker in Brooks' 
Locomotive works at Dunkirk, this county. 



QBRAHA]>I S. PKATHliK. One of the 

'^^ most important industries of early James- 
town was its lumber trade, and to-day it is still 
a leading business. Among the well-known 
representatives of that line is Abraham S. Pra- 
ther, who has been engaged for some years as a 
manufacturer and dealer in this commodity. 
He was born in Venango county, Pennsylva- 
nia, February 24, 1841, and is a son of Abra- 
ham C. and Sarah Prather. Tiie Prather fam- 
ily is originally from England, the first of the 
name, the great-gi'eat-grandfather of our sub- 
ject, coming to Maryland during the seven- 
teenth century. Henry Prather (great-grand- 
father) was born in Maryland, the same year 
that Washington was given to the world. He 
married Elizabeth Hicks, a lady of Danish pa- 
rents, and among tiieir other children was 
Thomas Hicks Prather, born in 1755, the 
grandfather of Abraham S. Prather. The 
homestead of the original Prather in Maryland, 
was a grant direct from King George. Thom- 
as Hicks Prather remained upon it and mar- 
ried Elizabeth Crunkelton, after which they re- 
moved to Franklin county, Pennsylvania, where 
on September 19, 1780, Abraham C. Prather 
(father) was born. About the year 1798, his 
father moved to Venango county, Pennsylvania, 
and was one of the first settlei'S there, the coun- 
try being thickly populated with Indians many 
of whom were not friendly. He was a tanner 
by trade and also followed farming. During 
the war of 1812 he enlisted and was present at 
the battle of Fort Erie. He married and had 
ten children. Mr. Prather was a whig and 
member of the Presbyterian church, in whicii 
faith he passed away July 7, 1850, aged si.xty- 
four vcars. 



Abraham S. Prather was educated in the 
public schools, supplementing them with a 
course in Duff's business college at Pittsburgh, 
Pennsylvania. His business career began with 
Prather Brothers, lumber dealers in Venango 
couuty, after which he was banking and pro- 
ducing oil successively. 

He married Lucy J. Holender, daughter of 
Thomas Holender, who is of English extraction, 
and has had three children: John H., born in 
1866, .studied law with C. E. Lockwood and 
was graduated from tlie Buffalo Law school in 
June 1890 and in January, 1891, was admitted 
to practice in all the courts of the State of New 
York. He located at Jamestown where he is 
now practicing; I. Myrtle and Alhama. 

In addition to the business mentioned, Mr. 
Pi'ather operated a brick factory in Jamestown 
until February 4, 1881, when it was destroyed 
by fire and he turned his attention to a binding- 
office, but for some years has been in the lum- 
ber business. In politics he is a republican, 
and a member of the Congregational church. 
He joined Co. I, 142d regiment, Pennsylvania 
Infantry, in August, 1862, and served until 
186.3, when he was discharged on account of 
disabilities, being at that time first sergeant of 
the compan}'. 



A>IL,BEKT W. STROXG, a prominent fi- 
^^ nancier and business man residing in the 
village of Sherman, is a son of Henry and 
Mary (Christman) Strong, and was born in Erie 
county, New York, November 19, 184.3. Both 
parents were natives of Herkimer county, and 
the father was a prominent farmer and business 
man. He conducted a tannery in addition to 
his farm, and when the Erie canal was under 
construction he took a number of contracts upon 
it. George Strong, father of Henry Strong, 
was a Connecticut Y'ankee of English descent, 
and our subject's grandfather, Christman, 
was a Mohawk Valley Dutchman. Great- 
grandfather, .Toiin Herkimer, was a brother of 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Gen. Nicholas Herkimer, who was killed at 
Oriskany while on his way, at tlie head of eight 
hundred troops, to relieve Fort Schuyler, at the 
time besieged by the British colonel, St. Leger. 
Herkimer county, New York, was named com- 
memorative of this family. Subject's mother's 
grandfatlier. Captain Small, also lost his life in 
the Revolutionary struggle, being killed and 
.scalped by Indians. 

(iill)ert W. Strong was reared upon his fath- 
er's farm and received his education at the 
Springfield, Erie county, academy, and upon 
leaving school, he learned tanning with his 
father. When twenty -two years old he estab- 
lished himself in the same business at York- 
shire, Cattaraugus county, where he pursued a 
successful career for five years. Succeeding this, 
he went to the oil regions and remained ten 
years, being moderately successful, but in 1S<83 
Mr. Strong came to Sherman and built the 
" Strong Block," a two-story and basement 
structure, fifty by sixty-five feet in dimensions. 
Mr. Strong is a democrat with free trade pro- 
clivities, and in 1889 he was the nominee of his 
party for the Assembly, but the opposing party 
has such a large majority in the district tiiat he 
was defeated. For the past six years he has 
been a member of the school board and was two 
years its president. Gilbert W. Strong is 
identified with the State bank of Sherman, be- 
ing one of its stockholders, and is the owner of 
three hundred and fifty acres of oil and timber 
lands in McKean county, Pennsylvania. 

In 1871 he was married to Mary Whitney, 
of Yorkshire, New York, and they have three 
children : Mary, Harry and Howard. 

Mr. Strong has a fine home and happy sur- 
roundings, and is one of those who can afford 
to survey the strife of the world witii non- 
chalance. 



T V AUREXS <i. KISLEY, a gentleman witii 

■'"^ many friends, and a prominent whole- 
sale liquor dealer in Dunkirk besides being 



similarly engaged in New York city, is a sou of 
General Elijah, Jr. and Nabby (Brigham) Ris- 
ley, and was born in Fredonia, Chautauqua 
county. New York, Marcii 7, 1819. Elijah 
Risley, Sr. (grandfather), was early identified 
with the interests of Connecticut, where he was 
born December 7, 1757, and i-emoviug from 
that State to Cazenovia, N. Y., and from thence 
to Fredonia, reaching the latter place via Buffalo 
in 1807. He settled on the west side of Cana- 
daway creek, built the first house located there, 
and also erected the first bridge that spanned its 
banks, in the year 1809. His home was located 
in the northern part of the town, and was por- 
tions of lots No. 32-33, township 5, range 1 2, 
which was located in September, 1806. He died 
in 1841. He was a soldier during the Revolu- 
ti(in, and was a pensioner at the time of his 
death, ilr. Risley married Phcebe Bills, who 
was born July 24, 17G1. They had twelve 
children, nine of whom attained majority : Bet- 
sey, married Seth Risley ; Horace, married 
Harmony Road, and moved to Illinois, where 
he died ; Elijaii, Jr. ; Philena, wife of Thomas 
Warren ; Fanny, married James Brigham ; 
Pluebe, wife of Philip Fellows ; Sophia, married 
George French, who was a Dunkirk merchant; 
William, and Levi, who lived in Cedar Rapids, 
Iowa. All are dead. Elijah Risley, Jr., was 
born in East Hartford, Conn., May 7, 1787, 
coming with his father to America prior to the 
beginning of the present century. He resided 
at this place until 1807, when we find him at 
Fredonia, this county. His first week in Chau- 
tauqua county was accompanied by the unusual 
adventure of killing a bear that had a few hours 
before succeeded in disabling an Indian. In 
1809 Mr. Risley ojiened the first store at Fre- 
donia, selling groceries and general merchandise, 
and a couple of years later erected an ashery for 
making potash, at that time a staple industry of 
the county. Following this he engaged in 
manufacturing and agricultural business, wiiich 
he followed for twelve years, and was the pioneer 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



gurtlen-seed grower, profitably and successfully 
<?ouductiDcr tlieir production for over twenty-five 
years, comnieucing in 1833. When military 
titles were not merely honorary, but were a 
recognition of ability and services performed, 
he rose step by step from a captain to major- 
geueral in the State militia, and in the latter 
position he was honorary escort to General 
Lafayette when he made his fraternal visit to 
the United States in 1825. Mr. Risley was 
active in politics, and became the whig nominee 
for sheriff in the fall of 1824, and was elected 
and served three years. In 1835 he represented 
Fredonia on the board of supervisors, and in 

1848 was elected by the whigs to a seat in the 
National Congress, serving with honor, credit 
and distinction to himself and his constituents, 
through the Thirty-first Congress, serving in 

1849 and 1850. He took an enthusiastic interest 
in educational matters and did much to advance 
its standard, and having a kindly disposition 
and ready to extend a helping hand to every 
good cause he was well liked by all. Among 
his early business investments was some stock 
of the (now) Erie railway, in which company 
he was one of the first directors. He was a 
prominent member of F. & A. M., being a 
charter member of both the Lodge and Chapter. 
General Elijah Risley died January 8, 1870, 
respected and esteemed b}' all. He married 
Xabby Brigham, of Madison county, and they 
had six children : Florilla C, wife of Chauncey 
Tucker, dead ; Hanson A., became prominent 
for services rendered in the treasury department 
during the war and otherwise ; Sophrona, mar- 
ried Charles F. Alatteson, of Fredonia, and died 
in 1875 ; Laurens G. ; Delia, wife of Thomas 
P. Grosvenor, living at Dunkirk; and Minerva, 
married Frank Cushing, who died in 1855. 
Mrs. Risley survived the General a number of 
years. 

Laurens G. Risley Mas reared on the old 
homestead and at Fredonia, receiving his educa- 
tion at the Fredonia academy. Upon leaving 



school he engaged in the mercantile business at 
Fredonia, and in 1851 came to Dunkirk and 
established a produce and commission house 
which received much favor for a number of 
years. He then engaged in the wholesale liquor 
business which is still conducted in connection 
with a similar one at the metropolis. 

He married Henrietta Houghton, daughter of 
Hon. Stern Houghton, of Fredonia, and has one 
son, George H., who is managing his father's 
branch business in New York. 

Politically Mr. Risley is a republican and has 
served several terms as mayor of Dunkirk, as 
well as filling several other city offices. He is 
a member of F. and A. M., has been District 
Deputy Grand Master, and was one of the 
organizers for the first lodge of I. O. O. F. 
instituted in Fredonia. 



rjRTEMUS ROSS, M. D., a physician in 
'**■ active practice at Clymer, is a son of 
George and Barbara (Ross) Ross, and was born in 
the town of Clymer, Chautaucpia county, New 
Yoi'k, April 4, 1841. According to tradition 
there were three Scotchmen by the name of Ross 
who came to America and from whom all the 
Rosses of this country are descended. The pa- 
ternal great-grandfather of Dr. Ross was Samuel 
Ross of Scotch-Irish descent who was a resident 
of Chenango county and had served as a soldier 
in the Revolutionary war. His son, Charles 
Ross (grandfather), settled first in Chenango 
county but afterwards came to this county where 
he purchased one hundred and eighty acres of 
land about four miles north of the site of the 
village of Clymer. He was a democrat, mar- 
ried Amy Woodburn, a cousin to Horace 
Greeley's mother, and had nine sons and four 
daughters, all of whom lived to maturity. One 
of these sons, George Ross (father), w'as born in 
1807 in the town of Cherry Valley, Chenango 
county, and in 1825came to the town of Clymer 
where he died March 29, 1889. He was a 
farmer and stock-dealer, a Jacksonian democrat 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTY. 



647 



and had served as justice of the peace in Clymer 
and also in Mina where he resided once for 
several years. As a man of considerable legal 
knowledge he was frequently counselled in im- 
portant cases. He married Barbara Ross, who 
still survives him and is now in the eighty-third 
year of Jier age. They had four sons and four 
daughters all of whom are living except two of 
the sons. Mrs. Ross is a daughter of Ben- 
jamin Ross, who married Polly Coom, by whom 
he had seven children. He was a farmer and ! 
a democrat and removed from Chenango to Al- 
legany county where he died. 

Artemus Ross received his education in Nor- 
mal schools and Alfred university of Allegany 
county. He read medicine with Dr. D. W. 
IMartin of Mina, and entered (1868) the Uni- ' 
versity of Pennsylvania from which he was 
graduated in 1872. He then opened an office at 
Corry, Pennsylvania, but at the end of one 
year came to Clymer as a wider field for the 
practice of his profession, where he now has an 
extensive and remunerative practice. Dr. Ross 
is a democi-at politically but has never been an 
aspirant for office and gives his time and atten- 
tion to his profession. He is a member of Olive 
Lodge, No. 575, Free and Accepted Masons at 
Clymer. 

In 1874 he married Evangeline, daughter of 
Oscar Bush, a native of Erie county. Pa. Their 
union has been blessed with two children : 
Winifred, born December 7, 1877 ; and George, 
born February 18, 1883. 



nIC'HARD REED, the proprietor of one 
of the largest hardware and tinning estab- 
lishments of Sinclairville, was born in Devon- 
shire, England, April 28, I8.3I, and is a sou of 
John and Mary (Kell) Reed. His parents were 
natives of Devonshire and came in 1836 to the 
town of Charlotte, in which they settled on a 
farm one mile from Sinclairville, where the hus- 
band, John Reed, died in 1853. 

Richard Reed was reared in Eno-laud and on 



his father's Charlotte farm until he was eighteen 
years of age and received a practical educatioti 
in the English and American rural schools. 
At eighteen years of age he was apprenticed 
with Ensign Baker, of Fredonia, to learn the 
trade of tinner. At the end of one year he was 
"sold" or his apprenticeship transferred to S. 
Judd, who had purchased the tin and hard- 
ware establishment of Mr. Baker. He worked 
with Mr. Judd until he closed up business. 
Mr. Reed afterwards went to Dunkirk, where 
he apprenticed himself to Daniel Lord for two 
years in order to finish his trade. After the 
expiration of his apprenticeship he traveled as 
a journeyman for some time and in 1854 pur- 
chased the stock of tin and tools of E. H. 
Brown, of Sinclairville, with which he opened 
a stove and tinware store. In 1857 he built 
his present business establishment, and in 1870 
associated a Mr. Reynolds with him as a part- 
ner under the firm name of Reed & Reynolds. 
Mr. Reed now carries a large first-class 
stock of hardware, stoves and tinware which is 
worth over eight thousand dollars. Much 
credit is due him for the push and energy that 
has characterized his successful effi3rts in the 
establishment and judicious management of his 
present business. He possesses fine social 
qualities and ranks high as a good business 
man. 

On May 28, 1858, Mr. Reed united in mar- 
riage with Therese Burlingame, a native of New 
York. They are the parents of two children : 
Charles M., a gi-aduate of the Albany Law 
school and now in the active practice of his pro- 
fession ; and John B., who is engaged in the 
grocery business. 



Tii^ILLIAM H. KOBIIVSON, a well-known 
-**- and highly respected citizen of the town 
of Hanover, is a son of Jared and Martha 
(Head) Robinson and was born on May 9, 
1817, in Otsego county, New York. The 
paternal graudfiither, Ziba Robinson, was in all 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



probability a native of Ireland, and it is sup- 
jj'osed that he came to America when a child, 
and that he passed most of his life in Otsego 
county, where he followed farming and, during 
the Revolutionary war, served on the staflF of 
General Washington. He was three times 
married : first, to Rebecca Temple, by whom he 
had six children ; the name of his second wife 
is forgotten and his third wife was the widow 
Swetland, by whom he had two children. 
Jared Robinson was born in Otsego county, 
March 7, 1792, and lived there all his life. He 
was a farmer by occupation and in politics a 
wliig and republican. He married Martha 
Head, a daughter of William Head, and by her 
had five children, two sons and three daugh- 
ters. 

William H. Robinson was educated in the 
common schools of Otsego county, and there 
passed his life until he had attained his 
majority. He acquired a superior education i 
and taught school for twelve terms. In 1838, 
he removed to Cattaraugus county, and lived 
there until 1864. In the mean time he had 
married Emily Scofield, who became the mother 
of one child, Emory S., born October 12, 1846, 
and married Gertie Randall and is now living 
with his fiither and pursues farming. Upon 
the death of his first wife William H. Robin- 
sou married Mrs. Polly (Scofield) Slawson, 
with whom he is now living, and with her 
came to Chautauqua county in 1864, where 
they have since made their home in Hanover 
town. Mr. Robinson is recognized as a farmer 
of no mean ability ; politically he is a republi- 
can and has been honored by being elected to 
the offices of school inspector and justice of the 
peace in Cattaraugus county and was assessor 
in Chautauqua county, twelve terms. He be- 
longs to the Methodist church, in which he 
holds the honorable positions of class leader 
and steward. 



TOHJ*^ B. RUSH, a Jamestown merchant 
^^ who came from an old family, is a .son of 
Israel and Elizabeth (Russell) Rush, and was 
born in the town of Ellery, Chautauqua county. 
New York, ^lay 1, 1833. His paternal grand- 
father, Jacob Rush, was a native of Canada, 
and descended from English ancestors, but 
came to Chautauqua county, and settled in the 
town of Ellery during January, 1811, at which 
time he purchased in sections No. 13, and No. 
20 of Township No. 2, Range No. 12, his 
house being built on section No. 13, where he 
followed farming until his death which oc- 
curred at Ellery. He was married twice, his 
second wife being Rhoda Silsman, who bore 
him three sous and one daughter. Grand- 
father, John Russell, came to Chautauqua 
county in 1811. He was an artisan, being 
skillful with the saw and with the trowel and 
also employed himself in farming. Mr. Rus- 
sell married Rhoda Scofield and became the 
father of nine sons and four daughters. Israel 
Rush (father), was born in Cassadaga, in 1807, 
and came to Chautauqua county with his father. 
He followed farming and, although at the com- 
mencement of life a very poor man, at his 
death had by industry and economy accumu- 
lated a competency and owned four hundred 
acres of land in Ellery. He married Elizabeth 
Russell, by whom he had four children : Lewis, 
a farmer residing in Ellery ; James B.; Rhoda, 
married Alvali Smiley, who is a successful 
farmer living at Bemus Point, near her early 
home ; and one dead. Politically Mr. Rush 
was a democrat and a conscientious, God-fearing, 
church-going man. He died at Ellery in the 
fear of the Lord, June 4, 1889. 

John B. Rush secured his education in the 
common schools of Ellery, and commenced life 
as a farmer at the scene of his birth. This 
life he continued until 1886, when he moved 
into the city, but still owns his farm^ containing 
one hundred and thirty-one acres of the old 
homestead. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



He married Mary A. Brownell, a daughter 
of Peter R. Brownell, a late resident of Chau- 
tauqua county, but now living in the city of 
Jamestown. To this marriage have been born 
two children . IMary, who is the wife of Clayton 
Price, son of Anson A. Price (see his sketch), 
has one child, Carrie ; Mr. Price is engaged in 
the mercantile business; and Carrie T., wife of 
Linden Peterson, a butcher living in James- 
town ; they have one child, Mabel. His 
younger daughter prepared herself for an active 
business life by a thorough course in the busi- 
ness department of the High school. 

Politically Mr. Rush is a democrat and as 
such is of recognized influence. 



JOHN A. SKINNER, cashier of the Nation- 
al bank of Westfield, was born in the 
town of Lancaster, Erie county, New York, 
October 14, 1848, and is a son of Rev. Levi A. 
and Lanra (Patterson) Skinner. John A. Skin- 
ner is of English and Scotch-Irish lineage. His 
paternal grandfather, Levi Skinner, was a far- 
mer and Presbyterian of Conuficticut, who re- 
moved to Oneida county, this State, where he 
died iu 1850. (For additional history of him 
and his family, see sketch of Edward A. Skin- 
ner.) Rev. Levi A. Skinner, the father of the 
subject of this sketch, was born in 1811 and 
died at his residence at Westfield, in 1876. 
He entered the ministry of the Presbyterian 
church and preached in Erie and Chautauqua 
counties until loss of voice compelled him to re- 
linquish ministerial labors iu 1854. From 
1854 to 1876, he was connected with the West- 
field bank and its successor, the First National 
bank of Westfield, as cashier and stock-holder 
of the former and as director, cashier and presi- 
dent of the latter. He married Laura, daugh- 
ter of John Patterson and reared a family of 
several children. As a minister he was earnest 
and successful, as a bank officer prompt and re- 
liable and as a financier was prudent and safe. 
John A. Skinner, at five years of age, was 



brought by his parents to Westfield where he 
received his early education in the public 
schools of that i)lacc. In 1865 he attended 
school at Clinton, Oneida county, this State and 
in the foil of 1867 entered Kimball Union 
academy of Meriden, New Hampshire, from 
which institution of learning he was graduated 
in 1869. In the fall of the last named year 
he entered Hamilton college at Clinton, this 
State, but was compelled to leave when well 
advanced in his sophomore year on account of 
ill health. In February, 1871, he went to 
Ottawa, Kansas, where he became a clerk and 
book-keeper of the First National bank of that 
place, in which his eldest brother, Edward A. 
Skinner (now president of the Westfield bank), 
was then a stock-holder. He held that posi- 
tion until April, 1872, when he returned to 
Westfield and entered the First National bank 
of that place as teller. That position he held 
until 1876, when he withdrew to embark in 
the fire insurance business iu which he was en- 
gaged until 1884. In April of that year, at 
the organization of the National bank of West- 
field, he was elected cashier and has served as 
such until the present time. Mr. Skinner was 
clerk of the board of village trustees for eight 
vears and treasurer of the village for nine years. 
He has been treasurer of the Westfield Union 
school for several years and is a trustee and 
deacon of the Westfield Presbyterian church of 
which he has been a member for many years. 
He is one of the charter members of the Royal 
Arcanum, which was organized in 1878, has 
been a director for several years in the National 
bank of Westfield and is a republican in ]ioli- 
i tics. He understands banking in all of its 
1 many intricate details as well as the general 
principles upon which it is based. Mr. Skin- 
ner is pleasant and courteous and to all whom 
he meets, brings to the discharge of his duties 
years of valuable experience and always strives 
to afford every possible accommodation to the 
business public. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



In October, 1873, he united in marriage with 
Jennie A. York, of Wostfield. To their union 
have been born three cliildren, two sons and one 
daughter: George Yoric, Edward Levi and 
Grace R. 



nl3V. CHARLES SIMPSOX, who. has been 
tiie popular pastor of the First Presbyte- 
rian cliurch in Sherman since 1877, was boni 
in Ithaca, Tomkins county. New York, Jan- 
uary 26, 1839, and is a son of Alexander and 
Elizabeth (Denman) Simpson. His maternal 
grandfather, Jacob Simpson, was a native of 
New Jersey, but emigrated k) Tomkins county, 
this State, where he spent the remainder of his 
life, being by occujiation a farmer. In religion 
he was a member of the Presbyterian church. 
He married a Miss Townley and had eight chil- 
dren. The paternal grandparents were of Scotch- 
Irish descent, who lived in Steuben county, this 
State, for a time and then removed to Wash- 
ington county. Alexander Simpson (father) was 
born in Salem, Washington county, this State, 
and spent most of his life in Ithaca, by occupa- 
tion a farmer. In politics he was first a democrat, 
and in his latter years an active republican. He 
served as a soldier in the war of 1812, being 
promoted to major. Alexander Simpson mar- 
ried Hannah Smith and had seven children — four 
sons and three daughters. Tiie mother dying, 
he married Elizabeth Denman, by whom he had 
five children — two sons and three daughters. 
Eugene, brother of Charles, entered the array 
during the late war at the age of nineteen, and 
was killed at the battle of Autietam, in Mary- 
land, September 17, 1862. The mother is now 
living in Ithaca, at the age of eighty-one years. 
Charles Simpson was educated at the academy 
in Ithaca, this State, and then entered Hamilton 
college, this State, where he graduated in 1866. 
He taught one year at the military school at 
Peekskill on the Hudson river, and then en- 
tered the Union seminary in New York, and 
graduated in May, 1870, entering upon his min- 



istry at Addison, Steuben county, from which 
place he was called to Pike, in Wyoming county, 
and then supplied a church at Lansing, Michi- 
gan, for a year, and then came to Sherman. The 
church of wiiieh he is now pastor was organ- 
ized as a Congregational cliurcii June 23d, 1827, 
most of the original members being from Farm- 
ington, Connecticut. The church united with 
the presbytery at Buifalo, and its first min- 
ister, Justin Marsh, from Connecticut, was in- 
stalled in October, 1828. The church edifice 
was built on Presbyterian Hill, near Ruler's 
Corners, and dedicated March 7, 1833. This 
house was taken down and moved to Sherman 
village in 1845, and eleven years later it was 
enlarged and repaired. In the spring of 1871 
the church adopted the Presbyterian form of 
government, and was connected with Presby- 
tery. In politics Rev. Charles Simpson is of 
rejjubliean proclivities, but rather inclined to be 
independent in his vote. He is a member of 
the Phi Beta Kapjja fraternity. During the 
war he was appointed a member of the Chris- 
tian Sanitary Commission. 

Rev. Charles Simpson was married to Mary 
E. Sherrill, a daughter of Abram E. Sherrill, 
and has two children — a son and daughter: 
Clarence E. and Eleanor A. 



TOHX T. SPEAR was born in Boston, Mas- 
^ sachusetts, July 29, 1855, and is the son 
of Thomas Spear (see sketch of Thomas Spear 
in another part of the book). His ancestors 
were of Irish birth and lineage, he himself 
being removed from the land of his father, 
Ireland, by one generation. When his parents 
removed to Chautauqua county, he was but nine 
years of age. He attended school and remained 
in Chautauqua county until he was eighteen 
years of age, when he returned to Boston and 
remained three years. When about twenty- 
four years of age he crossed the continent to 
the Pacific coast, and after traversing a part 
of the coast, remained three months in San 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Francisco. At the expiration of this time, 
he agaia returned to the east, came to Cliaii- 
tauqua county and engaged in the hardware 
business at Sinclairville, first independently, 
and then subsequent to LS80, in partnersiiip 
with his brother. In addition to iiis mercan- 
tile business, he has also been a dealer in real 
estate and at the beginning of President Harri- 
son's administration received the appointment 
of postmaster at Sinclairville. He is a thirty- 
second degree Masjon ; a stalwart republican, 
politically, and although a religious man by 
nature and in life, he is not connected with any 
particular denomination. He is a good busi- 
ness man, is an efficient and acconnnodatiug 
postmaster and is altogether regarded as a sub- 
stantial, enterprising citizen. 

John T. Spear, on April 28, 1880, was 
united in marriage to Florence A., daughter of 
Nelson Osborne of Chautauqua county, New 
York. 



■T^HOMAS SPEAR is an American citizen 
-*- only by adoption. His native country is 
that of Ireland, where in the year 1818, in the 
county of Tyrone he was born, a son of Robert 
Spear. His father was by occupation a tenant 
farmer, a member of the Episcopal church, and 
in 1847 left his native land and emigrated to 
America. 

Thomas Spear was a puddier by occupation 
and followed that trade in connection with the 
foundry business for a number of years, after 
which he purchased a general store, which he 
operated for ten years, finally purchasing a fixrm 
in Charlotte Centre, upon which he resided for 
four years, thence removing to the place upon 
which he now lives. Besides carrying on the 
regular work of the farm, he has made cattle- 
raising a special adjunct business. He takes a 
lively interest in everything that pertains to 
agriculture and stock-raising and was one of the 
charter members of the Grange of his county. 
In politics he votes with the Republican party, 



under which he was elected to the office of excise 
commissioner. He and his family are attendant 
members of the Episcopal church. 

On May 24, 1844, ]Mr. Spear married Mrs. 
Eliza Jones (/tee Harper) and has four children : 
John T., Samuel, William Nelson and Fred. 

Thomas Spear is still living, at the age of 
seventy-four years, but is practically retired 
from lousiness. His wife is also living, at the 
age of sixty-three. Thomas Spear has always 
been regarded as a model farmer and a good 
citizen. 



"P P. STEARNS, a leading farmer and 
-*"^ • dairyman of Gerry, New York, is a son 
of Phineas and Louisa M. (Ficher) Stearns and 
was born in Gerry, Chautauqua county, New 
York, June 23, 1849. His father was a native 
of Vermont, while his mother was a native of 
New York, the former dying on May 10, 1870. 
Grandfather Daniel Stearns was a Vermont 
fiu-mer and came into Chautauqua county about 
1820. He was of Scotch lineage, an old-line 
whig in his political bent and a typical Ver- 
mont mountaineer. His death occurred at the 
age of eighty. 

E. P. Stearns was educated in the Gerry 
common schools, in which he received anything 
but an extensive education, and at the age of 
twenty learned the blacksmith trade in con- 
nection with carriage-building, which he has 
followed to within five years ago, when he 
built a creamery and equipped it with the best 
and most improved apparatus. His creameiy 
is now capable of manufacturing sixty thousand 
pounds annually ; the product is known as 
" Gerry Creamery," most of which is shipped 
to Providence, Rhode Island. In politics Mr. 
Stearns is a steadfast republican and has been 
honored by his party with the offices of col- 
lector, inspector and justice of the peace. He 
is also a member in good standing of the A. 
O. U. W. and the Royal Templars of Temper- 
ance. He is a man who has put great energy 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



into every enterprise which he has undertaken 
and this together with his manner of dealing 
with liis fellow-men, has crowned his efforts with 
wliat the world is pleased to call success. 

On August 18, 1859, INIr. Steams was 
joined in marriage to Eliza Ketchani, daughter 
of the late James Ketcham of Troopsburg, 
Steuben county. New York. Their marriage 
has been blessed by the birth of two children ; 
Inez G. and Hallie Z. 



H IRIAN SEARS was a native of Sullivan 
county, New York, born, March 9th, 
1811, and is a son of William and Thirsa 
(Sears) Sears. His father was a native of the 
southeastern part of Connecticut, where he 
owned a farm, commanded a company of militia 
and voted the Republican ticket. His death 
occurred after his emigration to Sullivan county, 
after he had passed the eighty-fifth year of his 
life. 

Hirian Sears, the subject, passed the first six- 
teen years of his life in Madison county, New 
York, where he attended school in the winter 
time and performed the duties of a farmer boy 
in summer time. At the age of twenty-oue, he 
engaged in school teaching, which he used as a 
stepping-stone to further his purposes and assist 
him in getting a fair start upon his life's career. 
In 1833 he came to the town of Gerry, farmed 
in the summer and taught school in the winter 
and thus continued to alternate farming and 
teaching for a period of ten years, finally pur- 
chasing the farm which is now occupied by him- 
self and family. His business now is that of 
farming and dairying, which latter business 
claims most of his attention. He has a herd of 
twenty-two Jersey cows and makes about five 
thousand pounds of creamery butter per annum. 
Mr. Sears takes quite an active interest in poli- 
tics, in which he is a republican, has held the 
office of school superintendent! assessor, road 
commissioner and also belongs to the Grange. 
Religiously he is a member of the Congrega- 



tional church and is regarded as conservatively 
orthodox. 

On Januaiy 3rd, 1840, Mr. Sears married 
Lourilla Shepardson, daughter of Reuben Shep- 
ardson of the town of Gerry. He married a 
second time, in December, 1850, to Lucretia 
Bush of Busti. Upon the death of his second 
wife, he married a third time, March 25th, 1852, 
to Mary A. Gates, daughter of Ezra Gates of 
Lebanon, Madison county, New York. He is 
the father of one child, a daughter — Ophelia 
L., now living in Norfulk, Virginia. 



"I^AA'ID SMITH, JR., was a man of fine 

^^ and commanding appearance and with a 
disposition which attracted friends. He was a 
son of David and Phebe Smith, and was born 
in Otsego county, New York, March 9, 1815. 
David Smith, Sr. (father), came to Chautauqua 
county where the virgin forests stood where fer- 
tile fields now bear cereals, succulents and grasses 
that furnish food for countless sheep and cattle. 
He was a minister of the Congregational church 
and was a son of an old Revolutionary officer 
and had a brother, also a minister, but of the 
Universalist faith. Mr. Smith married and had 
five children. He was an active Mason and the 
first person to be buried with Masonic honors in 
this county. 

David Smith, Jr., was j^ossessed of good 
natural ability and was well educated, although 
the common schools were the fountain source of 
his knowledge. He lived in Chautauqua town 
and owned a large farm of two hundred and 
fifty acres in Hartfield besides a tract of timber 
lying between Mayville and Westfield, all of 
which he disposed of and removed to James- 
town about the year 1870, where he engaged in 
the dry goods business conducting it until 1881. 

He married Julia Wingert, a daughter of 
John and Catherine (Frank) Wingert, the former 
a native of Somerset county. Pa., who removed 
to Cumberland county, Md., and engaged in 
milling; and wool carding and at one time owne<l 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY. 



three hundred acres of land. He had six chil- 
dren at the time of his deatii, which occurred in 
Maryland. Mr. and Mrs. Smith were the parents 
of six children: Andrew J., married Savina^Yood 
and lives in Westfield, this county, following 
the business of a traveling salesman ; Julia is 
the wife of P. E. Slocum, a merchant of Lan- 
caster county, Ohio; David, a traveling man 
for the North American Photograph Co., mar- 
ried Rose Smith and at present resides with his 
mother; Moses (dead); Arthur E., a. Jamestown 
dentist, married a Miss Fairbanks ; and Nettie, 
who lives in Brooklyn, N. Y., where her hus- 
band, Daniel Taturn, is a cotton goods broker. 
He yyas a republican, and actively engaged in 
political matters, and died July 2.3, 1883. ^Irs. 
Smith now resides at her beautiful home in 
Jamestown. 



DOCTOR ALLEN A. STEVENS, a prom- 
inent practitioner of Sinclairville, a 
gentleman of commanding appearance, fine 
address and comprehensive intellect, is a son 
of Allen A. and Eliza (Luke) Stevens, and was 
born in the town of Charlotte, Chautauqua 
county, February 21, 1848. Allen A. Stevens, 
Sr., was a native of Wayne, Schuyler county. 
His wife, whose maiden name was Eliza Luke, 
was born at Sinclairville. Her father, Nathan 
Luke, came to this county from the "Green 
Mountain State," and settled at Charlotte Cen- 
tre; with five brothers he founded the settlement 
now known as the Luke settlement. They 
were all farmers, and a prosperous, contented 
family. Allen A. Stevens, Sr., is still living, 
aged seventy-three years, and has been honored 
by election to some of the important town 
offices. 

Allen A. Stevens was reared on his father's 
farm, and educated at the Union academy, Fre- 
donia, and the Jamestown Union schools and 
Collegiate institute. In 1870 he began to read 
medicine \vith Doctors Harrison and Hall of 
Sinclairville, and graduated from the Buffalo 



Medical college in February, 1875. Since 1873 
he has been practicing, and now has a large 
office and surgical practice. He is a member 
of the Chautauqua County Medical society, 
and takes an active interest in its welfare. 

In 1876, he married Mary E. White, of 
Norwalk, Ohio, and they have been blessed 
with five children — three of whom survive: 
Allen White, Clarence Luke, and Catherine 
Price. 

Doctor Stevens keeps well informed upon 
current matters, and is deeply read in many 
branches of literature. Professionally, he stands 
high with his fellow-practitioners ; socially, he 
is a favorite, and is fine looking and entertain- 
ing. In stature he is over six feet tall and 
admirably proportioned. 



JONATHAN H. SLOCUM is one of seven 

^ children born to James B. and Maria 
(Hall) Slocum, and first saw the light in what 
was then Carroll, now Kiantone town, Chau- 
tauqua county, New York, on August 16, 1840. 
His grandfather, Jonathan Slocum, vyas a native 
of the Mohawk Valley, this State, but moved 
to, lived and was married in Vermont, to 
Esther F. Bowen, a daughter of that State, 
by whom he had one son and three daughters. 
He gained a livelihood by farming, and died at 
his home. His maternal grandfather, Azariah 
Hall, was also a native of Vermont, but went 
to Kiantone where he married Maria Orr, 
followed farming and reared a family of one 
son and two daughters. James B. Slocum 
(father) was an only son, and- in 1829 he left 
his Vermont home, and striking into the almost 
unknown forests, forced his way through them 
and settled at Kiantone. Of a pushing dispo- 
sition, he soon established in business, owning 
and operating a stage line from Dunkirk, this 
State, through to Warren, Pa., following very 
closely the present line of the Allegheny Valley 
& Pittsburg R. R. This line required a great 
many horses with which to run it. Later he 



654 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



owned and conducted a hotel at what was then ' 
Carroll village, this State, and in addition to 
this he had a farm which he personally managed, 
and continning to branch out engaged in the 
cattle, lumber and general merchandise business 
during the high tide of Oliio river rafting. He 
married INIaria Hall, whose father came from 
Vermont, and they became the parents of seven 
children, three sons and four daughters. He 
died at Kiantone. 

Jonatiian H. Slociim was reared at Kiantone, 
and inherited a great deal of energy from his 
father. When still a young man the mantle of 
his father fell upon him which he tried to sus- 
tain, but when the bells of war were ringing 
he relinquished the chase for the American 
dollar, and joining the 7th regiment of N. Y. 
sharpsiiooters, on August 9, 1862, he went 
with them to the front and served gallantly in 
the battles of Deserted Farm, Wilderness, was 
at the siege of Suffolk, and in several skirmishes 
until he found himself in the hospital. Remain- 
ing there for some time with poor prospects of 
an early recovery, he received his discharge on 
February 17, 1864. After returning home and 
recovering his health, he again took up his busi- 
ness, that of stock-dealing and lumbering, which 
he followed until 1868, when he disposed of his 
active business and bought a farm in Kiantone. 
Later he kept a hotel at Frewsburg for a year, 
and then entered the mercantile business in 
which he continued until 1876. On March 2, 
1889, he removed with his family to Jamestown, 
where they now reside on Warren street. jNIr. 
Slocani has had a'busy life, and has made many 
friends. Politically, he favors the Republican 
party, but he thinks more of his family and a 
quiet life now than he does of the world. 

He united in marriage with Eliza I. Phillips, 
a daughter of Aaron J. Phillips, who resided at 
Busti, this county. He was a native of West- 
moreland, Vermont, but came to Chautauqua 
county and married Aurelia Carey, by whom 
he had two daughters : Eliza J. (Slocum), and 



one whose name is not given. Mr. and Mrs. 
Slocum have had six children, of whom but 
four are living, three still at home : James M. ; 
Aurelia, wife of George Hopkins, a farmer, 
residing in the town of Ellicott ; George; Ger- 
trude and Richard (both dead) ; and J. Mamie. 



CHARLES J. SHULT.S was born in Elli- 
cottsville, Cattaraugus county, New York, 
February 23, 1865, and is a sou of J. C. and 
Angle (Burlingham) Shults. William Shults 
(paternal grandfather) was born in the year 
1802 and died in South Dayton, New York, 
March, 1890, at the age of eighty-eight years. 
He was a wool carder by occupation and was 
united in marriage to Betsey Johnson (who still 
survives), who bore him four sons and five 
daughters. J. C. Shults, father of Charles J., 
is by occupation an architect, contractor and 
builder, which business he now pursues. He 
is the father of two sons : Charles J. (subject) 
and Edward W., born April 14, 1867, at 
present a spirit medium 

Charles J. Shults was educated at the Union 
schools at Ellicottsville, having been left mother- 
less at the age of six years. He learned the 
printer's trade with R. H. Shanklaud, a friend 
and co-worker of Horace Greeley, in the office of 
the Cattaraugm Union, published at Ellicotts- 
ville. After the completion of his trade he en- 
tered a law office and pursued the study of the law 
for eighteen months and also took up the study 
of medicine, which he pursued six months. 
His first newspaper venture was the purchase of 
the Pine Vallei/ Xews, at Pine Valley, Cattarau- 
gus county, which he conducted for three years. 
He afterwards bought the Chen-y Creek Monitor, 
consolidated both papers and evolved a new 
paper, which he called the Cherry Creek Newn. 
Since obtaining control of the News, Mr. Shults 
has made it one of the best and most reliable 
papers of its character in the State. It is at 
present the official paper of Chautauqua county. 
In April, 1890, he purchased the Gowanda 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Herald, and at the present time is the proprietor 
of two vigorous and well-edited journals. He 
is an ardent republican in politics, conducts his 
papers in the interests of tiiat party, and in 
1887 and 1888 served as clerk of his town. 
He is a member of the Methodist church and a 
man prominent in secret orders, belonging to 
the Free and Accepted Masons, Cherry Creek 
Lodge, No. 384, and a number of other secret 
societies. On May 4, 1887, Mr. Shults was 
united in marriage to Eva M. Morian, daugh- 
ter of William and Marilla Morian, of Cherry 
Creek. They have one son — Harry H., born 
April 8, 1888. 



llJriCHAEL W. SWKEXEY deceuds from 

\ '■*■ Edmund and Margaret (Sullivan) Sweeney, 
and was born in Cork, Ireland, in 1835. The 
ancestors of Mr. Sweeney were Irish and the 
family antedates the feudal times. His grand- 
fathers and fatiier were farmers on the Green 
Isle and their bones rest with those of their 
fathers. Edmund Sweeney, (father) married 
Margaret Sullivan, who also came from one of 
the oldest families of the country, and together 
were the parents of six children, two sons and 
four daugiiters, all of whom came to America. 
Miles is living at Hornellsville, New York, 
Avhere he settled and for many years followed 
the railroad as a means of livelihood, but 
becoming an old man and his condition no 
longer requiring that he should labor, a few- 
years ago, quit it, and is now living comfortably 
and quietly ; Mary, married James Buckley 
and is dead ; Ellen, Ann and Johanna. 

Michael W. Sweeney lived with his parents 
until thirteen years of age and in 1848 came to 
seek his fortune in the new world. Landing 
at New York he first settled at Walton, N. Y., 
and from there went to Elmira, in the same 
State. He remained at Elmira a number of 
years and in 1861 came to Jamestown where he 
has lived ever since. He is a moulder by trade 
and followed it through his earlier liie. 



M. W. Sweeney led T^ate Malouey to the 
altar and they were united in marriage. Three 
children have l)lest this marriage : Katie, Agues 
and Mary. 

Like other people of thrift and economy he 
is now the posisessor of considerable property, 
the fine, large three-story brick building, 
27x60 feet in dimensions located near the lioat 
landing belonging to him, and in it he conducts 
a first-class grocery store. 

In politics Mr. Sweeney is independent, feel- 
ing bound to no political party but is a member 
of the Jamestown Catholic church, which he 
regularly attends. Like many other of our 
American citizens of Irish birt!i, who early emi- 
grated to this, from the mother country, Mr. 
Sweeney has made a success of life. 



TAMES H. SWEET, who has been a resi- 
^^ dent of Jamestown for the last quarter of 
a century, is a son of James and Sallie (Clark) 
Sweet, and was born on the site of Jamestown, 
Chautauqua county. New York, Marcii 13, 

1813. His paternal grandparents were life- 
long residents of Rensselaer ct)unty, while his 
maternal grandparents were among the early 
settlers of Chautauqua county. James Sweet 
was born in Rensselaer county, and came to the 
town of Busti, where he settled at what is now 
Lakewood. He was drafted in the war of 1812, 
but could not leave his family exposed to the 
wolves and bears then so abundant in his wil- 
derness home. He was one of the organizers 
of the first Methodist church in his town, in 

1814, while his house and barn were used for 
preaching places for several years. He was a 
whig in politics, a peaceable citizen and a pious, 
honest and iiard-working man. He brought 
his wife and five children in an ox-team to 
Buffalo, and thence through the wilderness to 
where he had purchased his farm of two hun- 
dred acres, of which he cleared out a part dur- 
ing his life-time. He and his wife spent 
seventv-five years of wedded life togetiier, died 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



upon tlie same tlav and their lemains were bur- 
ied iu the same grave. They reared a family 
of six sons and five daughters : James (dead) ; 
Sallie, wife of Judge Abner Lewis ; Clark, who 
died at Panama in 1889; William and Ange- 
liue, now in Wisconsin ; James H. ; Maxou of 
Poland ; Ann, Amy, Finley and Mary. 

James H. Sweet possessed but few advantages 
to obtain an education during his boyhood 
days, and spent a few months in winter sub- 
scription schools, which he often attended 
throuiih severe snow storms. After working on 
his father's farm until he was of age, and then 
for a short time, as a farm hand iu his immedi- 
ate neighborhood, he went down the Mississippi 
river to Louisiana, which he soon left for the 
western states and territories, in which he re- 
mained for a few years. At the end of that 
time he returned to Chautauqua county, where 
he erected a saw and grist-mill on French 
creek, which three years later he exchanged for 
a farm of one hundred and seventy-four acres 
of land in the town of Busti, where he followed 
farming for twenty years. In 1866 he sold his 
larm and came to Jamestown, where he pur- 
chased some valuable lots and erected his present 
convenient and comfortable residence. 

He married Lois Moore, who died and left 
two children: Franklin M., of Jamestown, who 
married Eliza Gray; and Adaline, wife of X. 
W. Hall, a tobacco dealer of Corry, Pa. He 
married Lois Hart, and his children by this sec- 
ond union are : Albert li., of Jamestown, who 
married Augusta Davis; Reuben E. married 
Angie Stirdevant, has one child, Edith, and 
resides in Butfalo ; and Emma M., wife of D. 
S. Horton. 

James H. Sweet is a republican in politics, 
having been formerly a whig, and has been a 
member for over sixty years of the Methodist 
church, of which his wife has been a member 
for manv vears. 



ELIAL, W. SKIXNER. One of the best 
known and most successful of Portland 
town's grape growers is Elial W. Skinuer, who 
is a son of David and Mary (Williams) Skin- 
uer, and was born on the farm where he now re- 
sides, September 30, 1838. David Skinner is 
a native of Chenango county. New York, and 
came from there to Chautauqua county in 1820, 
when he located iu what is now Portland town 
and has ever since resided there. Although 
now (1891) in his eighty-ninth year, he is ac- 
tive and vigorous and enjoying much better 
health than would be expected of one of his age. 
He has always been engaged in agricultural 
pursuits on an extensive scale ; atone time he 
was the largest individual real estate owner iu 
that town, and kept great numbers of live stock. 
Mr. Skinner is a democrat and is a great work- 
er. His staying powers in any kind of work 
were at one time a matter of renown. He is of 
Irish descent, while Mary Williams, his wife, 
was Scotch. She is still living, aged eighty- 
seven years, and is quite an active old lady. 

Elial W. Skinuer has spent his entire life on 
the farm. He received his education at the 
common schools and academy. He owns forty 
acres of his father's homestead and has a very 
fine vineyard and is one of the leading farmers. 
In 1870 he married Bessie, daughter of Luke 
Haight of Broctou and they have two children, 
one son and one daughter: William and Lil- 
lian. 

Elial W. Skinner is a member of the Meth- 
odist Episcopal church and the Equitable Aid 
Union. In 1862 he enlisted in Co. E, 154th 
regiment. New York Volunteers and served 
three years as a private, participating in the 
battles of Chancellorsville, Fredericksburg and 
Gettysburg. At the latter place on July 1, 
1863, he was taken prisoner and held for eight- 
een months. Ten months of the time were 
spent iu the vile and notorious Andersonville, 
where so many perished from want of the neces- 
saries of life. June 2o, 186.3, he was dis- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



charged at Elmira. New York, and returned to 
his home. Mr. Skinner is a companionable 
gentleman and has a pleasant home, in which 
his friends are royally entertained. He is in- 
telligent and well informed and has the courage 
of assertino; his convictions. 



On August 28, 1841, Mr. Tefft became uni- 
ted in marriage to Elizabeth C, daughter of 
Nathaniel Miller of Forbes, Onondaga county, 
New York. They have had one daughter: 
Alice, who died in 1861. 



'n SA TEFFT was born in the town of Leb- 
-^*- anon, Madison county. New York, Feb- 
ruarv 1, 1819, and is a son of John and Eliza- 
beth (Dye) Teff't. Both parents were natives 
of the State of Rhode Island, \yhere his father 
was engaged in farming. At that time he be- 
longed to the predominant political party — the 
Wiiig; while religiously he never allied him- 
self with any special sect or denomination. 
When past the middle of life, he migrated into 
the State of New York and died in Lebanon at 
the age of fifty-one years. His wife was by de- 
scent a Quaker. Grandfather Tefft came to 
Madison county, New York, from Rhode 
Island about ninety years ago, where he en- 
gaged in farming and passed the remaining 
years of his life. 

Asa Tefft lived in Madison county until he 
was fifteen years of age, where he received a 
common school education and began his career 
in life. Upon coming to Chautauqua ccnmty 
he engaged in farming in the town of Ellery 
and in 1851 purchased the farm in the town of 
Stockton upon which he now resides. He is 
still living at the age of seventy-two years, en- 
joys good health and is as actively engaged in 
farm duties as M'hen in the prime of life. Two 
years ago he became a member of the order of 
Patrons of Husbandry; religiously he is a spir- 
itualist, while politically he has always given 
the Republican party his warm support, at the 
hands of which party he has been a member of 
the excise committee on various occasions. Be- 
sides farming, he takes a special interest in 
breeding fine stock, notably Durham and Jer- 
sey cattle and is also the owner of a large and 
well-e<[uipped dairy. 



T . KWIS B. T1103IPS0X, a rising young 

-'"^ business man of Kennedy, who, by his 
industry and intelligence, has reached an emi- 
nence in the business community of his town 
second to none, is a son of William and Rox- 
ana (Bates) Thompson, and was born in Buf- 
falo, Erie county, New York, July 7, 18G0. 
His grandfather Thompson was a native of 
Canada, but came across the lake and settled 
in the Empire State, where he followed shoe- 
making until he died. Joseph Bates (maternal 
grandfather) was a native of Ellington, and 
was a miller by trade. He married and reare<l 
a family, of eight children, — three sons and five 
daughters. He was a devout church member. 

William Thompson was born in Toronto, 
Canada, in the month of September, 1830, and 
coming to the town of Silver Creek, followed 
shoemakiug. From Silver Creek he went to 
Meadville, Pa., where he still resides. In 1854 
he married Roxana Bates, a daughter of Jo- 
seph Bates, of Ellington, and they were blessed 
with one child, Lewis B. William Thompson 
spent nearly thirty years in various capacities 
on the railroad. He was conductor on the 
Erie, and held the same position on the old 
N. Y., P. and O., which is now a division of 
the Erie railroad. 

Lewis B. Thompson is the only child of his 
parents. He came to Forestville with his 
parents, where he spent his childhood and 
youth until ten years of age, attending the 
common schools. His folks then went to El- 
lington, then to Poland, and finally down into 
the Keystone State. He spent three years at 
the latter place, and then began life braking on 
the railroad, — an employment that kills no less 
r than three young men, the flowers of the coun- 



658 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



try, for every working clay in the year, and 
maims more tiian five times tiie number. Find- 
ing that there were much easier employments 
with superior remuneration and less risk, he 
left the railroad and its excitements, and learned 
the secrets of making confectionery. In 1886 
he began the manufacture of baskets at Green- 
field, Pa., and stayed there three years, but in 
1889 came to Kennedy, where he is now lo- 
cated. The factory is one of the leading indus- 
tries of the place, and employs from thirty to 
fifty men, making about three thousand to 
eight thousand baskets per day, or a total of 
over a million per year. 

On November 7, 1883, he was united in 
marriage with Lola M. Luce, a daughter of 
Timothy J. Luce, of Kenuedy, and they have 
two children : Harry L., born August 24, 
1884, and Ford C, born July 14, 1886. 

L. B. Thompson is a republican, and is a 
member of the Independent Order of Odd Fel- 
lows, to which he has been attaclied for a num- 
ber of years. 



QLMOX N. TAYLOR, A.M., principal of 
■'^- the Westfield academy and Union schools, 
is a son of Gurdon M. and Catherine (Mosher) 
Taylor, and was born in the town of Portland, 
Chautauqua county, New York, November 1, 
1855. The Taylors are of English origin and 
the grandfather of Prof. Almon N. Taylor was 
Erastus Taylor, one of the early settlers of Port- 
land. He was a farmer and served in the war 
of 1812, in which he was wounded. His son, 
Gurdon M. Taylor (father), was born in 1821, 
in Portland, where he died in 1863. He was 
a prosperous farmer and respected citizen of his 
town which he served as supervisor for several 
terms. He was a democrat in political matters, 
and had been a member of the First Congrega- 
tional churdi of the town of Portland for many 
years prior to his death. He married Catherine 
Mosiier, who is a member of the M. E. church. 
Almon N. Taylor, after attending the scjjools 



of his native town, entered the University at 
Ann Arbor, INIichigan, from which well-known 
educational institution he was graduated in 1882. 
During the same year, after graduation, he be- 
came a law student in the office of Clinton & 
Clark, of Buffalo, with whom he read for eigh- 
teen months. At the end of that time he ac- 
cepted the position of baggage- master on the 
W. N. Y. & P. R. R., which he held for one 
year. He then turned his attention to teaching 
and was elected annually for five years as prin- 
cipal of Sherman. In 1889 he left Sherman to 
accept of the principalship of the Westfield 
academy and Union schools. Prof. Taylor was 
re-elected in 1890 and again in 1891, and has 
labored faithfully and efficiently in the advance- 
ment of the academy and these schools. He 
has taken great interest in the culture of grapes 
in the town of Portland, where he has a flour- 
ishing vineyard of forty-seven acres. He is a 
democrat in politics and a member of the First 
Presbyterian church of Westfield. In Masonry 
he passed tiirough lodge and chapter and is now 
a member of Dunkirk Commandery, No. 40, 
Knights Templar. 

In 1882 he united in marriage with Adelaide 
L. Vincent, daughter of James Vincent, of 
Sherman, and a graduate of Syracuse university. 
They have two children : Almon V. and Cathe- 
rine M. 



TOHX TALLiMAN is the son of Abner and 
^ Thankful (Sparks) Tallman, and was born 
in Broome county, New York, September 8, 
1823. His maternal grandfather, Jolin Sparks, 
took passage on the first continental ship that 
sailed from an American port, and he fought 
all through the Revolutionary war on laud and 
sea. The Tallmans are of Scotch descent. 
Abner Tallman (father) was a native of Essex 
county, this State, and cam*? to this county in 
1834 and located in Dunkirk. He was a car- 
penter and joiner by trade, and died at Arkwrigiit 
this county, in October, 1849. He married 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Thankful Sparks, a native of Washington 
county, tliis State, who was a member of the 
Free- Will Baptist church, and died in Dunkirk 
in 1837, at the early age of forty-six' years. 

John Tallman was reared in Chautauqua 
county, received a common school education, 
and learned the carpenter's and joiner's trade 
with his father, in which business he continued, 
until Sejjtember, 1864, when he entered the 
Union service, enlisting in Co. A, 188th regi- 
ment, N. Y. Vol. Infantry, and .served till the 
close of the war, being honorably discharged at 
Washington, D. C, May 30, 1865. While in 
the army he contracted chronic rheumatism and 
has never seen a well day since, being very 
badly drawn out of shape. He has been granted 
a pension to relieve his mind from anxiety as to 
provision for his comfort, and owns a large brick 
house and a lot of land in Forestville, where 
he resides. In 1844 he moved to Great Valley, 
Cattaraugus county, this State, where he served 
five years as constable, and where he resided — 
excepting the time he was in the army — until 
the sj)ring of 1890, when he came to Foi'est- 
ville. In politics Mr. Tallman is an uncom- 
promising republican. 

John Tallman was married in 1844 to Ehnira, 
daughter of Jarvis Bennett, of Villanova, this 
countv. 



"PDG.\B B. TOL,L,KS belongs to the class 

-'■^ of thrifty and intelligent farmers of the 
town of Sheridan, Chautauqua county. His 
paternal grandfather, Chester Tolles, was of 
Puritan lineage, a native of Connecticut, and 
came to the shores of the placid Skaneateles 
while the forests and lands were still free from 
the marks and innovations of Anglican jjro- 
gress. His companions were pioneer farmers 
and foresters, but he was a blacksmith and 
farmer, and instead of conducting a crusade of 
destruction against primeval forests and virgin 
soil, he set up a forge and smithy, which, to 
the aboriginal natives, was quite as curious 



and awe inspiring as was the forge of Vulcau 
to the mythical iniiabitauts of the orient. His 
career, however, as pioneer adventurer was 
short-lived ; wiiile crossing the lake in a canoe, 
it was suddenly capsized and he was drowned. 
At this time his son Buel (father of subject) 
was four years old. Subsequently his widow 
married Nathan Thompson, a soldier and officer 
in the Revolutionary war. Captain Thompson 
came to Chautauqua county in the year 1828, 
bought a tract of land from the old Holland 
Land company, .settled on and improved it and 
there lived out his days. He was a member of 
the Baptist church. Grandfather Zerubabel 
Curtis was born in the State of Vermont, but 
later became a resident of Malone, St. Law- 
rence county, New York, where he died. He 
was a farmer, contractor and lumberman and 
through his business tact, his foresight and 
careful judgment in the transaction and control 
of his various interests, accumulated quite a 
good deal of property, both real and personal. 
In his gifts to charitable, educational and re- 
ligious causes he was uniformly liberal. He 
was a member of the Baptist church, a Revolu- 
tionary sailor of valor and captain in the New 
York State militia. He married Esther 
Thomp.son, and had a family of thirteen chil- 
dren, twelve girls and one boy. Buel Tolles 
(subject's fatiier) came to Chautauqua county, 
town of Siieridan, about 1830, having been 
born in Skaneateles, Onondaga county, New 
York, November 29, 1810. He was a cabinet- 
maker b}' occupation, and worked at that busi- 
ne.ss for a considerable length of time after 
coming to Chautauqua county. Farming also 
came in for a minor share of his attention. He 
was a democrat in politics and was elected by 
his party to the office of supervisor for eight 
successive years. As illustrative of the entire 
confidence in which he was held by his fellow 
citizens, it is sufficient to say that he has, with- 
out solicitation on his part, been elected to every 
political office within tiie gift of his town. He 



BIOGRAPHY ANT) HISTORY 



married Sarali S. Curtis (boru March 3, 1816, 
and died April 24, 1889), who bore him the 
followiug named children : Almira D., died in 
1863; Euphemia A. lives at home; Eliza, 
married to Alfred Hall, of the town of Sheri- 
dan ; and Edgar B. (subject). Buel Tolles was 
a member of I. O. O. F., and died in 1877. 

Edgar B. Tolles was born April 30, 1846, 
in the town of Sheridan, Chautauqua county. 
New York. In his childhood and youth he 
was surrounded with pastoral scenes, reared as 
a farm lad and educated in the common schools. 
He is and has always been a farmer throwing 
into it a rare business tact and penetration. 

On November 12, 1873, he married ]\Iary 
Bentley, a daughter of David and Ruth Keech 
Bentley, of the town of Hanover. ^Ir. and 
Mrs. Tolles have no children. 



^EBEDEE TRUESDELL,. One of the 

-^^ most aged and venerable of Jamestown's 
citizens is Zebedee Truesdell, who was born to 
Jacob and Alice (Gates) Truesdell, at Calwell, 
Warren county. New York, July 14, 1806. 
With him was born a twin sister, who many 
years ago married Henry Dixon. She is still 
/ living, and with Zebedee, probably makes the 
V oldest pair of twins in the State of New York, 
if not in America. Richard Truesdell (paternal 
grandfather) was boru near New York city, 
and was the descendant of English ancestors, 
and gained a livelihood from his farm, supple- 
menting it by shoemaking. He lived to the un- 
usual age of one hundred and five years. Jacob 
Truesdell was born at the same place, but 
removed to Calwell, where he resided until 
nearly seventy-five years of age, when, in 1833, 
he removed to Harmony, this county, where he 
died in 1850. JSIr. Truesdell's life-long occu- 
jiation was farming. Politically he affiliated 
with the republicans, and was a member of the 
Baptist church. His wife, Alice Gates, became 
the mother of six sons and two daughters, of 
wlioiii one of each are living. 



Zebedee Truesdell spent his early life helping 
his father, getting such schooling as he could, 
and learning a trade — he chose to be a carpen- 
ter, paying particular attention to ship-carpen- 
try, and many of the boats that run on the 
Erie canal contained many results of his labor. 
Later, about 1842, he bought a farm in Har- 
.mony, upon which he lived for twenty years. 
In 1881 he removed into Jamestown and since 
has lived a quiet and retired life. 

He married Ellen Campbell, a daughter of 
William and Elizabeth (Dobbins) Campbell. 
William Campbell was a native of Ireland, but 
coming to America, he located at first in Phila- 
delphia and afterwards in AVestchester county, 
this State, where he died. He was a painter by 
trade, and had a family of twelve children. ]\Ir. 
and Mrs. Truesdell have two children: Almira 
J., wife of William Peckiiam, a carpenter and 
house-builder, living in Jamestown — they have 
one child, Clayton J. ; and William H., en- 
gaged in the grocery business at Jamestown, 
married Alice Peckham, a daughter of George 
Peckham, who came from Rhode Island and 
now resides at Harmony. 

Politically a republican, ^Ir. Truesdell is 
also a member of the ^Methodist church, where 
he usually officiates as class leader. 



"CKASTUS H. TAYLOll, an enterprising 

-*^ farmer of Scotch descent, was born in 
Portland town, Chautauqua county, New York, 
February 1, 1850, and is a son of Gurdon and 
Catherine (Masher) Taylor. His paternal grand- 
father, Erastus Taylor, was a native of Connect- 
icut and after serving in the American army 
through the second war with England, he came 
to this county and settled in Portland in 1816, 
where he followed farming until he died. 
Gurdon Taylor was born in Portland town in 
1821 and died March 4, 1863, aged forty-two 
years. He was a pushing, industrious man 
with a disposition that made many friends and 
no enemies. His labor was rewarded with pros- 



OF VHAVTAUQUA COUSTY. 



perity and when he died liis family was in com- 
fortable circumstances. He married Catlieriiie 
Masher. Mr. Taylor was a member of the 
Congregational church and the Masonic fra- 
ternity. In politics he voted with the democrats 
and served one term as supervisor of the town. 
She was born in 1828 and is still living, aged 
sixty-three years. 

Erastus H. Taylor was reared ou liis father's 
farm in Portland town. He got his education 
at the Dunkirk .schools and when arrived at 
man's estate began farming on his own account 
which he has ever since followed. A fine tract 
of seventy-six acres of land, lying ou the main 
road, four miles east of Westfield,is his property 
and upon it are forty acres of well kept vineyard 
and a young orchard of great promise contain- 
ing one-tenth that area. 

In 1875 Mr. Taylor married Ada Munson, a 
daughter of Milton J. jNIunson, a sterling farmer 
living near by, and by her has had one child, 
Lottie M. 

E.H.Taylor is a democrat, an enterprising 
farmer and a courteous gentleman. ^ 



mILLIAM U.SBORNE is a son of AVil- 
liam H. and Fanny F. (Brooks) Us- 
borue, and was born in Westfield, Chautauqua 
county, New York, February 28, 1854. His 
father and mother were natives of England and 
came to the United States the year previous to 
his birth, locating in Westfield. His father was 
a skillful tool dresser and driller, did a great 
deal of work in the oil country and worked for 
.several years in the machine shop in Westfield. 
In religion he was a member of the Methodist 
Episcopal church, a republican in politics and 
held the office of road commissioner in the town 
of Westfield for four years. He was killed in 
the terrible Prospect disaster in 1872, being 
forty-seven years of age at the time of his 
death. He married Fannie F. Brooks, who 
was for some years a member of the Metho- 
dist Episcopal church but is now a presbyt;rian 



and resides in Westfield, in her sixty-seventh 
year. 

William Usborne was reared in Westfield and 
received the best education the schools of his 
native town afforded. After leaving .school, in 
1868, he wont to work in the York machine 
shop, owned and operated by George I'. A'ork, 
where he learned the trade of a machinist and 
worked in that shop until 1889, when the death 
of Mr. York necessitated the closing of his 
place of business. In the same year Mr. Us- 
borne formed a partnership with William H. 
Wilson, under the firm name of Wilson & Us- 
borne and erected the buildings, on North Port- 
age street, they now occupy, where all kinds of 
machinery repairing aud steam and water fitting 
is done. They are also the general agents for 
the Adriance, Piatt & Co. mowing machines, 
reapers and binders, have the best harvesting 
machinery in the market and have charge of the 
extra parts for the celebrated Buckeye mowing 
machine, both old wood frame and new model, 
formerly manufactured by George P. York. 
They have a large aud constantly growing bus- 
iness. Mr. Usborne is a democrat, has held 
the ofiices of trustee and assessor of the town of 
Westfield, is a member of the Independent Or- 
der of Odd Fellows, of the Equitable Aid 
Union aud is a very stirring and energetic man. 

William Usborne married in 1875 Martha 
E. Van Ness, daughter of Philo Van Ness, of 
Westfield. To their marriage have been born 
two children : Thomas W. and William H. 



^▼Hi:OPHILU.S J. VA^DEKGKIIT, a 

-*- well-kuown citizen of Jamestown, is a 
son of William and Sophia (Sarver) Vander- 
grift, and was born in the city of Pittsburgh, 
Penn., November 25, 1846. 

The paternal grand fiither, Jacob Vandergrift, 
was a native of the city of Brotherly Love, 
although his ahcestors came from Holland ; he 
emigrated to Pittsburgh about 1815 and fol- 
lowed boat building for many years. William 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Vaudergrift was born in Philadelphia about 
1806 and died in Pittsburgh in 1876. He, too, 
was a boat builder and followed that occupation 
through life. He married Sophia Sarver, who 
is still living, aged eighty-seven years. William 
Vandergrift was a whig in early life and after 
its assimilation by the Republican party, he 
cast his fortunes with the latter. By his mar- 
riage he became the father of ten children, five 
sons and five daughters 



/>-HARLES H. WICKS, though a resident of 
^^ Panama, Chautauqua county, New York, 
is one of the active, progressive and enterprising 
real estate dealers in the beautiful and well-known 
summering place of Lakewood in the same 
county. He was born October 15, 1849, in the 
town of Ellery, Chautauqua county, New York, 
and is a son of James H. and Sophia (Ward) 
Wicks. Paternal grandfather, John Wicks, 
was of English extraction, born in Saratoga 
county, New York, and immigrated to Chautau- 
qua county in 1818, settling in the town of 
Ellery. While here he pursued the occupation 
of farming, until he was borne to his last rest- 
ing place at a green old age. Grandfather 
Andrew W^ard was a native of the widely- 
known Mohawk Valley, but, like many of his 
predecessors, followed the star of empire on its 
western course. He located in the town of 
Ellicolt, where he took up, cleared and im- 
proved a large tract of land, on which he con- 
tinued to reside the remainder of his life. Con- 
siderable of his life was spent in active military 
service, which he regarded not only a duty but 
as an extreme pleasure. He married Angelina 
Trueax, who lived to be over one hundred years 
of age, and bore him seven children, five boys 
and two girls. James H. Wicks (father) was 
born in Saratoga county, New York, on August 
2, 1817, removed to the town of Ellery where 
he lived for a time, then removing to the town 
of Gerry where he died March 1891. He 
was accounted a good farmer and an upright 



citizen. He held the office of justice of the 
peace for sixteen years continuously, at the 
hands of the Republican party, and was also 
an active member of the Methodist Episcopal 
church. His first wife, Sophia Ward, bore him 
five children : Jane married to W^alter Strong, 
a farmer of the town of Gerry ; Lavina, mar- 
ried to L. F. Hadley, fiirmer and stock-dealer, 
now living in Jeffrey county, Missouri ; Andrew 
W., married to Minnie Scofield, lives at Panama, 
Chautauqua county, but is engaged in the real 
estate business at Lakewood ; he was assistant 
librarian of the New York Assembly in 1890 
and is active in the politics of his party ; and 
John W., (adopted son) graduated from C'ornell 
University and is at present superintendent 
of city schools of Dunkirk, New York. By 
his second wife, Asenith Corl, he had two 
children : Mary, married to Francis Rose, a 
farmer living in the town of Gerry ; and Etta, 
unmarried. James H. Wicks was married a 
third time to Eliza Pickard. 

After passing through the common schools of 
his native county, Charles H. Wicks, our sub- 
ject, supplemented his education in the James- 
town High school. He first took up the profes- 
sion of teaching, became principal of the 
Clymer and Panama Union schools successively, 
and held the same for ten years. In 1878 he 
was elected school commissioner for the first 
district of Chautauqua county and held that 
office until 1891, the longest continuous service 
of any commissioner in the State. At the ex- 
piration of his term, he embarked in the real 
estate business at Lakewood in conjunction 
with his brother Andrew, which business they 
have pushed with vigor and advantage ever 
since. The business outlook for this energetic 
firm was never brighter than at present, and 
they are looking forward to a still more pros- 
perous and profitable era. Both members of the 
firm belong to the I. O. O. F. at Panama. 

Charles H. Wicks married Florence R. Rob- 
bins, a daughter of Levi H. Robbins of C'lymer 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



663 



New York, and has two children : Carrie Jane, 
born March 12, 1883; and Mary E., born 
November 4, 1889. 



mlLLIAM H. AVILSOX, the inventor 
of some very practical labor-saving 
machinery, and a member of the firm of Wilson 
& Usborne, is a son of John and Elizabeth 
(Borne) Wilson, and was born at Westfield, 
Chautanqua county, New York, August 7, 1834. 
John Wilson was a native of England, where 
he learned the trade of carpenter, and spent 
seven years of his apprenticeship in working on 
Canterbury cathedral. In 1831 he came to 
Westfield, where he made his home from that 
year until his death in 1857. He was a member 
of the Protestant Episcopal church and always 
supported the Democratic ticket after becoming 
a citizen of the State of New York. Plis widow, 
Elizabeth (Borne) Wilson, who was a native of 
Kent county, England, and a member of the 
Methodist Episcopal church, survived him until 
January, 1884, when she passed away. 

William H. Wilson was reared at Westfield, 
■where he attended the public schools until he 
was fifteen years of age, when he went to learn 
the trade of painter, at which he worked for three 
years. He then run a stationary engine for three 
years, and at the end of that time learned the 
trade of engine finishing. After completing 
that trade he became foreman of the Chautauqua 
agricultural works, which position he held until 
1861, in which year he formed a partnership 
with George P. York and Abel Patchen, under 
the firm name of Patchen & Co. They embarked 
in the manufacture of engines and made the first 
oil tools that were used in ihe oil region. In 
1863 Mr. York purchased the interests of Mr. 
Patchen and Wilson, and the latter served as 
foreman of the works until Mr. York's death, 
August 19, 1888. In 1889 Mr. Wilson formed 
a partnership with Mr. Usborne (.see his sketch) 
and tiiey erected their present machine shops on 
North Portage street, where they make a specialty 



of repairing rtiowers and reapers, and have for 
sale repairs for, and parts of, the Buckeye mow- 
ers and reapers. 

On March 9, 1858, he married Emma A. 
Sweet, daughter of Ralph Sweet, of Westfield. 
They have three children : Clarence E., Mary 
C, and Ralph W. 

William H. Wilson is a liberal democrat and 
a vestryman of the Protestant Episcopal church, 
and has served his village as trustee for two 
terms. He has not only .studied carefully the 
construction of machinery for the purpose of its 
construction and repair, but has given much 
thought and time to its improvement, and the 
invention of new machines. In 1873 he took 
out a jxitent on a machine which he had invented 
for grinding mowing knives, and on February 
20, 1877, he received a patent for another of his 
inventions in the shape of a base-burning and 
self-feeding boiler, which he improved in 1884, 
and received a patent on the injprovement. He 
.secured a patent for his " Wilson's Vertical 
Tube Boiler." In 1888 he took out patents on 
his inventions of a saw gauge and a double tube 
radiator. Mr. Wilson's five inventions are prac- 
tical and useful, and have given .satisfaction 
wherever they have been used. 



T^L3IER H. AVIGGIXS, the present respon- 
-*"^ sible and efficient postmaster at Forest- 
ville, and a successful and highly respected busi- 
ness man of German extraction, is the son of 
Jacob and Catherine (Case) Wiggins, and was 
born in Hannibal, Oswego county, New York, 
January 22, 1853. His father, Jacob Wiggins, 
was born in 1825, and for a number of years 
was engaged in the hotel business in the counties 
of Oswego, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua, but 
has now retired from active business, and resides 
with his son in Forestville. He is a republican 
in politics, married Catherine Case, who was 
born in Geneva, Ontario county, this State, in 
1835, and died in 1889, at the age of sixty- 
four years. 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



Elmer H. Wiggins was reared in Newark, 
Wayne county, tlii.s State, receiving a common 
school education. After leaving school he was 
engaged in clerking, and continued in that avo- 
cation until 1879, in Newark and Forestville, 
wiien he opened a hardware store in Forestville 
and has continued in that business until the 
present time. He enjoys a large and constantly 
increasing business, built up by his own unaided 
efforts and square and honorable dealing, and on 
September 1, 1889, was appointed postmaster of 
Forestville, and still holds that office. He is a 
republican in politics, and has held several 
village offices. He is a member of the Free 
and Accepted Masons, Ancient Order United 
Workmen, and also the Chicago and North- 
western Masonic association. He is one of 
Forestville's substantial merchants, and an 
affiable, genial gentleman. 

In 1873 Elmer H.Wiggins united in marriage 
with Josephine Barnum, of Newark. 



SAaiUEL WOOD came to Jamestown with 
his father in 1839. He was born at 
Chesterfield, Massachusetts, on March 28, 
182G, and is a son of Tabor and Eliza (Fuller) 
Wood. His grandfather, Gideon Wood, came 
from English parents but was born in Mass- 
achusetts, and died at New Bedford, same 
State, in 1837. His life employment was cloth 
manufacturing, the mysteries of which were 
also learned by his son. He married Thankful 
Tabor, a representative daughter of a piomi- 
nent New Bedford family of Quaker proclivi- 
ties, who are still the leading people of 
their town. She became the mother of chil- 
dren. His grandfather, Samuel Fuller, was a 
farmer in western Massachu.setts, where he 
died. His wife was a Miss Haskell. Tabor 
Wood (father), was born in New Bedford, 
INIarch 4, 1800, and came to Jamestown with 
his family in 1839, having been married to 
Eliza Fuller, who bore him seven children. 
One son, Edwin A. Wood, was a soldier in the 



struggle between the states, entering the .service 
in the 108th Ohio regiment. After his arrival 
here he formed a partnership with Daniel 
Hazeltine, and engaged in the manufacture of 
woolen goods. The mill they operated is the 
same one now occupied by the Jamestown 
Woolen Mills. They were in partnership about 
six years when Mr. Wood sold his interest and 
went to Buffalo, where he remained a short 
time engaged in the same business, after which 
he removed to Alerio, Ohio, and began to farm 
which he followed continuously until 1887, 
since which time he has been quietly enjoying 
the pleasures of the accumulations of a well 
spent life. While in Ohio, Mr. Wood was an 
active politician belonging to the Republican 
party, and was elected to the office of county 
commissioner in Shelby county. He was also 
interested in educational matters and assisted in 
the organization of the Union schools of 
Loramie's. A practical supporter of the church 
he was rightly known as a Christian gentleman. 
Samuel Wood .secured his early education in 
the common schools and at the Jamestown 
academy, and began life as a book-keeper and 
clerk for a railroad contractor, in which capacity 
he was emjiloyed for about ten years. At one 
time he engaged in the furnishing goods busi- 
nes.s, but soon returned to book-keeping which 
has mainly been his life employment, but for 
the five years ])receding this writing he has 
been manager for the Acme Oil company at 
Jamestown, a branch of the Standard Oil 
Trust. 

^Ir. Wood united in marriage with Sarah 
Harrington. 

Samuel Wood is an unassuming republican 

and a member of Mt. Moriah Lodge, No. 145, 

I F. and A. M., with additional membership in 

' Encampment, No. 61, Knights Templar of 

Jamestown. 




f;-sm 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



E3IORY W. LIVERMORE, a successful 
grape culturist, of Silver Creek, was boru 
in Vermont in 1824. In early life he came to 
Chautauqua county, where he has resided ever 
since. He has an exceedingly fine grape farm 
of thirty acres at Silver Creek, and is a suc- 
cessful farmer. 

In 187.'5 he united iu marriage with Miss R. 
S. Bailey, and they have one child, a son, Carl- 
ton B., who was boru in 1874. Mrs. Liver- 
more is a daughter of the late William Bailey, 
who died at her residence at Silver Creek on 
February 8, 1883, aged eighty-nine years and 
eleven months. 

William Bailey was born at Shoreham, Ver- 
mont, jMarch 11, 1793. He learned the trade of 
mill-wright, was a volunteer in the war of 1812, 
but did not reach his regiment until fighting 
had ceased, and at twenty-two years of age, on 
Decemljer 29, 1814, married Juliette Rawson, 
of Townsend, who died in 1873, at Nashville, 
this county. In 1815 he removed to the site of 
the village of Morley, in St. Lawrence county, 
which he left iu 1830 to settle in Onondaga 
county, where he resided for half a century, 
during which time he was postmaster of Brewer- 
ton. From Manlius, in that county, he came 
to Nashville in 1880, and two years later passed 
away at Silver Creek, where he resided with 
his youngest daughter, Mrs. E. W. Livermore, 
who supplied everything that could make his 
declining years happy and free from care. He 
was a strictly temperate man, and in early life 
became an intimate friend of Silas Wright, to 
whom he suggested the idea of our free schools. 
At twenty-one years of age he was initiated into 
a Masonic Lodge in Vermont, and in 1808 di- 
mitted from Military Lodge No. 93. Accord- 
ing to his expressed wish his remains were 
interred in Nashville cemetery, with Masonic 
honors by Silver Creek Lodge, No. 757. 

His youngest daughter, Mrs. E. W. Liver- 
more, is a lineal descendant through her moth- 
er, of Sir Edward Rawson, who came to 



America nearly three centuries ago. She is a 
woman of good taste and judgment, and was 
the architect of her present neat and tasteful 
home at Silver Creek, which contains eight 
rooms in the first and seven in the second story, 
all of which are well furui.shed. Mrs. Liver- 
more has been actively interested for many 
years in temperance. She is a member of the 
Free Air society which seeks to obtain tempo- 
rary country homes for city children, and the 
Women's Educational and Industrial Union, of 
Dunkirk, whose object is mutual co-oj)eration 
and sympathy among women, and to secure 
their educatroiial, industrial and social advance- 
ment. 



JOHN M. ZAHX, of the hardware firm of 
Case & Zahn, is of German parentage and 
a man who, though very modest concerning 
him.self, has, by his own energy and industry, 
gained the reputation of being a successful busi- 
ness man. His father, Joseph Zahn, was born 
in Germany in 1827, but his parents emigrated 
from the Vaterland to America before he had 
attained his first birthday anniversary and set- 
tled in Collins, Erie county. New York, where 
Joseph was educated iu the public schools. He 
went to Buffalo when he was sixteen years of 
age and learned the blacksmith's trade with 
Chamberlain Brothers. He served a three 
years' apprenticeship with them as a carriage 
blacksmith and a journeyman until 1862, in 
which year he came to Fredonia and went to 
work for Taylor and Day, carriage raanufac- 
turei's, with whom he remained two years. He 
then engaged with Obed Bissell, who was in the 
same business, and continued in his employ 
until his death, which occurred in 1870. The 
succeeding firm was Mullet, Green & Bissell 
and Mr. Zahn was employed by them for six 
years, when they sold out. He then moved to 
Silver Creek and entered the employ of August 
Heine, who owned a third interest in the Ex- 
celsior Machine works, which manufacture the 



668 



BIOGRAPHY AND HISTORY 



excelsior disintegrating middlings purifier. 
Their machines are sold all over the United 
States, England, Ireland and Scotland, Canada 
and the South Americau States. He is still in 
their employ and enjoys the reputation of being 
one of the best blacksmiths in America. He is 
a member of the German Catholic church in 
Silver Creek. He was married to Mary 
Schefley, a most estimable lady, in 1850, and 
there have been born to them four sons and 
four daughters, of whom John M. is the first- 
born. Following were Samuel S., a butcher in 
Fredouia; Louisa, married to Albert Scheller, 
a baker in Syracuse, Onondaga county. New 
York ; Stephen, in a hotel in Dunkirk, this 
county, who married Carrie Long ; Amelia, 
married to Herman Morganstein, a macliinist at 
Westfiekl ; Albert, a mechanic, married to Lida 
Quigley ; and Carrie, who married Michael 
Zahu, a brewer in Syracuse, Onondaga county. 
New York. 

John RL Zahn, son of Joseph and Mary 
(Schefley) Zahn, was born in Buffalo, Erie 
county, New Y'ork, April 23, 1853, and was 
educated at the district school in Fredonia, 
which he attended until he was fifteen years old, 
when he went to learn the trade of a tinsmith 



with Allenbrand & Groff, at Dunkirk, this 
county, with whom he served a three years' 
apprenticeship. He then went to Silver Creek 
and worked one year in the Excelsior ^Machine 
works, and in 1872 came to Fredonia and en- 
tered the employ of W. W. Scott & Co., re- 
maining with them two years, after which, he 
was employed by D. L. Shephard, in the store 
where he is now partner, with whom he re- 
mained seven years, at the expiration of which 
time, he engaged in the hardware business, as- 
sociating with F. W. Case, under the firm name 
of Case & Zahn. 

He started in the battle of life with 
nothing but untiring energy and indomit- 
able pluck and has acquired considerable 
property, and no citizen is more highly and 
generally respected tiian he. For three years 
he was chief of the Fredonia Fire department. 
He married Florence Knight, a daughter of 
Henry Knight, a blacksmith of Silver Creek, 
April 6, 1873, and has one child, a bright and 
promising sou, Sylvester J., born March 28, 
1874, and who is now in school. The mother 
died a day or two after the birth of the son, and 
November 25, 1877 Mr. Zahn married Mary 
Zinck, of Fredonia, who is still livinir. 




ID 



CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY COURT-HOUSE. 



By the act of 1808 creating the counties of 
Chautauqua and Cattaraugus, tlie Govenior of 
the State was required to appoint three commis- 
sioners to fix on sites in these counties for tlie 
erection of court-houses, aud to make report of 
such to the Clerk of Niagara county, New 
York. The commissioners ajjpointed to locate 
the county sites were Isaac Southerland, Jonas 
Williams and Asa Ransom. The act also re- 
quired the supervisors of each county to raise 
the sum of one thousand five hundred dollars 
for the erection aud completion of county ! 
buildings. A contract was accordingly made 
with Winsor Brigham to build a court-house 
and jail of wood ; and the house of John Scott, 
in the village of Mayville, was designated as 
the place for holding courts until the court- 
house should be completed. 

The first court-house in the county was the 
two-story frame building built between 1811 
and 1818, the war of 1812 having retarded its 
completion. The June term of the court in 
1814 vvas held in the unfinished building, but 
not the fall and winter tei-ms. In 1815 the 
building was finished and occupied, the lower 
story containing three prison cells, — two for 
criminals, and one for debtors. In front of 
these, and divided from them by a narrow ' 
hall, was the dwelling part of the jailor and I 
his family. The upper story was for court and 
jury rooms and the accessory use of the judi- 
ciary, j 

flp 18.32, the prison rooms being too con- [ 
tracted, aud having become dilapidated and 
36 



unsafe for the detention of prisoners, the Legis- 
lature required the supervisors to provide for 
the erection of a new jail. They had been 
authorized the preceding year to do so ; but, 
notwithstanding the fact that in their present- 
ment they had adjudged the old jail to be inse- 
cure and unsafe, yet they refused to provide 
for the building of another. The recommend- 
ation, however, was finally made, and three 
thousand five hundred dollars in three annual 
installments was appropriated for the erection 
of a new jail, which was completed in 1833. 

In 1834, on the petition of many citizens, an 
act was passed directing the building of a new 
court-house. It is not strange that county 
buildings costing but one thousand five hun- 
dred dollars were, after the lapse of more than 
twenty years, insufficient for the various county 
purposes. The commissioners appointed by tiie 
act to contract for and superintend tiie erection 
of the court-house were Thomas B. Campbell, 
William Peacock and Martin Prendergast. The 
supervisors were required to assess and collect, 
therefor, five thousand dollars in five annual 
installments, commencing in 1837. This time 
was fixed in time to allow the jail instalments 
to be fully paid before additional taxes were 
imposed. The money for building was loaned 
to the county by the State at six per cent, in- 
terest, the first installment to be jiaid March 1 , 
1838. 

The commissioners contracted with Benja- 
min Rathbun, of Buffiilo, for erecting the exte- 
rior of the building. The work was done the 

671 



CHAl'TAVQrA COX'NTY COVRT-HOUSK. 



same summer, and was accepted by the com- 
missioners. The plan was submitted to the 
Board of Supervisors in 1834, and a committee 
was appointed with instructions to report to the 
board at tiie next meeting. At an adjourned 
session held the next montii (December, 1834), 
the committee reported resolutions declaring 
that all the money borrowed had been expended 
on the exterior of the building, disapproving 
the acts of the commissioners as tending to 
burden the county with a heavy expense for a 
larger and more costly building than was 
needed, with the purpose of advancing the in- 
terests of Mayville at tiie expense of the 
county, and asking the Legislature to remove 
William Peacock and Martin Prendergast, and 
aj)point Elial T. Foote and Leverett Barker as 
commissioners in their stead. The report was 
ac(^epted. 



The action of the next Legislature upon the 
subject was the passage of a law requiring the 
additional sum of four thousand dollars to be 
raised to complete the building, and author- 
izing the coc-.ptroller of the treasury to loan it 
as before; and instead of removing the two 
commissioners, Elial T. Foote, of Ellicott, and 
Leverett Barker, of Pomfret, were appointed 
additional commissioners. With this appropri- 
ation the building was completed, the five com- 
missioners discharged, and the court-house 
which is in use to-day as the seat of Chautau- 
qua county's judiciary was formally accepted 
by the people. The first president judge to 
occupy the new court-house was Zattu Gush- 
ing, who was assisted by ^Matthew Prendergast, 
Philo Orton, Jonathan Thompson and William 
Alexander, associate judges. The present county 
judge is the Hon. Almou A. Van Dusen. 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY, 



HON. OBEIT) EDSON. 



Bot'NDARiES.— Chaatauqiui county lies in 
tlie extreme western part of the State of New 
York. It is bounded on tlie east, for a distance 
of twenty-five miles, by the county of Cattarau- 
gus, On the south, twenty-four miles, and on 
tlie west, eighteen miles, it is bounded by the 
State of Pennsylvania. On the north-west by 
Lake Erie, which extends along that border of 
the county about forty miles. A distance of 
about four miles on the north-east, it is bounded 
by the county of Erie, from which it is sepa- 
rated by the Cattaraugus creek. The county 
contains 1099 square miles. It is nearly as 
large as the State of Rhode Island, more than 
one-half as large as the State of Delaware, and 
has a territory greater in extent than many of 
the smaller German states. 

Topography. — A belt of grass covered hills 
extends through the central portion of Chautau- 
qua county, from its eastern boundary south- 
westerly to the State of Pennsylvania, forming 
a water-shed that divides the waters that flow 
into Lake Erie, from those that flow into the 
tributaries of the Mississippi. The more pre- 
cipitous face of this water-shed is presented to- 
wards I^ake Erie, where steeply rise irregular 
hills, to a considerable height above the low 
lands that border the lake. The northern side 



of the water-.siied extends in an irregular line 
substantially parallel to the shore of Lake Erie, 
and at a distance varying from three to six 
miles. From the foot of these hills north- 
ward IS an undulating region gradually de- 
scending as it extends toward the lake where 
it terminates in a bluff, of the average height of 
twenty feet above its waters. 

As Lake Erie is 573 feet above the sea level, 
no part of the county is less than that height 
above the ocean, while the hills that extend 
along the northern border of the water-shed, 
known as the ridge, rise to an altitude of 1000 
to 1200 feet above the lake, equivalent to 1600 
or 1800 feet above the ocean. From the sum- 
mit of these hills, a fine and extended view of 
the surrounding regions may be had. To the 
north lie cultivated fields that extend from the 
foot of the hills to the shore along the northern 
border of the county. Beyond is Lake Erie, so 
distantthat the waves and surf fade from thesight. 
In the summer time the lake is as blue as if it 
had been painted upon canvas, with nothing to 
relieve the monotony of color, but the long black 
lines of smoke from the propellers and the 
white sails of the lake craft, which thickly 
speck the surface — distance rendering them 
motionless, apparently as " Painted ships upon 

073 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



a painted sea." Over beyond the lake, and 
forty miles away, tiie distant shores and hills of 
Canada are visible from Fort Erie to Long 
Point, while southward at some points, the hills 
of Pennsylvania can plainly be seen. 

The water-shed of the county is deeply fur- 
rowed into a series of wide valleys that extend 
in nearly parallel lines across it, at right-anjiles 
with the shore of Lake Erie. Between the val- 
leys, extending in a like direction, are high 
ridges which the waters have seamed and scored 
into chains of hills. These hills as they extend 
to the south-east slightly decrease in altitude, 
and finally quite abruptly terminate in the 
.south-eastern part of the county. There these 
long and wide depressions between the ranges 
of hills merge together, forming the broad val- 
ley of the Conewango. 

The valleys that cross this highland region 
have all the same level with scarcely any 
descent, as they extend to the south-west into 
the larger valley of the Conewango, eacii being 
a little more than 700 feet above Lake Erie. 
In each, near its northern terminus, are one or 
more lakes and ponds. In these little lakes all 
of the principal streams of the county that flow 
southward into tributaries that feed the Mississ- 
ippi, have their origin. These lakes all lie very 
near the northern face of the ridge, so near that 
a few rods of low land only intervene and but 
a little labor would be required to turn their 
waters northward to be discharged into Lake 
Erie. In the wide valley that extends along 
the eastern part of the county, flows the Cone- 
wango, the principal stream in Chautauqua 
county. It empties into the Allegheny near 
Warren, Penn.sylvania. It has its source in 
two of these lakes that lie near the nortliern 
verge of the ridge, known as Mud lake and 
East Mud lake. 

In the deep and wide valley that extends 
through the central part of the county, flows the 
Cassadaga, a large and crooked stream, empty- 
ino; into the Conewango a little north of the 



Pennsylvania line. The Cassadaga has its 
.source in a cluster of little lakes, five or more, 
that sparkle near the northern declivity of the 
highlands, the largest one so near that many 
years ago its waters were, by the labor of a few 
men, in a short time, almost turned northward 
into tributaries of Lake Erie through a ditch 
surreptitiously cut for that purpose. The law 
was invoked in season to prevent the change. 
Bear creek flows through another of the valleys 
into the Cassadaga. It has its source in Bear 
lake which also lies very near the northern 
verge of the ridge. 

In the valle}', next west of tlie Bear and 
Cassadaga valleys, and extending, like the others 
in the same direction to the northern face of the 
ridge, is that in which lies Chautauqua lake, 
the largest in the county and one of the finest 
in the State. There, in this notch cut so deep- 
ly across the hills, gleams its bright waters — a 
paradox among lakes. Though poised in the 
crest of the highlands where the sky only is re- 
flected in its crystal depths, so near to Lake 
Erie that we look to see its waters pour down 
the .steep declivity to join it, and finally meet 
the sea upon the cold and barren coast of Lab- 
rador, we find them running southward, 
and after a long and simious journey, of over 
2500 miles, flowing consecutively through its 
outlet, the Cassadaga, and the Coriewaugo, 
Allegheny, Ohio and Mississi2)pi rivers, ming- 
ling at last with the waters of the Gulf of Mex- 
ico. The Mississippi seems to put forth an arm 
beyond its own great valley, far into the north- 
east to receive the pure waters of this highland 
lake. The cool dews of the elevated region in 
which it lies, the pure air and gentle winds 
bearing health and strength upon their healing 
wings, combine with the great beauty of the 
lake to bring annually thousandi? to its shores 
in search of rest and pleasure. 

The hills that rise to the westward of the 
valley in which lies Chautauqua lake, divide 
the waters which flow into it from those that 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



flow into the Broken Stfavv and French creeks, 
important tributaries of the Allegheny. Find- 
ley's lake, the second in size in the county, lies 
somewhat farther from the northern face of the 
ridge than the other lakes of the county, and 
disciaarges its waters into a tributary of Fivnch 
creek. 

The streams in the northern part of the 
county are generally shorter and have less 
volume than those in the southern part. They 
rise among the hills that form the ridge and 
run northerly and empty into Lake Erie. Each 
of these great valleys that bisect the I'idge has a 
corresponding stream that flows northerly in 
nearly the same course as extends the valley. 
These are the largest streams north of the ridge, 
and each one has usually two forks or branches, 
flowing from opposite sides of the valley it 
represents. Twenty Mile creek has its source 
in the valley in which lies Findley's lake. The 
Chautauqua and the Little Chautauqua flow 
from opposite sides of the valley in which lies 
Chautauqua lake, unite a little above Westfield, 
and flow northward in the course of the valley 
of Bear lake. The east and west branches of 
the Cassadaga flow from opposite sides of the 
Cassadaga valley and unite above Laona. The 
Walnut and Silver creeks have their sources in 
opposite sides of the Conewango valley and 
unite at Silver creek. The Cattaraugus creek, 
which flows along the northern border of the 
county, is much the largest of the streams that 
empty into Lake Erie. It is also the longest 
water-course of the county, being over fifty 
miles in length. No other stream of the county 
flows into Lake Erie from beyond the higlilands 
that divide the waters that run into the tribu- 
taries of the INIississippi, from those that flow 
into Lake Erie. The Cattaraugus rises in the 
county of Cattaraugus and follows a deep de- 
pression among the hills. It passes beyond the 
ridge into Lake Erie. At Gowanda in Catta- 
raugus county, thirteen miles from Lake Erie, 
it is but four miles east of the head waters of the 



Conewango, which flows southerly and yet 
according to the railroad survey its waters are 
si.\ hundred feet below the head-waters of the 
Conewango, and but two hundred feet above 
Lake Erie. 

Geology. — Tiie topograpiiical features of 
the county, which we have described, are the 
result of causes and forces operating far back 
in the past. We must look to geology for an 
explanation of their existence. All geologists 
at present agree that the first dry land that ap- 
peared above the shallow ocean that anciently 
covered this continent, was a long narrow area, 
composed principally of granite and other crys- 
talline rocks, extending from the coast of Labra- 
dor, in a southwesterly direction, north of, and 
parallel to, what are now the St. Lawrence and 
the two lower of the great lakes. At this 
point, abruptly turning, this belt of a continent, 
thence extended in a northwesterly direction to 
tlie Arctic Ocean. It included within its area, 
nearly all of what is now the Province of Can- 
ada, and was called the Laurentian continent. 
Scattered here and there, in this ancient ocean, 
were a few rocky islands. In Minnesota was 
an isolated and limited area of dry land. The 
Iron mountains of Missouri, the Black Hills of 
Dakota, the Laramie range in Nebraska, and 
the Ozark mountains in Missouri, had emerged 
from the ocean, forming islands. The Adiron- 
dack region, in the State of New York, formed 
cither an island or a peninsular appendage of 
this Canadian continent. All the rest of North 
America, including the county of Chautauqua, 
and the outlaying Allegheny mountains, and 
the loftiest peaks of the Rockies, was then cov- 
ei-ed by a vast sea. 

Fossils, representing tlie lowest and earliest 
forms of life, faintly appear in the metamor- 
phic rocks of this early continent. Slowly, 
during ages of time, its boundaries continued 
to extend further and further westward and 
southward, until the whole area, as it now ap- 
pears, had emerged from the ocean. Indeed, 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



the ])roces.s is still going ou. The first addition 
to this incipient continent by the rising of" tiie 
land and the recession of the sea, was a narrow 
strip of territory, extending in an easterly and 
westerly direction along the south and western 
border of tlie azoic rocks of the Adirondacks. 
The rocks that compose this region are the 
Potsdam sandstone, and belong to the Pri- 
moidal, or Cambrian period, and contain fossils 
of extremely low forms of life. South of the 
Potsdam sandstone, and extending in nearly au 
easterly and westerly direction, over the length 
of the northern half of the State of New York, 
in long and narrow strips in regular order, lie 
rocks of the succeeding periods, which make up 
that long era of time known in geological his- 
tory as the Silurian age, or the age of Mollusks, 
in which, with the exception of the trilobite 
and a few other articulates, but little animal 
life existed higher than shell fish. The 
periods re[)resented by these rocks in the State 
of New York, are successively known as the 
Trenton, Niagara, Saliua, Lower Helderburg, 
and Oriskany periods. These rocks were suc- 
cessively formed in the bottom of the sea, dur- 
ing long periods of time, by rivers and other 
agencies, and as the deposits were elevated 
above the water, the rocks came to constitute 
the surface in a regular order, as they were 
ibrmed beneath the sea. In like manner were 
formed the rocks of the succ-eeding age, or grand 
division of geological time, known as the De- 
vonian age, or age of fishes, which commenced 
with the corniferous period, that extends from 
the Hu<lson to the vicinity of Buffalo. South 
of the corniferous rocks, lie in a long and nar- 
row strip, the rocks of the Hamilton period. 
And next succeeded the rocks of the Chemung 
jieriod, which extend in a wide band over the 
wiiole southern portion of the State of New 
York. 

As the rocks that underlie Ciiniitauqua coun- 
ty belong to the Ciieinuiig fnrmation, a brief 
account should be tiivcn of their origin and 



growth, the character of the shells and fossil 
sea-weeds found in them, the mud cracks that 
appear to have been made by a fiery sun shi- 
ning upon clay shores, and upon the bottom of 
shallow seas at ebb-tide, the oblique and irreg- 
ular lamination of these rocks, the ripple marks, 
made in what was then the shifting sands, of 
what is now the enduring rocks, relate to the 
circumstances of their creation. They inform 
us that the area included within the county of 
Chautautjua during the Chemung period, was 
usually covered by a shallow sea of muddy 
waters, spread over great sandy flats and salt 
meadows, which were swept by the waves and 
tidal currents. The character of some of the 
rocks of this period indicate that at times the sub- 
mergence was greater, and that they were formed 
in deeper seas. The great thickness of the 
rocks of this formation in Chautauqua county, 
teach us that during the progress of their 
growth there was a great subsidence of the 
laud. 

The Chemung period is made up of two 
epochs: the Portage and the Chemung. The 
rocks of the Portage are the oldest, and lie be- 
neath those of the Chemung. In the northern 
part of the county these rocks extend .south 
from the shore of Lake Erie to the ridge, or 
water shed, that divides the waters that are dis- 
charged into Lake Erie from those that flow 
into the Allegheny river, and up the northern 
face of the ridge to an altitude of about eight 
hundred and forty feet above Lake Erie, or 
fourteen hundred feet above tide. In this part 
of the county these rocks lie just beneath the 
drift, or the loose gravel and sand, that every- 
where in western New York covers the surface 
of the earth, and of which we shall speak more 
fully a little later. These rocks are best ex- 
posed to view along Lake Erie, where they 
compose the high perpendicular bluffs that 
frown along its shores, rising in some places to 
a height of one hundred feet. Along the beds 
and sides of the cliannel worn bv the Canada- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



way creek, through the hills of Arkwright, and 
from that point to Lake Erie, the Portage 
rocks may be seen to great advantage, particu- 
larly at the falls of the Cauadaway, and of its 
west branch. Along the banks and beds of 
the Silvan and Walnut creeks the rocks are 
well displayed, and also along the Cattaraugus, 
Chautauqua, and Little Chautauqua and Twen- 
ty ]\Iile creeks, and at various places in the 
northern part of the county, where smaller 
streams have removed the drift from the sur- 
face and exposed the underlying rocks. At 
Wheeler's gulf, in the town of Pom fret, where, 
in the construction of the Dunkirk, Warren 
and Pittslnirgh Railroad, excavations have been 
made in the upper strata of these rocks, the 
line can be seen where they gradually merge 
into the overlying rocks of the Chemung 
group. The Portage formation in Chautauqua 
county has a thickness of perhaps fourteen hun- 
dred feet. But few fossils are there found, 
with the exception of fucoids, or sea weeds. It 
contains, however, some crinoids, brachiopods, 
lamelli branches, bellerophous and gonitates. 
The crinoids — the poteniocrinus, occurs in great 
numbers, but broken into fragments at a jilace 
in the town of Portland, on the shore of Lake 
Erie. 

Above the Portage formation lie the rocks of 
the Chemung epoch, which extend from tiie 
uorthern face of the ridge, south through the 
whole of the south part of the county, with 
generally nothing but drift covering them. Tlie 
waters that run northward into the gulf of St. 
Lawrence seem to be divided in Chautauqua 
county, from the waters that run southward into 
the gulf of Mexico, by the same line that di- 
vides the rocks of the Portage from those of the 
Chemung epoch. They are exposed to view 
along the banks of the streams and in the ra- 
vines of the south j)art of the county, and are 
best seen along the upper w'aters of the Chau- 
tauqua and Little Chautauqua creeks, the outlet 
of Chautauqua lake at Dexterville, a part of 



the Twenty ISIile creek, and at points along the 
Canadaga and Conewango creeks, and along the 
banks of the smaller streams flowing into them. 
They are less than L'JOO feet in thickness in 
Chautauqua county, and are composed of sand- 
stones and coarse shales, with ripple-marks, 
oblique lamination and shrinkage cracks, denot- 
ing the deposits to have been made in shallow 
waters. There are many fossils in the rocks of 
the Chemung epoch — avicuhe, brachiopods in 
great numbers, including the broad-winged spir- 
ifers, and some producti ; a huge gonitate, four 
or five inches in diameter, and sometimes a tri- 
lobite, and rarely a tooth of a fish. 

A conglomerate, sometimes called the Panama 
and Salamanca conglomerate, composes the upper 
strata of the Chemung group, and is the last 
formed of the stratified rocks of Chautauqua 
county. 

Thus we have seen that the foundation rocks 
of the county were formed in the Chemung 
period. During the great stretch of time that 
followed, the continent continued to rise above 
the sea and gradually extend its limits west and 
south, until its boundaries became those of the 
present time. The Catskill period came after 
the Chemung, and closed the Devonian age. 
Then followed amazing sweeps of time, known 
as the Carboniferous age, and the age of Reptiles, 
and of Mammals, usually called Mesozoic and 
Cenozoic time, dui-ing which Chautauqua county 
remained substantially above the sea, although 
it may have been at times temporarily submerged. 
AVhat vegetable growths and living creatures 
existed upon its surface during the millions of 
years included in these vast eras of time, down 
to the recent period, known as the Glacial period, 
we have no evidence. They have all been swept 
away by water and ice. During this era of the 
world's history Lake Erie was excavated by ice 
during recurring periods of intense cold. There 
is little doubt that during this time the region 
that included Chautauqua county underwent 
important and extensive changes. 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY IIISTOIIY 



Geology informs us that the Tertiary age 
closed with a long period of intense cold ; that 
at its close, which was the beginning of that 
comparatively recent period in the world's his- 
tory known as the Glacial or Ice period, a vast 
field of ice of great thickness spread over the 
northern part of the United States, including 
the county of Chautauqua — the evidence of 
which exists in the vast accumulations of gravel, 
earth and sand, called drift, that lie in great 
heaps and beds everywhere over the foundation 
rocks of the county. The moraines left by the 
retiring glaciers at the close of the Ice period 
had the effect to dam tiie waters of the county, 
and cause an extensive and irregular lake to ex- 
tend like the fingers of a man's hand up the 
valleys of the Conewango, the Casadaga and 
Bear creeks, the evidence of which remains in 
the fine assorted material, peculiar fresh-water 
deposits, stratified drift and beds of marl, a pro- 
duct of fresh-water life. 

The semi-tropical era that followed the Glacial 
period, known as the Champlaiu, fitted this re- 
gion for the ^owth of semi-tropical vegetation, 
the relics of which may be traced even now 
north of the ridge — the milder part of the 
county, where there is, iu a measure, an absence 
of evergreens and some grosvth of more south- 
ern species, among which are niagnoliads, repre- 
sented by the cucumber and the white-wood. 
Tropical animals also existed here during the 
Chami)lain period. Among them was the mas- 
todon and North American elephant, which fre- 
quented the marshes that bordered these waters. 
Their teeth and other bones have been found in 
the Casadaga valley. The skeleton of a large 
mastodon, with tusks ten feet in lengtii, the 
twigs of the ancient conifers, upon which he fed, 
preserved with his remains, were found near 
Jamestown, and are now preserved in the mu- 
seum of the city school. 

We have now given some account of the won- 
derful changes that occurred in pre-historic time 
— a theme of unfailing interest. If space and 



time would admit, and the subject were more 
appropriate to this paper, a history could be 
given of the strange life that once existed within 
the limits of this county, the record of which is 
])reserved by the fossils in its foundation rocks. 
The details of the physical changes and pro- 
cesses by which nature has jirepared t)ur county 
for its present existence would be a story of ex- 
ceeding interest. 

Prehistoric People. — When man first 
made his appearance upon this continent; when 
he first became an occupant of this county ; must 
ever be a subject of conjecture. The pioneers 
found our county an unbroken wilderness. Yet 
often when exploring its silent depths, where 
forest shadows hung deepest, they were startled 
at the discovery of unmistakable evidences of 
its having been anciently inhabited by a numer- 
ous people. Crowning the brows of hills that 
were flanked by dark ravines, along the shores 
of its lakes and streams, in its valleys at numer- 
ous points, were the plain traces of their indus- 
try. Earthworks or fortifications, mostly cir- 
cular, pits bearing marks of use by fire, ancient 
highway.s, and mounds in which lay buried 
mouldering skeletons ; and later, where forests 
had given place to cultivated fields, the spade 
and plow in the spring-time made sti'ange reve- 
lations of rude implements of war and peace, 
raid oftentimes the crumbling relics of an ancient 
burial place. 

Beyond the limits of the county these evi- 
dences were tiiickly strewn. Commencing near 
the centre of the State, they extended westwardly. 
In the valleys of the Ohio and Mississippi these 
ancient remains were still more numerously 
found, and of larger dimensions, and it is evi- 
dent were of much greater antiquity. There, 
for a long period of time, must have dwelt a 
numerous and industrious people. 

When the pioneers first visited western Xew 
York and the Ohio and Mississippi valleys, these 
remains were more distinct than now. Rev. 
Samuel Kirkland, the principal founder of the 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



679 



academy that subsequently becauie Plamilton 
college, a celebrated and early missionary among 
tlie Oneida Indians, whose influence during the 
Revolutionary war induced them to remain neu- 
tral, or to join the American cause, visited several 
of these ancient remains west of the Genesee 
river as early as 1788. The description that he 
has given of those visited by him near the 
present village of Batavia is valuable because 
of his intelligence as an observer, and the excel- 
lent opportunity that he had to examine them 
at that early day, before they were disturbed by 
the plow or harrow. He came to a place in 
Genesee county, on the river Tonawanda, where 
now is the village of Batavia, called by the 
Indians "Joaki," which means in the Indian 
tongue "Racoon." Thence he walked out six 
or seven miles with a Seneca chief to view the 
ancient fortifications to be seen there, which he 
describes as follows : 

" This place is called by the Senecas Tegatain- 
asghque, which imports a double fortified town, 
or a town with a fort at each end. Here are 
the vestiges of two forts ; the one contains about 
four acres of ground; the other, distant from 
this about two miles, and situated at the other 
extremity of the ancient town, encloses twice 
that quantity. The ditch around the former 
(which I particularly examined) is about five or 
six feet deep. A small stream of living water, 
with a high bank, circumscribed nearly one- 
third of the enclosed ground. There were traces 
of six gates or avenues around the ditch, and a 
dug-way near the works to the water. The 
ground on the opposite side of the water was, 
in some places, nearly as high as that on which 
they built the fort, which might make it neces- 
sary for this covered way to the water. A con- 
siderable number of large, thrifty oaks had 
grown up within the enclosed grounds, both in 
and upon the ditch ; some of them, at least, 
appeared to be two hundred years old or more. 
The ground is of a hard, gravelly kind, inter- 
mixed with loam, and more plentifully at the 



bnjw of tlie iiill. In some places at the bottom 
of the ditch I could run my cane a foot or more 
into the ground, so that probably the ditch was 
much deeper in its original state than it appears 
to be now. Near the northern fortification, 
which is situated on high ground, are the remains 
of a funeral pile. The earth is raised about six 
feet above the common surface, and betwixt 
twenty and thirty feet in diameter. From the 
best information I can get of the Indian histori- 
ans, these forts were made previous to the Senecas 
being admitted into the confederacy of the 
INIohawks, Onondagas, Oneidas and Cayugas, 
and when the former were at war with the Mis- 
sissangas and other Indians around the great 
lakes. This must have been near three hundred 
years ago, if not more, by many concurring 
accounts which I have obtained from different 
Indians of several different tribes. Indian 
tradition says also, that these works were raised 
and a famous battle fought here, in the pure 
Indian style, with Indian weapons, long before 
their knowledge and use of fire-arms, or any 
knowledge of the Europeans. These nations, 
at that time, used in fighting bows and arrows, 
the spear or javelin, pointed with bone, and the 
war-club or death-mall. When the former were 
expended, they came into close engagement in 
using the latter. Their warrior's dress or coat 
of mail for this method of fighting, was a stout 
jacket made of willow sticks, or moon wood, 
and laced tight around the body ; the head 
covered with a cap of the same kind, but com- 
monly worn double for the better security of 
that part against a stroke from the war-club. 
In the great battle fought at this place between the 
Senecas and western Indians, some affirm their 
ancestors have told them there were eight hun- 
dred of their enemies slain; others include the 
killed on both sides to make that number. All 
their historians agree in this, that the battle was 
fought here, where the heaps of the slain are 
buried, before the arrival of the Europeans. 
Some say three, some say four, others five ages 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



ago. They i-eckou an age one hundred winters 
or colds. I would further remark upon this 
subject that there are vestiges of ancient fortified 
towns in various parts throughout the extensive 
territory of the Six Nations. I find, by constant 
inquiry, that a tradition prevails among the 
Indians in general, that all Indians came from 
the west. I have wished for opportunity to 
pursue this inquiry into the more remote tribes 
of Indians, to satisfy myself, at least, if it be 
their universal opinion. 

" On the south side of Lake Erie, are a .series 
of old fortifications from Cattaraugus creek to 
the Pennsylvauia line, a distance of fifty miles. 
Some are from two to four miles apart, others 
iialf a mile only. Some contain five acres. 
The walls or breast-works are of earth, and are 
generally on grounds where there are appear- 
ances of creeks having flowed into the lake, or 
where there was a bay. Further south there is 
said to be auother chain parallel with the first 
about equi-distant from the lake. 

" These remains of art, may be viewed as 
connecting links of a great chain which extends 
beyond the confines of our State, and becomes 
more magnificent and curious as we recede from 
the northern lakes, pass through the Ohio into 
the great valley of the Mississippi, thence to the 
Gulf of Mexico, through Texas into New 
Mexico and South America. In this vast range 
of more than three thousand miles, these niouu- 
ments of ancient skill gradually become more 
remarkable for their number, magnitude and 
interesting variety, until we are lost in admira- 
tion and astonishment, to find, as Baron Hum- 
bolt informs us, ' in a world which we call now, 
ancient institutions, religious ideas, and forms 
of edifices, similar to those of Asia, wiiicli 
there seem to go back to the dawn of civiliza- 
tion.' 

" Over the great secondary region of Oiiio, 
are the ruins of what once were forts, cemeteries, 
temples, altars, camps, towns, villages, race 
grounds and other ])laces of amusement, habi- 



tations of chieftains, videttes, watch-towers and 
monuments." 

Some of the inferences ajid conclusions of 
Dr. Kirkland have been proved by the re- 
searches of later antiquarians not to be well 
founded. Yet his observations respecting these 
ancient relics, made at such an early date, are 
very interesting, and instructive. 

On either side of the valley of the Cassadaga, 
from its source to its mouth, along the valley of 
the Couewango, until it enters the State of 
Pennsylvania, around Chautau([ua lake, in the 
western and in the lake towns of the county, 
they were thickly strewn. A brief description 
of a few of these ancient monuments, will serve 
for a description of all the rest. 

Around the lakes at Cassadaga, occur quite 
extensive remains. From the end of a point 
which extends from the south-western side into 
the lower of these lakes, is a con.spicuous mound. 
Its length is about seven rods, its width five. 
Its top is about twelve feet above the lake, and 
eight feet above the low strip of land in its 
rear, that connects it w-ith the shore, whether il 
is an artificial or natural mound is not clear, it 
was however once occupied, Indian relics have 
been found here in abundance. Across this 
cape for a distance of twenty rods, along the 
edge of the higher land in its rear, was a breast- 
work. Further in the rear, was another eartli- 
work. Near here large quantities of j)otterv 
and stone utensils have been found. Not far 
from the north shore of the lake, was formerly 
a large high mound, said to have been twelve 
feet high. Notwithstanding repeated plowing, it 
is still distinct and plain. About the year 1822, 
it was opened and a large number of skeletons 
taken from it. At many other points an)und 
Cassadaga, have relics of a former occupation 
been found, as pipes, pottery, extensive fire 
beds, and human bones. 

Extensive remains exist where now is situa- 
ted Sinclairville. A mile south of that vil- 
lage when that region was first settled, was 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



G81 



an old earthwork, circular in form, enclosing 
several acres. After the forest trees were re- 
moved, many Indian relies in flint and stone 
were found, and so many skeletons as to excite 
ti:e superstition of the people living there. 
Some fifty years or more ago, one or more 
burial pits were discovered, in which it was said 
were found the bones of fifty human beings, 
mingled together without order. Twenty years 
later, and near this earthwork, twenty-five 
human skeletons were disinterred; they were 
buried in two ranks, and in a sitting position. 
The greater part of their intreuchment was ob- 
literated by the plow. About one hundred feet 
of its eastern wall still remains. Two hundred 
feet away, where a grove of maple trees until 
lately grew, a low mound about twelve feet in 
diameter was discovered in the spring of 1888, 
which mound upon being opened, disclosed the 
presence of skeletons which by actual eouiit 
exceeded fifty in number. Above them, was a 
thin covering of earth. They were mingled 
together in all positions, evidencing the eon- 
fusion in which they were gathered to their 
final rest. No arrows, pottery, or other i-elics 
were found with them, save the tooth of some 
large animal. Richard Reed, Dr. G. F.Smith, 
of Siuclairville, and others, were present on the 
last, aud the writer on the two last occasions 
mentioned. 

The condition of these bones do not indicate 
that many centuries have passed since they were 
buried. Other relics, found at various points 
within the county, seem to indicate a much 
greater antiquity. Some of the arrows, stone 
axes and other articles, have a ruder finish, and 
.seem to be the implements of an older people. 
It does not follow tiiat they are the works of a 
contemporaneous people. It is not impossible 
that man was here, when the great glacier that 
once overspread this region was retiring before 
the warmth that followed the Ice Pei-iod, and it 
is not wholly improbable that he may at some 
future lime I) ■ proved to have existed in our 



county at the close of the Glacial and during 
the Champlain periods, cotemporaneons with 
the mastodon and elephant, who.se bones have 
occasionally l)een found within the limits of the 
county ; that the rude implements that he 
used at that early period, may be found at .some 
future time imbedded in the (Jreat Terminal 
Morain, that bounded the lower limits of the 
Great Glacier, which it has been ascertained ex- 
tended into the southern border of our county. 
There can be but little doubt, that relics found 
here are not the works of one people, but of suc- 
ceeding races who have iidiabited the county. 
Who were the authors of the more recent of 
those remaiu.s, we are able to determine to a 
reasonable certainty, by the light of the records 
that have been preserved by the Jesuits who 
two hundred and fifty years ago, traversed the 
wilds bordering on the great lakes, and by the 
help of knowledge obtained from other sources, 
that we have of the tribes of Indians that 
inhabited this county since then. 

When the interior of this continent first be- 
came known to Europeans, the Huron- Iroquois 
family who lived here, were composed of the 
most warlike tribes that inhabited North Amer- 
ica. They possessed all of Upper Canada, 
Northern Ohio, nearly all of New York, in- 
cluding Western New York, the greatest part 
of Pennsylvania, aud a portion of Lower Can- 
ada, a compact region of which Chautauqua 
county formed a part. They spoke in the same 
generic tongue, called thcAVyaudot. The affin- 
ity between their languages, their traditions, and 
the light which hi.story has thrown upon the 
subject, prove their ancestors to have been the 
.same people ; that later, as their numbers in- 
creased, dissensions arose among them, the hive 
swarmed, and in process of time independent 
nations were the result, between whom, as often 
happens among kinsmen, bitter feuds existed, 
and savage wars were waged. The Huron-Iro- 
quois were greatly superior in intellect, courage 
and military skill, to all the other Indians o 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



North America. They dwelt in permanent vil- 
lages, situated in defensible positions, rudely 
fortified with a ditch, and rows of palisades. 
They practiced agriculture to a limited extent, 
frequently by a long and laborious process of 
burning and hacking with axes of stone, cleared 
extensive tracts of land, which they rudely cul- 
tivated with hoes of wood and bone. They 
raised corn, beans, gonrds, pumpkins, sunflow- 
ers, hemp and tobacco. By reason of their rel- 
ative superiority, and their having fixed places 
of abode, they became more advanced in the 
arts of life than the other wandering tribes of 
North America. 

Entirely surrounding this family of warlike 
nations, but always shrinking before their fierce 
valor, was a greater number of independent 
tribes, speaking in languages bearing a close 
affinity to each other, but radically different from 
the Wyandot. The affinity between their 
languages, and the general resemblance that has 
been found to exist in their practices and cus- 
toms, has caused them to be classed under the 
general name Algonquin. They were usually 
nomadic in their habits, subsisted more by hunt- 
ing and fishing, and less by cultivating the soil, 
than the Huron-Iroquois people. To this race 
belonged the Pccjuots, Narragansetts and Mo- 
hicans of the New England States, the Del- 
awares of Pennsylvania, the Miamis, Illinois, 
and the Chippewas of the West, and a great 
number of other tribes that dwelt in the United 
States and Canada. The Shawnees are an ex- 
treme type of this race, representing their 
■wandering propensities in a marked degree. 
Beyond the territory of the Algonquins, in the 
southern and western portions of the United 
States, were still other tribes and races speaking 
in languages radically different from either that 
of the Algonquins or the Wyandot. 

The Huron-Iroquois family of tribes were 
sub-divided into several formidable nations ; of 
these the Hurons dwelt in many villages upon 
the small peninsula lying between the Georg- 



ian bay of Lake Huron, and Lake Simcoe in 
Upjjer Canada. Near to, and south of the 
Hurons, among the Blue mountains of Canada, 
dwelt the Tobacco nation. South of the Huron 
and Tobacco nation, was the country of the 
Neutral natiou or Kahkwas, as allied by the 
Senecas. Their territory extended one hun- 
dred and twenty miles along the northern shore 
of Lake Erie, and across the Niagara river into 
the state of New York, as far east as the west- 
ern limits of the Iroquois. They dwelt in 
forty villages ; three or four of which were east 
of the Niagara river and Lake Erie. One of 
their villages was located, it is believed, on a 
branch of the Eighteen Mile creek, near White 
Corners, in Erie county, in this State. The 
Andastees dwelt upon the lov/er Susquehanna. 
The most famous of the Huron-Iroquois were 
the Iroquois who dwelt in New York. 

The remaining member of the family was the 
Eries, or the Nation of the Cat. The Erics 
dwelt south and east of Lake Erie. They oc- 
cupied northern Ohio, northwestern Pennsyl- 
vania and southwestern New York as far east 
as the Genesee river, the frontier of the Senecas. 
They were the first occupants of the soil of 
Chautauqua county, of which we have an ac- 
count. Bagueneau, the Jesuit, say they were 
there in 1648. The Jesuits never had a mis- 
sion among them. Etienne Brule, Champlain's 
enterprising interpreter, is said to have visited 
them in the summer of 1615, over two hundred 
and seventy-five years ago. If so, he was the 
first white man, of whom we have any account, 
that ever penetrated the region in which lies 
Chautauqua county. Flint, a Frenchman, is 
said to have visited this region as early as 1626. 
The Jesuits, Le Mercier and Bagueneau, fre- 
quently refer to this nation. The latter informs 
us that its nams is derived from the multitude 
of wild cats found within their territory. The 
Eries were noted warriors, and fought with 
poisoijed arrows, and were long a terror to the 
Iroquois. They were finally, totally destroyed 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



in a great war with the Iroquois, au account of 
which will be given hereafter. After the de- 
struction of the Eries, no Indians inhabited 
Cimtitauqua county, except small bands of Sen- 
ecas, who at a few points, on the shore of Chau- 
tauqua lake, and in the valley of the Cone- 
waugo near the Pennsylvania line, cultivated 
small tracts of land. It is consequently quite 
probable that the burial places that we have de- 
scribed, the earthworks last constructed, and 
the more distinct remains scattered over the 
country, were the works of the Eries. But as 
the remains exist in that part of the Eries' do- 
mains that were nearest to the territory of the 
Neutral nation, and also near to the Andastees, 
who inhabited east of the Allegiieny river in 
the State of Pennsylvania, there remains a little 
doubt that they may not have been tlieir work. 
An abundance of proof exists, which the writer 
of this paper has gathered from various sources, 
relating to the customs and ceremonies of the 
Wyandot speaking nations, to show that the 
later remains found in our county were their 
Mork. 

Brabeuf, an early Jesuit wiio resided for many 
years among the Hurons, of whom tiie Eries 
were probably an off-shoot, has given a full 
account of their burial cei*eraonies and the 
manner in which they interred their dead. He 
informs us that the Hurons first laid the bodies 
of tlieir dead upon a scaffold, and sometimes 
burieil them in the earth, but that was only a 
temporary disposition. That at intervals of ten 
or twelve years the Huron tribes gathered their 
dead, removed what flesh remained upon their 
bones, and buried them with great ceremonies, 
which were participated in by all the nation. 
He witnessed one of these great funerals at the 
principal Huron town, Ossossane, on the Notta- 
wassaga bay, in 1636, over two hundred and 
fifty years ago. They gathered the bones and 
corpses of the dead, and arranged them in order 
in the largest houses of the different villages of 
the nation, amid weeping and howling mourn- 



ers, who believed the souls of the dead resided 
with their bones until this general burial. Bra- 
beuf described the funeral feast that followed : 
The march of the Indians from the diflPerent 
villages through the dark and tangled forest to 
the place of burial at Ossossane, bearing the 
bones of their kinsmen in bundles on their 
shoulders, and the corpses of their recent dead 
upon litters, chanting wild dirges as they slowly 
filed along the forest trails. He described the 
great concourse that assembled from the different 
villages at this principal town to participate in 
the funeral games, according to their custom ; 
filling the houses full to overflowing, or gather- 
ing around the countless camp-fires that illumi- 
nated the surrounding woods. Brabeuf inibrras 
us that the place of burial was in the midst of 
a large field near Ossossane, in which was dug 
a large pit. He described the weird scene that 
occurred when the funeral gifts and the bones of 
the departed were being suspended from the 
cross-poles which extended over the grave ; the 
frightful scenes that followed when a bundle of 
I)(jnes happened to fall before its time into the 
pit, hastening the ceremonies to a close; the wild 
outcry as the actors frantically discharged the 
bones of their ancestors and kinsmen into the 
common grave, falling in a hideous shower 
around the men who were hastily arranging 
them in their final resting-place with poles; 
and, finally, the covering of the bones with 
earth and stones and logs. These rites have 
also been described by Charlevoix and other 
Jesuits. The description by Lafitan is illustrated 
with engravings. Sixteen bone-2)its have been 
examined in the Huron country, that contained 
from six hundred to twelve hundred skeletons 
of both sexes and all ages, all mixed together 
promiscuously. 

There is no douljt that the Eries buried their 
dead in like manner, and the collection of bones 
that are found at various points within the 
county, were not those of warriors killed in 
battle, but the usual burial places of the race, 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



where the burials have been made in accordance 
with tlie cnstom above mentioned. 

Indiax Wars. — The Huron-Iroquois family 
of nations were the most powerful of any 
dwelling on this continent at its discovery. Of 
these, the most formidable were the Iroquois. 
They excelled all others for their courage and 
sagacity. They were the most intelligent and ad- 
vanced, and also the most terrible and ferocious. 
Such was their eloquence and energy of character, 
and the extent of their conquest, that Volney, the 
French historian, called them " The Romans of 
the West." Pai'kham says : " The Iroquois 
were the Indians of Indians — a thorough sav- 
age, yet a finished and developed savage. He 
is perhaps an example of the highest elevation 
which man can reach without emerging from 
his primitive condition of the hunter." The 
Iroquois were often called the Five Nations, 
and after they were joined by the Tuscaroras in 
1812, the Six Nations. They called themselves 
Ho-de-no-sau-nee, or People of the Long 
House. Their original home was wholly in 
New York. Their territory extended through 
the State from East to West in the following 
order : Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga 
and Seneca. The fiercest and most numerous 
of these tribes was the Seneca, who occupied as 
far west as the Genesee river. 

The Iroquois were bound together by a re- 
markable league, which was the secret of their 
power and success. They constitued a confed- 
eracy, in some respects like our Federal Union, 
in which the nations represented States, to 
which were reserved general powers of control, 
that the several nations exercised with great 
independence of each other while certain other 
powers were yielded to the confederacy as a 
whole, for the general good, and ^vhich were 
faithfully respected and preserved by all. Their 
Grand Councils were held in the Long House, 
in the country of the Onondagas, by a congress, 
consisting of fifty sachems, of which the 
Mohawks were entitled to nine representatives. 



the Oueidas nine, the Onondagas fourteen, the 
Cayugas ten, and the Senecas eight. They had 
some very curious customs respecting their 
methods of life, and regulations iu the admin- 
istration of their affairs, showing great wis- 
dom, and which contributed in a remarkable 
degree to perj)etuate their union, and make 
them powerful and formidable. 

" In each nation there were eight tribes, 
which were arranged in two divisions, and 
named as follows : 

Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Turtle, 
Deer, Snipe, Heron, Hawk. 

" The division of the people of each nation 
into eight tribes, whether pre-existing, or per- 
fected at the establishment of the Confederacy, 
did not terminate in its object with the nation 
itself. It became the means of effecting the 
most perfect union of separate nations ' ever 
devised by the wit of man.' In effect, the 
Wolf tribe was divided into five parts, and one- 
fifth of it placed in each of the five nations. 
The remaining tribes wei'e subjected to the same 
division and distril)ution ; thus giving to each 
nation the eight tribes, and making in their 
separate state, forty tribes in the confederacy. 
Between those of the same name — or in other 
words, between the separate parts of each tribe 
— there existed a tie of brotherhood which 
linked the nations together with indissoluble 
bonds. The ]\Iohawk of the Beaver tribe rec- 
ognized the Seneca of the Beaver tribe as his 
brother, and they were bound to each other by 
the ties of consanguinity. In like manner the 
Oneida of the Turtle or other tribe, received the 
Cayuaga, or the Onondaga of the same tribe, as 
a brother ; and with a fraternal welcome. This 
cross- relationship between the tribes of the 
same name, and which was stronger, if possible, 
than the chain of brotherhood between the sev- 
eral tribes of the same nation, is still preserved 
in all its original strength. It doubtless fur- 
nishes the chief reason of tiie tenacity with 
which the fragments of the old confederacy still 



OF CHAUTAUQI'A COUSTY. 



cling together. If either of the Five Nations 
had wished to cast off the alliance, it must also 
have broken the bond of brotherhood. Had 
the nations fallen into collision, it would have 
turned Hawk tribe against Hawk tribe, Heron 
against Heron, in a word, brother against 
brother. The history of the Hodenosaunee ex- 
hibits the wisdom of these organic provisions ; 
for they never fell into anarchy daring the long 
period which the league subsisted ; nor even ap- 
proximated to a dissolution of the Confederacy 
from internal disorders. 

" The confederacy was in effect a league of 
tribes. With the ties of kindred as its prin- 
cipal union, the whole race was intervvdveu into 
one great family, composed of tribes in its first 
sub-division (for the nations were counterparts 
of each other) ; and the tribes themselves, in 
their sub-divisions, composed parts of many 
households. Without those close inter-relations, 
resting as many of them do, upon the strong 
impulses of nature, a mere alliance between the 
Iroquois nations would have been feeble and 
transitory. 

" lu this manner was constructed the Tribal 
League of the Hodenosaunee ; in itself, an ex- 
traordinary specimen of Indian legislation. 
Simple in its foundation upon the family rela- 
tionship ; effective in the lasting vigor inherent 
in the ties of kindred ; and perfect in its suc- 
cess in achieving a lasting and harmonious union 
of the nations; it forms an enduring monu- 
ment to that proud and progressive race, who 
reared under its protection, a wide-spread Indian 
sovereignty. 

" All the institutions of the Iroquois have 
regard to the division of the people into tribes. 
Originally, with reference to marriage, the 
Wolf, Bear, Beaver and Turtle tribes were 
brothers to each other, and cousins to the remain- 
ing four. They were not allowed to intermarry. 
The opposite four tribes were also brothers to 
each other, and cousins to the first four, and 
were also prohibited from intermarrying. Either 



of the first tour triljes, however, could inter- 
marry with either of the last four ; thus Hawk 
could intermarry with Bear or Beaver, Heron 
with Turtle, but not Beaver and Turtle, nor Deer 
an<l Deer. Whoever violated these laws of 
marriage incurred the deepest detestation and 
disgrace. In process of time, however, the rigor 
of the system was relaxed, until, finally, the 
prohibition was confined to the tribe of the 
individual, which among the residue of the 
Iroquois is still religiously observed. They can 
now marry into any tribe but their own. Under 
the original as well as modern regulation, the 
husband and wife were of different tribes. The 
children always followed the tribe of the 
mother." 

The wisdom of this social and political organi- 
zation of the Iroquois made them the strongest 
of Indian nations, and the greatest conquerors. 
Schoolcraft says : — " At one period we hear the 
sound of their war cry along the Straits of St. 
Mary's, and at the foot of Lake Superior. At 
another, under the walls of Quebec, where they 
finally defeated the Hui'ons, under the eyes of 
the French. They put out the fires of the Gah- 
Kwas and Eries. They eradicated the Susque- 
hannocks. They placed the Lenapes, the Nan- 
ticokes and the Minesees under the yoke of 
subjection. They put the Metoacks and Man- 
hattans under tribute. They spread the terror 
of their arms over all New England. They 
traversed the whole length of the Apalachian 
chain, and descended like the enraged j'agisho 
and megalonyx on the Cherokees and Catawbas. 
Smith encountered their warriors in the settle- 
ment of Virginia, and La Salle on the discovery 
of Illinois." Such was the prowess of the 
Iroquois. 

When the first mission was established among 
the Hurons by the Jesuits, they found them and 
the Iroquois implacable foes. The wars between 
them continued during the residence of the 
Jesuits among them, until 1648, when they were 
overthrown, and the missionaries residing among 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



them and many of their people massacred. The 
Hurons were driven from their villages, and 
ceased to exist as a nation. The Wyandots, of 
Ohio, are the last remnant of this race. 

Although tlie neutrals maintained a strict 
neutrality between the Hurons and Iroquois 
during these wars, it did not save them. In 
1650 the latter commenced a savage war upon 
them. The destruction of tlie neutrals was so 
great as to wholly wipe them out as a nation. 
The scene of their final overthrow is believed 
to have been near the city of Buffalo. 

The Iroquois now turned their attention to 
the Eries, who then occupied the soil of our 
county. The accounts of this war are given in 
the relations of the Jesuits Le Moyne, Le 
Mercier, Du Quen, Cliaumonot and Dablon. 
Its cause, as related by these Jesuits, was as 
follows: — The Eries had sent a deputation of 
thirty of their principal men to the Senecas, to 
confirm a treaty of peace. A Seneca happened 
to be killed in a casual (juarrel with one of the 
Eries, whereupon the Senecas rose up and mur- 
dered the thirty ambassadors. A war ensued. 
A famous Onondaga chief was captured by the 
Eries, who resolved to give him to the sister of 
one of the murdered ambassadors. The si.ster, 
by the Indian law, had it in her choice to receive 
him as her brother or to cause him to be put to 
death. She choose the latter, against the remon- 
strances of her people, who feared the con- 
sequences. The chief was bound to the stake 
and burned. The whole Iroquois confederacy 
prepared themselves for revenge. In 1656 from 
1200 to 1800 Iroquois warrioi-s moved into the 
territory of the Eries, who withdrew at their 
approach, with their women and children. The 
whole of this fierce horde of Iroquois embarked 
in canoes upon Lake Erie, and coasted along the 
shore of Chautauqua. A more wild and savage 
scene cannot well be imagined than this ferocious 
gathering of l)arbariaus, as they proceeded on 
this bloody expedition of revenge. They found 
the Eries gathered in a position, tiie location of 



which is now unknown. The Iroquois were 
first repelled by the poisoned arrows of the Eries. 
They renewed the assault witii such savage fury 
as to enable them to carry the fort, and a slaugh- 
ter so terrible ensued as to wholly destroy the 
Eries, and now no trace remains of this warlike 
and powerful tribe, that once possessed the terri- 
tory of this county, but their name. This fierce 
battle occurred somewhere in Northern Ohio, 
Northwestern Pennsylvania or Western New 
York. It may have occurred within the limits 
of Chautauqua county. 

La Salle. — Robert Cavalier de la Salle, 
was the pioneer navigator of our great lakes ; 
one of the boldest and most remarkable explor- 
ers that ever visited this continent. To follow 
La Salle in his journeyings through the wilds 
of North America, during the twenty years fol- 
lowing 1667, would be regarded at this day, 
with all the modern facilities for travel that 
exist along the route of his wanderings, as no 
small achievement. 

The Jesuits and other missionaries who came 
from France were most excellent men. In their 
zeal to Christianize the Indian, they became tlie 
pioneers of the Northwest. One of their num- 
ber, Allouez, in 1665, explored the country 
about Lake Superior, and taught the Indians 
there. He first discovered the Pictured Rocks, 
and learned of the copper mines. La Salle, 
inspired by the discoveries and adventures of 
these early pioneers, resolved to explore these 
regions and the vast prairies of the West, and 
to reach the Ohio and Mississippi, of which the 
Indians had informed him. July 6, 1669, he 
left La Chine in Canada, ascended the St. Law- 
rence, coasted along the southern shore of Lake 
Ontario to the Irondequoit Bay, and thence 
penetrated into the State of New York to the 
Indian villages of the Senecas, near the Genesee 
river, with a view of traveling further in that 
direction, until he should reach the headwaters 
of the Allegheny and Ohio. After remaining 
here awhile he abandoned this design, and with 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



his compauions from thence traveled west, 
crossed the Niagara river into Upper Canada, 
and passed the winter of 1669 and 1670 on 
Grand river, near to the shore of Lake Erie. 
In the spring following he coasted along the 
northern shore of the laUe, west, to the east 
side of Long Point; and thence he returned to 
Montreal by the circuitous route of Sault de St. 
Marie and the Ontario river, where he arrived 
June 18, 1670. 

La Salle first conceived tlie design of uniting 
the French possessions in Canada with the val- 
ley of the Mississippi, by a line of military 
posts, to secure its commerce to his country, and 
at the same time completely encircle the British 
Colonies of North America. Having obtained 
the sanction of Louis XIV. to his projects, in 
the fall of the year 1678, he, with a party of 
Frenchmen, in a large canoe entered the Niagara 
river and established at its mouth, on its eastern 
bank, a trading post, which he inclosed with 
palisades. This constituted the first occupation 
of Western New York by civilized men, and 
the founding of Fort Niagara — a fortress which, 
for nearly a century and a half, filled an im- 
portant place in the history of Canada, the 
northern portion of the United States, and of 
the Indian tribes dwelling in that region. 

In January, 1679, La Salle commenced build- 
ing a vessel at the mouth of the Cayuga creek, 
a stream that empties into the Niagara river, at 
the village of La Salle, Niagara county, in the 
State of New York. He named it the " Griffin." 
It was the first vessel that ever spread its sails 
to the breezes of Lake Erie. Accompanying 
La Salle was the Missionary Father Hennepin. 
The following is from his account of the building 
and launching of the " GrifBn," and the first 
voyage over Ijake Erie : 

"On the 14th day of January, 1670, we ar- 
rived at our cabin at Niagara, to refresh our- 
selves from the fatigues of the voyage. We 
had nothing to eat but Indian corn. Fortu- 
Jiately the white fish, of which I have heretofore 
37 



spoken, were just then in season. This delight- 
ful fisii served to relish our corn. We used the 
water in which the fish were boiled in place of 
soup. AVhen it grows cold in the pot it congeals 
like veal souji. 

"On the 20th I heard, from the banks where 
we were, the voice of the Sieur de La Salle, 
who had arrived from Fort Frontenac in a large 
vessel. He brought provisions and rigging 
necessary for the vessel we intended building 
above the great fall of Niagara, near the en- 
trance into Lake Erie, but by a strange mis- 
fortune that vessel was lost through fault of the 
two pilots who disagreed as to the course. 

"The vessel was wrecked on the South Shore 
of Lake Ontario, ten leagues from Niagara. 
The sailors have named the place La Cap En- 
rage (Mad Cap). The anchors and cables were 
saved, but the goods and bark canoes were lost. 
Such adversities would have caused the enter- 
prise to be abandoned by any but those who 
had formed the noble design of a new discovery. 

" The Sieur de La Salle informed us that he 
had been among the Iroquois Senecas, before 
the loss of his vessel, that he had succeeded so 
well in conciliating them, that they mentioned 
with pleasure our embassy, which I shall de- 
scribe in another place, and even consented to 
the prosecution of our undertaking. This agree- 
ment was of short duration, for certain persons 
opposed our designs, in every possible way, and 
instilled jealousies into the minds of the Iro- 
quois. The fort, nevertheless, which we were 
building at Niagara, continued to advance. But 
finally, the secret influences against us were so 
great, that the fort became an object of suspicion 
to the savages, and we were compelled to aban- 
don its construction for a time, and content our- 
selves with building a habitation surrounded 
with palisades. 

" On the 22d we went two leagues above the 
great falls of Niagara and built some stocks, on 
which to erect the vessel needed for our voyage. 
We could not have built it in a more convenient 



SKETCH OF THE EABLY HISTORY 



place, being near a river wliicli emptier into the 
strait, whicli is between Lai^e Erie and the great 
falls. In all my travels back and forlli, I al- 
ways carried my portable chapel upon my 
shoulders. 

"On the 26th, the keel of the vessel and 
other pieces being ready the Sieur de La Salle 
sent the master carpenter named jSIoyse, to re- 
quest me to drive the first bolt. But the mod- 
esty appropriate to my religious profession in- 
duced me to decline the honor. He then prom- 
ised ten Louis d'or for that first bolt, to stimu- 
late the master carpenter to advance the work. 

" During the whole winter, which is not half 
as .severe in this country as Canada, we em- 
ployed in building bark huts of oue of the two 
savages of the Wolf tribe, whom we had en- 
■^aged for hunting deer. I ha<l one hut espe- 
cial Iv designed for observing prayers on holidays 
and Sundays. Many of our people knew the 
Gregorian chant, and the rest had some parts of 
it by note. 

" The Sieur de La Salle left in command of 
our ship-yard one Tonti, an Italian by birth, 
who had come to France after the revolution in 
Naples, in which his father was engaged. 
Pressing business compelled the former to re- 
turn to Fort Frontenac, and I conducted him 
to the borders of Lake Ontario, at the mouth 
of the river Niagara. While there he pre- 
tended to mark out a house for the black- 
smith, which had been i)romise(l for the con- 
venience of the Iroquois. I cannot blame the 
Iroquois for not ijelieving all that had been 
promised them at the emlmrking of the Sieur 
de La Motte. 

" Finallv the Sieur de I^a Salle undertook 
his expedition on foot over snow, and thus ac- 
complished more than eighty leagues. He had 
no food except a small bag of roasted corn and 
even that had failed him two days' journey 
from the fort. Nevertheless he arrived safely 
with two men and a dog which drew his bag- 
gage on the ice. 



" Returning to our ship-yard, we learned 
that the most of the Iroquois had gone to war 
beyond Lake Erie, while our vessel was being 
built. Although those that remained were less 
violent, by reason of their diminished numbers, 
still they did not cease from coming often to our 
ship-yard, and testifying their dissatisfaction at 
our doings. Sometime after, one of them, 
pretending to be drunk, attempted to kill our 
blacksmith. But the resistance which he met 
with from the smith, who was named La Forge, 
and will) wielded a red hot bar of iron, repulsed 
him, and together with a reprimand which I 
gave the villain, compelled him to desist. Some 
days after, a squaw advised us that the Senecas 
were about to set fire to our vessel on the 
stocks, and they would, without doubt have ef- 
fected their object had not a very strict watch 
been kept. 

" These frequent alarms, the fear of tlie fiiilure 
of pi-ovisions, on account of the large vessel 
from Fort Frontenac, and the refusal of the 
Senecas to sell us corn, discouraged our carpen- 
ters. They were moreover enticed by a worth- 
less fellow, who often attempted to desert to 
New York, (Nouvelle Jorck) a place which is 
inhabited by the Dutch, who have succeeded the 
Swedes. This dishonest fellow would have un- 
doubtedly been successful with our workmen, 
had I not encouraged them by exhortations on 
holidays and Sundays after divine service. I 
told them that our enterprise had sole reference 
to the promotion of the glory of God, and the 
welfare of our Christian colonies. Tiius I 
stimulated them to work more diligently in 
order to deliver us from all these apprehen- 
sions. 

" In the meantime the two savages of the 
Wolf tribe, whom we had engaged incur ser- 
vice, followed the cha.se, and furnished us with 
roe-buck, and other kinds of deer, for our sus- 
tenance, by reason of which our workmen 
took courage and applied themselves to their 
business with more assiduitv. Our vessel was 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY. 



conseqiieutly soon in a condition to be lannched, 
which was done, after liaving been blessed ac- 
cording toonr church of Rome. We were in haste 
to get it afloat, althougii not finished, tiiat we 
might guard it more securely from the threatened 
fire. This vessel was named the Griffin, (La 
Griffin) in allusion to the arms of the Connt de 
Frontenac, which have two griffins for their 
supports, for the Sieur de La Salle had often 
said of tiiis vessel, that he would make the 
Griffin fly above the crows. We fired three 
guns, then snug the Te Deum, which was fil- 
lowed by many cries of joy. 

" The Iroquois who hapi)ened to be present 
partook of our joy and witnessed our rejoicings. 
We gave them some brandy to drink, as well as 
to all our men, who slung their hammocks 
under the deck of the vessel, to sleep in 
o-rcater security. We then left our bark huts, 
to lodge where we were protected from the 
insults of the savages. 

" We set sail on the 7th of August, 1679, 
steering west-south-west. After having chanted 
the Te Deum, we fired all the cannons and 
arquebuses in presence of many Iroquois war- 
riors, who had brought captives from Tintonha, 
that is to say from the people of the prairies, 
who live more than 400 leagues from their 
cantons. We heard these savages exclaim, 
ganorou, in testimony of their wonder. 

" Some of those who saw us did not fail to 
report the size of our vessel to the Dutch at 
New York, (Nouvelle Jorck), with whom the 
Iroquois carry on a great traffic in skins and 
furs, which they exchange for fire arms, and 
blankets, to shelter them from the cold. 

" The enemies of our great discovery, to 
defeat our enterprises, had reported that Lake 
Erie was full of shoals and banks of sand, 
which rendered navigation impossible. We 
therefore did not omit sounding, from time to 
time, for more than twenty leagues, during the 
darkness of the night. 

" On the 8th, a favorable wind enaliled us to 



make about forty-five leagues, and we saw 
almost all the way, the two distant shores, fif- 
teen or sixteen leagues apart. The finest navi- 
gation in the world, is along the northern shores 
of this lake. There are three capes or points 
of land which jjroject into the lake. We 
doubled the first which we called St. Francis. 

" On the 9th, we doubled the two other 
capes, or points of land, giving them a wide 
berth. We saw no islands or shoals on the 
north side of the lake, and one large island, 
towards the southwest, about seven or eight 
leagues from the northern shore, opposite the 
strait which comes from Lake Huron. 

" On the 10th, early in the morning, we 
passed between the large island, which is 
towards the southwest, and seven or eight small 
islands, and an islet of sand, situated towards 
the west. We landed at the north of the strait, 
through which Lake Huron is discharged into 
Lake Erie." 

"Aug. 11th. We sailed up the strait and 
pa.s.sed between two small islands of very 
charming appearance. Tiiis strait is more 
beautiful than that of Niagara. It is thirty 
leagues long, and is about a league broad, 
except about half way, where it is enlarged, 
forming a small lake which we call Saint 
Claire, the navigation of which is safe along 
both shores, which are low and even." 

This strait is bordered by a fine country and 
fertile soil. Its course is southerly. On its 
banks are vast meadows, terminated by vines, 
fruit trees, groves and lofty forests, so arranged 
that we could .scarcely believe but there were 
country seats scattered through their beautiful 
plains. There is an abundance of stags, deer, 
roebucks and bears, quite tame and good to eat, 
more delicious than the fresh pork of Europe. 
We also found wild turkeys and swans in 
abundance. The high beams of our vessel 
were garnished with multitudes of deer, which 
our people killed in the chase. 

"Along the remainder of this strait, the 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



forests are composed of walnut, chestnut, plum 
and pear trees. Wild grapes also abound from 
wliich we made a little wine. There were all 
kinds of wood for building purposes. Those 
who will have the good fortune some Awy to 
possess the beautiful and fertile lands along 
this strait, will be under many obligations to 
us, who have cleared the way, and traversed 
Lake Erie for a hundred leagues of a naviga- 
tion before unknown." 

La Salle and his companions in this expedi- 
tion, were the first Europeans of whom we 
have any account, that beheld the rugged and 
forest covered hills of Chautauqua. La Salle, 
continued his voyage, until the Griffin cast 
anchor in Green Bay, on the northwestern coast 
of Lake Michigan. She was loaded with a 
cargo of furs, and sent upon her return voyage, , 
but was never heard of more. After the de- 
parture of the Griffin, La Salle for a while 
awaited her return, with a portion of his party, 
at the mouth of the St. Joseph's river. Cruelly 
disappointed, but undismayed, he pushed on 
into the State of Illinois, where he built a fort 
Avhich he called Creve Coeur, in token of his 
grief. He sent Hennepin, with two compan- 
ions, to the Mississippi, wliich liiey ascended to 
the Falls of St. Anthony. 

In 1681 or 1682 it is believed that he jour- 
neyed westward from Onondaga, with the 
design that he had formed when he penetrated 
western New York, in 1669, to reach the head- 
quarters of the Ohio. After fifteen days of 
travel, says his ancient biographer, he came to 
" a little lake, six or seven miles in extent, south 
of Lake Erie, the mouth of which opened to 
the south-eastward." There is but little doubt 
that this was Chautauqua lake, and this famous 
explorer and liis companions were pi'obably 
the first Europeans who visited it. 

La Salle afterwards descended the Mississippi 
to the Gulf of Mexico, and again journeyed 
back to Canada and crossed the sea to France, 
where his o;overnment furnished him four ves- 



fsels, with which he again crossed the ocean and 
landed at the bay of Matagorda, in the State of 
Texas. With a few companions he traversed 
Texas, and jjenetrated as far as New Mexico, 
where he spent much of the year 1686, with 
twenty others. While on his way from New 
Mexico to Canada, he was assassinated by a 
treacherous companion. Thus perished this 
bold pioneer, who will long be remembered as 
one of the most remarkable explorers that ever 
visited the American continent. 

HoUTON. — Baron La Houton, a French offi- 
cer, who in 1687 was stationed in Canada, had 
coasted along the northern shore of Lake Erie, 
and had visited its southern shore in Ohio, in 
his letters and memoirs gave a very interesting 
description of that lake and the country border- 
ing upon it. His description will apply to that 
part of Chautauqua county that lies between 
the highlands and the lake. Yet the country ex- 
tending along the southern shore of Lake Erie 
was but little known to Europeans, until as 
late as 1750. La Houton writes: "Lake Erie is 
justly dignified with theillustrious nameof Conti, 
for assuredly it is the finest upon earth. You may 
judge of the goodness of the climate from the lat- 
itude of the countries which surround it. Its cir- 
cumference extendstwo hundred and fifty leagues, 
but itaftbrdseverywhere a charming prospect, and 
its shores are decked with oak trees, elms, chest- 
nuts, walnut, apple, plum trees, and vines 
which bear their clusters up to the very tops of 
the trees, upon a sort of ground which lies as 
smooth as one's hand. Such ornaments as these 
are sufficient to give rise to the most agreeable 
idea of landscape in the world. I cannot ex- 
press what quantities of deers and turkevs are 
to be found in these woods, and in the vast 
meads that lie upon the soutli side of the lake. 
At the bottom of the lake we find wild beeves 
(buffaloes), on the banks of two pleasant 
streams that disembogue into it, without catar- 
acts or rapid currents. It abounds with stur- 
geon and white fish, but trout are very scarce 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



691 



in it, as well as other fish that we take in tiie 
kikes Hurons (Huron) and liliuese (Michigan). 
It is clear of shelves, rocks and banks of sand, 
and has fourteen or fifteen fathoms of water. The 
savages assure us that it is never disturbed by 
liigh winds except in the montiis of December, 
January and February, and even then but sel- 
dom, which I am very apt to believe, for we 
had very few storms when I wintered in my 
boat, in 1688, though the boat lay open to the 
Lake of Hurons." 

Celouon. — In 1749 the two rival countries, 
England and France, proceeded directly to 
assert their rights to the territories lying west of 
the AUeghenies. The French in that _year sent 
from La Chine in Canada, Captain Bienville de 
Celoron, with two hundred and fourteen soldiers 
and Canadians, and fifty-five Iroquois and 
Abenakies Indians to the Ohio country, to take 
posession of those disputed regions in the name 
of the King of France. In June, 1749, this 
party ascended the St. Lawrence, coasted along 
the eastern and southern shore of Lake Onta- 
rio, passed up the river Niagara and along the 
southern shore of Lake Erie as far west as the 
mouth of the Chautauqua creek, arriving there 
July 16. A journal was kept by the expedi- 
tion, and we will quote from a portion of it that 
relates to Chautauqua county, believing that 
the original will be more interesting to the 
reader than any account substituted in place 
of it. 

The journal describes the lake at the mouth of 
the Chautauqua creek to be " extremely shallow, 
with no shelter from the force of the winds, in- 
volving great risk of shipwreck in landing, 
which is increased by large rocks, extending 
more than three-fourths of a mile from the 
shore." The journal further says of the posi- 
tion here: " I found it ill-adapted for such a 
purpose (as a military post) as well from its po- 
sition as from its relation to the navigation of 
the laka The water is so shallow that barks 
standing in cannot approach within a league 



of tiie portage. There being no island or 
harbor to which they could resort for shelter, 
they would be under the necessity of riding 
at anchor, and discharging their loading by 
batteaux. The frequency of squalls would 
I'ender it a jilace of danger, besides there are 
no Indian villages in the vicinity — in fact 
they are quite distant, none being nearer than 
Ganongou and Faille Coupee (Broken Straw). 
In the evening Mm. de Villiers and le Borgue 
returned to lodge at the camp, having cleared 
the way for about three-quarters of a league." 
The journal continues: "On the 17th, at 
break of day, we began the portage, the pro- 
secution of which was vigorously maintained. 
All the canoes, provisions, munitions of war 
and merchandise intended as presents to the 
Indians bordering on the Ohio, were carried 
over the three-quarters of a league, which had 
been rendered passable the day previous. The 
route was exceedingly difficult, owing to the 
numerous hills and mountains which we en- 
countered. All my men were very much fa- 
tigued. We established a strong guard, which 
was continued during the entire campaign, 
not only for the purpose of security, but for 
teaching the Canadians a discipline which they 
greatly needed. We continued our advance 
on the 14th, but bad weather prevented our 
making much progress, as on the preceding 
day. I consoled myself for the delay, as it 
was caused by a rain which I greatly desired, 
as it would raise the water in the river suf- 
ficient to float our loaded canoes. On the 
19th, the rain having ceased, we accomplished 
half a league. On the 20th and 21st we con- 
tinued our route with great diligence, and ar- 
rived at' the end of the portage on the banks 
of Lake Chatacoin, on the 22d. The whole 
distance may be estimated at four leagues. 
Here I repaired my canoes and recruited my 
men." On the 24th the voyage was contin- 
ued over the lake and through the dark and 
winding outlet to the highlands at Jamestown. 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY H [STORY 



Here Celoron and his party encamped for 
the night. The journal, in describing the voy- 
age over the rapids from Jamestown, says : 
" We proceeded about a league with great 
difficulty. In many places I was obliged to as- 
siu-n forty men to each canoe to facilitate their 
passage. On the 26th and 27th we continued 
our voyage, not -^vithout many obstacles ; not- 
withstanding all our precautions to guard our 
canoes, they often sustained great injury by 
reason of the shallow water. On the 29tli, at 
noon, I entered the La Belle Rivifn-e. I buried 
a plate of lead at the foot of a red oak, on the 
south bank of the river Oyo (Ohio) and of the 
Chauougou, not far from the village of Kan- 
aouagon, in latitude 42° 5' 23". Chauougon is 
now called the Conewango, and the Indian 
village Kauaouagou stood upon the site of the 
present village of Warren, Pa. The latitude of 
the place, as given in the journal, is about fif- 
teen miles too far to the north. Celorou con- 
tinued his journey down the river Ohio as far 
as the mouth of the Great Miami. He then 
ascended that river and returned to Canada. 
He buried a leaden plate at each of the follow- 
ing places: The famous rock below Franklin, 
known as the Indian God; at the mouth of 
Wheeling Creek, in West Virginia; at the 
mouth of the Muskingum, which plate was 
found by some boys in 1798 ; at the mouth of 
the Great Kanawha, found in 1846 ; and lastly 
at the mouth of the Great Miami. 

The first leaden plate prepared for burial by 
Celoron on his voyage, above described, con- 
tains the earliest record of the name of Chau- 
tauqua Lake and its outlet. It is there written 
" Tciiadakoin." This leaden plate was obtained 
by some artifice of the Iroquois from the 
French, and delivered to Sir William Johnson 
at his seat on the Mohawk. When Scan-agh- 
tra-dey-a, the Cayuga sachem, delivered the 
plate, he accompanied it witii the following 
speech : 

" Brother Corlear and War-ragh-i-ya-ghcy, 



I am sent here by the five Nations to you (with 
a piece of writing which the Senecas, our breth- 
ren, got by some artifice from Jeancour) earnest- 
ly beseeching you will let us know what it 
means, and, as we put all confidence in you, 
our brother, hope you will explain it ingenu- 
ously to us." Here he delivered the leaden 
plate. 

"Brother, lam ordered further to acquaint 
you that Jeancour, the French interpreter, when 
ou his journey (this summer) to the Ohio river, 
spoke thus to the Five Nations, and others in 
our alliance : 

" ' Children, your father (meaning the French 
Gurnon) having, out of a tender regard for you, 
considering the great difficulties you labor 
under, by carrying your goods, canoes, etc., 
over the great carrying-place of Niagara, has 
desired me to acquaint you that in order to ease 
all of so much trouble for the future, he is re- 
solved to build a house at the other end of said 
carrying-place which he will furnish with all 
necessaries requisite for your use.' 

" Brother, Jeancour also told us that he was 
now on his way to Ohio River, where he in- 
tended to stay three years, and desired some of 
us to accompany him thither, which we refused, 
whereupon he answered he was much surprised 
at our not consenting to go with him, inasmuch 
as it was for our interest and ease he was sent 
thither to build a house there also, at the carry- 
ing-place between said River Ohio and Lake 
Erie, where all the western Indians should 
be supplied with whatever goods they may have 
occasion for, and not be at the trouble and loss 
of time going so far to market as usual (mean- 
ing Oswego) ; after this he desired to know our 
opinion of the affair, and begged our consent to 
build in said places ; he gave us a large belt of 
wampum therewith, desiring our answer, which 
we told him we would take some time to con- 
sider of." 

To which Sir William Johnson replied as 
follows : 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



693 



" Brethren of the Five Nations, I am always 
glad to see you at my house, but never more so 
tlian at this juncture, as it puts it in my power 
now to be of the greatest service to you, and of 
convincing you that the confidence you have al- 
ways reposed in me was justly grounded, and 
will ever prove the greatest advantage to you. 
While you continue to behave as you should, 
and follow your brother, the governor's, advice, 
and not suffer yourselves to be wheedled or 
misled by the fine speeches of your greatest 
enemy, the French, who have not, nor never 
had, your welfare at heart, as you are sensible 
of, from tiieir many former cruelties and ill- 
treatment to your people. But their scheme 
now laid against you, and yours (at a time when 
they are feeding you up with fine promises of 
serving you in several shapes) is worse than all 
the rest, as will appear by their own writing 
here on this plate." Here Sir William John- 
son gave a large belt of wampum to confirm 
what he said, which belt is to be sent through 
all the nations as far as the Ohio river, con- 
tinuing he said further : 

"Brethren, this is an affair of the greatest im- 
portance to you, as nothing less tliau all your 
lands and best hunting-places are aimed at, with 
a view of secluding you entirely from us, and 
the rest of your brethren, viz. : the Philadei- 
phians, Virginians, etc., who can always sup- 
ply you with the necessaries of life at a mucii 
lower rate than the French ever did, or could, 
and under whose protection you are, and ever 
will be safer and better served in every respect, 
than under the French. These and a iiundred 
other substantial reasons I could give you, to 
convince you that the French are your implaca- 
ble enemies. But as I told you before, tlie verj' 
instrument you now have brought to me of their 
own writing, is sufficient of itself to convince 
the world of their villainous designs, tiierefore 
I need not be at the trouble, so shall only desire 
that you and all other nations in alliance with 
you, seriously consider your own interest, and 



by no means submit to the impending danger 
which now threatens you; the only way to pre- 
vent which, is to turn Jeancour away imme- 
diately from Ohio, and tell him that the French 
shall neither build there, or at the Carrying place 
of Niagara, nor have a foot of land more from 
you." 

" Brethren, what I now say, I expect and in- 
sist upon it be taken notice of, and send to the 
Indians at Ohio, that they may immediately 
know the vile designs of the French." 

To which the Cayuga Sachem replied as fol- 
lows r 

" Brothers Corlear and Narraghigagee, I have 
with great attention and surprise, heard you re- 
peat the substance of that devilish vvriting, 
which I brought you, and also with pleasure 
noticed your just remarks thereon, which really 
agree with my own sentiments on it. I return 
you my most hearty thanks in the name of all 
the nations of your brotherly love, and cordial 
advice which I promise you sincerely by this 
belt of wampum, shall be communicated im- 
mediately, and verbatim to the Six Nations by 
myself, and moreover shall be forwarded from 
the Seneca Castle, with belts from each of our 
own nation, to the Indians at Ohio, to strengthen 
your desire as I am thoroughly satisfied that 
you have our interest at heart." 

The following is the original inscription on 
the leaden plate : 

" Ij'an 1749 du regne de Louis XA" Ilov de 
France, Nous Celoron, commandant d'vre de- 
tachment en voie pav Monsieur le Mis. de la 
Galissouiere, Commandant General de la Nou- 
velle France, pour retablir la tranquillite dans 
quelquessauvages de ces cantons, a vous enterre 
cette plaqua, au confluent De L'Ohio et de 
Tchadakoiu ce 29 Juillet, pres de la riviere Oyo 
autrement belle riviere, pour monument du reu 
on vellement de possession que nous avous pris 
de la ditte riviere Oyo, et de toutes celles quiv 
tombeut, et de toutes les terres de deux cotes 
jusque aux sources desdittes rivieres ainsi qu'en 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



out jovi ou dii jovir les precedents rois de 
France, et qii'ilss'y soiit mainteu%'spar les arms 
et par les traittes, specialement pav ceox de 
Eeswick a Utreclit et d'Aux la Chapelle." 

The followiug is a translation of the writinij 
upon the plate : 

"In the year 1749, of the reign of Louis the 
loth, King of France, we Celoron, commander 
of a detachment sent by Monsieur the Marquis 
de la Galeissoniere, Governor General of New 
France,to re-establish tranquillity insome Indian 
villages of these cantons, have buried this plate \ 
of lead at the confluence of the Ohio and the 
Chautauqua, this 29th of July, near the river 
Ohio, otherwise Belle Riviere, as a monument 
of the renewal of the possession we have taken 
of the said river Ohio, and all those which 
emjity into it, and of all the lauds on both sides 
as far as the sources of the said rivers as en- 
joyed or ought to have been enjoyed by the 
kings of France preceding, and as they have 
then maintained themselves by arms and by 
treaties, especially those of Reswick, Utrecht and 
Aix la Chapelle." 

The inscription on the leaden plate, the speech 
of the Indian Sachem, and that of Sir William 
Johnson, serve to show the jealous attitude the 
English and French bore towards each other, 
and also the relations they held with the 
Indians, better than any extended account. 
They also serve to show the arts used by each 
of these nations, to establish an alliance with 
them. The Indians however, notwithstanding 
the efforts of the French and English, by their 
sagacity and firmness, preserved their freedom 
of action, maintained absolute independence, 
and held the possession of their hunting grounds 
for more than a century. 

The word " Tchadakoin '' written upon tlic 
leaden plate, is the first record we have of tiie 
name Chautauqua.* In the journal kept of 

*Tlie identity of the name "Chautauqua" with the word 
"Tchadakoin," aud the various modifications it lias under- 
gone in |ininimciation and ortliography since it was writ- 



Celorou's expedition, it is spelled "Chatakouin" 
and " Chatacoin." Upon the map of Father 
Bonnecaiups who accompanied Celc)ron it is 
spelled " Tjadakoin." In the letters of Du 
Quesne to the French Government, in 1753, 
it is spelled " Chataeoint." In the " History 
of the French and English Wars in North 
America," written by Captain Ponchob in 
French, and on the map accompanying it, it 
is spelled " Thatacoin." In the affidavit of 
Stephen Coffin, an English soldier made pris- 
oner by the French, who accompanied the expe- 
dition that constructed the wagon-road from 
Lake Erie to Chautauqua Lake, it is spelled 
"Chadakoin." Mitchell in 1755, writes it 
"Chadocoin," and on Crevecoeur's map of 
1758, it is written " Chatacouin." These are 
obviously different spellings of the same Indian 
word. The lake and its outlet were located 
wholly within the territories of the Iroquois. 
The nearest Indian villages were tho.se of that 
people. They fished in its waters and hunted 
along its shores, and their trails threaded the 
dark forests where it lay. Its name would 
naturally be a word in the Iroquois tongue, oue 
which the French would be most likely to 
adopt aud engrave upon the leaden plate. It 
will be observed that these words pronounced 
according to the rules of Frencii orthogr.iphy, 
are not very unlike the word "Chautauqua" 
as now pronounced. It is not remarkable that 
when the English succeeded to the domain of 
the lakes, that this name should acquire a some- 
what different pronunciation, and that in time 
it should be still further changed. On Lewis 
Evans' map, 1758, and Pownall's map of 1776, 
it is written " Jadaxqua ;" by Sir William 
Johnson in 17(JG, " Jadaghque ;" by General 
William Irvin who visited the lake previous 

ten upon the leaden plate, was discovered by the writer of 
this sketch. Attention was afterwards calleil to it by him, 
in the "History of Chautauqua anterior to its Pioneer 
Settlement," contributed by the writer to " Young's His- 
, tory of Chantauqua Cnuuty." See pages ">5, 'Mi and 37. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



G95 



to 1788, "ladaqua;" and Cornplanter, accord- 
ing to Alden, pronounced it "Chaud-daujj-wa." 
On tiie map made by the Holland Land com- 
pany in 1804, it is spelled " Chataughque." 
After the settlement of the county, until 1859, 
it was spelled " Chautauque," when it was 
clianged by a resolution of the Board of Super- 
visors of that county to " Chautauqua." These 
small changes are due to the various tongues, 
white and Indian, in which it has been succes- 
sively rendered. Even in tiic various dialects 
of the Iroquois language, it was uttered diifer- 
ently. The Senecas called it " Chii-da-queh ;" 
the Cayugas, " Cha-daqua ;'' the Ouondagas, 
" Cha-dii-qua ;" the Tuscaroras, " Cha-ta-qua ;" 
and the Mohawks, " Jii-da-quii." 

The French and Indian War. — ^The 
French having declared their intention to 
claim all the territory lying in the valley of the 
Mississippi, through the formal act of Celoron 
in the burial of the leaden plates, now prepared 
to establish dominion there, more efiPectually, 
by erecting a line of forts extending from their 
possessions iu Canada to their settlements in 
Louisiana, and thus carry out the plan con- 
ceived by La Salle three quarters of a century 
before. In 1753, four years after Celoron vis- 
ited Chautauqua lake, the Marquis Du Quesne, 
being governor-general of Canada, dispatched 
a force whit^h opened a portage road from Erie 
toLeBieufon Fi-ench Creek, and built forts 
there. This force the same season, also opened 
another road from the mouth of the Chautau- 
qua Creek near Barcelona, to the head of Chau- 
tauqua Lake at Mayville. Tims was commun- 
ication established by the French between Lake 
Erie and the headwaters of the Ohio. 

These acts are memorable for the reason, that 
they constituted the immediate causes, that 
led to one of the most famous wars of modern 
times. It was known in this country as the 
French and Indian war ; a contest that extend- 
ed over Continental Europe, and even to Asia 
and Africa. These events should be i-ecorded 



in this lii.-itory, being so intimately connected 
witii Cliautau(jua Lake and county. The de- 
tails of these events cannot fail to be entertain- 
ing to one interested in the history of this 
region. 

Du Quesne, in the fall of 1752, rendered an 
account of the arrangements that he had made 
to carry out the designs of the French, in a 
letter to the French Minister of the jMarineand 
Colonies, in Paris, in which he stated, that he 
would begin his posts at a point near Barcelona 
in this county, and at the mouth of the Chau- 
tauqua Creek, which he called Chat-a-co-nit. 
It is evident from this letter, that Du Quesne 
fully believed, from the information that he 
had, that the carrying place between this point, 
and the head of Chautauqua Lake was the 
shortes.t and most practicable that could be 
found between the waters of the lakes and the 
Ohio. The carrying place between Erie and 
Le Boeuf, was discovered afterwards. The im- 
portance that Du Quesne attached to the selec- 
tions of the best carrying place between these 
waters, is evident from the language used by 
him, in his communications to the French gov- 
ernment. 

Du Quesne, during the winter, completed his 
preparations, which were hastened by false 
reports received by Joucaire, that the English 
had actually settled upon French Creek, and at 
the junction of the Conewango with the Alle- 
ghen}', where Warren is now situated ; which 
the French and Indians then called Chinengue. 
He, iu early spring, dispatched from JMontreal, 
an advanced force of two hundred and fifty 
men, under IMousieur Barbeer, for Chautauqua, 
with orders to fell and prepare timber for the 
building of a fort there. We will give some 
extracts from his letter to the French Minister 
of Marine, bearing date August 20, 1753, to 
explain the reasons which had led him to 
change his mind, and adopt the route between 
Presque Isle and Le Boeuf as the carrying 
place, instead of that between . Barcelona and 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



Chautauqua Lake, and also to show the diffi- 
culties that attended the prosecution of tlie 
undertaking : 

'• My Loud : — I hav^e the honor to inform 
you, that I have been obliged to alter the ar- 
rangement I had made, wiiereof I rendered you 
an account last fall. 

" You will see, my lord, by the extract of 
the journal hereto annexed, the reasons which 
compelled me to reduce almost to one-half the 
vanguard that I informed you consisted of four 
hundred men, and those that determined me to 
prefer lauding the troops at the harbor of 
Presque Isle on Lake Erie, which I very fortu- 
nately discovered instead of Chataconit, where I 
informed you I would begin my posts. 

" This discovery is so much more propitious, 
as it is a harbor, which the largest barks can 
enter loaded, and be in ])erfect safety. I am 
informed that the beach, the .soil, and the re- 
sources of all sorts, were the same as represented 
to me. 

" The plan I send you of this place, is only 
a rough sketch until it is corrected. I have 
given orders that this be j)roceeded with. 

" The letter I received on the 12th of Janu- 
ary last from M. de Joucaire, has obliged me 
by force, to obtain provisions from the farmers, 
to enable me to oppose the projects of the 
English, who, he advised me, liad .sent Smiths 
to Chinengue and the now Aux Boeuf, where 
they were even settled ; and that there was a 
terrible excitement among the Indians, who 
looked upon it as certain, that the English 
would be firmly settled there in the course of 
this year, not imagining that my forces were 
capable of opposing them. This fear which made 
me attempt the impossible, has had hitherto, 
the most complete success. All the provisions 
have arrived from without, after a delay of 
fifteen days, and I had them transported with 
all imaginable diligence, into a country so full 
of difficulties, in consequence of the great 
number of voyageurs which I required to 



aiscend the rapids, the race of which is getting 
scarce. 

" I was not long in perceiving that tiiis move- 
ment made a considerable impression on the 
Indians ; and wdiat has thrown more consterna- 
tion among them is, that I had no recourse to 
them ; for I contented myself with telling our 
domiciliated tribes, that if there were eight or 
ten from each village who had the curiosity to 
witness my operations, I would permit them to 
follow, Sieur Marin, the commander of the 
detachment, whom they were well aquaiuted 
with, and in whom they had confidence. Of 
200 whom I proposed to send forward oidy 
70 are sufficient for scouts and hunters. 

" All the natives that came down to see me 
from the upper county, and who met the multi- 
tude of battoaux and canoes which were convey- 
ing the men and effects belonging to the 
detachment, presented themselves, all trembling 
before me, and told me that they were aware of 
my power, by the swarm of men they had 
passed, and begged me to have pity on them, 
their wives and their children. I took advan- 
tage of their terror, to speak to them in a firm 
tone, and menacing the first that would falter ; 
and instead of a mouth or five weeks, that tliey 
were accustomed to remain here, consuming the 
king's provisions, I got rid of them on the 
fourth day. 

" It appears up to this time, that the execu- 
tion of the plan of my enterprise, makes so 
strong an imjircssion on the nations, that all the 
vagabonds who had taken refuge on the Beauti- 
ful river, have returned to their village. . . . 
Sieur Marin writes me on the od instant, that 
the fort at Presque Isle is entirely finished ; that 
the Portage road, which is six leagues in length, 
is also ready for carriages; that the store which 
was necessary to be built half way across 
the Portage, is in a condition to receive the 
supplies, and the second fort which is located at 
the mouth of the river Aux Bteuf will soon be 
completed. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



"This conuiiaiulant informs me, moreover, 
that lie is having t^ome pirogues coustructed ; 
whilst men are actually employed iu transport- 
ing his stores; and he tells me that all the 
Delawares, Chanonauous, (Shawnees) and 
Senecas on the Beautiful river liad come to 
meet him, and that he had so well received 
them, that they were zealously assisting with 
their horses that they have brought with them, 
in making the portage. 

" Tiiere has not been, up to the present time, 
the least impediment to the considerable move- 
ments I have caused to be made ; everything 
arrived at its destination with greater celerity 
than I anticipated ; and among the jirodigious 
number of batteaux or canoes, that have passed 
the rapids, only one has upset, drowning seven 
men. 

" As it is impossible in a movement as vast 
as it is precipitous for this country, that some of 
the provisions should be spoiled in open craft, 
despite all the precautions that could be taken, 
I have sent on as much as was necessary to 
repair the loss. 

"Everything announces, my lord, the suc- 
cessful execution of my project, unless some 
unforeseen accident has occurred ; and the only 
anxiety I feel is that the River Aux Bceuf por- 
tage will delay the entrance of our trooj>s into 
the Beautiful Rivei', as it is long, and there is 
considerable to carry, and the horses I have 
sent thither have arrived there exhausted with 
fatigue. But I hope this will be obviated by 
those the Indians have brought thitiier, and tiiat 
the mildness of the climate will admit of the 
completion of the posts. The extreme boldness 
with which I have executed a project of so much 
importance, has caused me the liveliest in- 
quietude; the famine which met me on my 
arrival at Quebeck having, reduced me, for- 
warding only 900 barrels of flour as the whole 
supply. 

" From the knowledge I have acquired this 
winter, I would have composed my vanguard 



of 700 men, had I had the entrepot of provi- 
sions at Niagara, because the body of men 
would have assuredly advanced to the portage, 
which I was desirous of occupying; having to 
fear some opposition on the part of the Indians 
of the Beautiful River at the instigation of the 
English, my jjlan having been discovered, and 
bruited abroad since M. de la Jouquire's death, 
in consequence of the explorations that I caused 
to be made by some bark canoes, notwithstand- 
ing the color T wished to give these move- 
ments. 

" I leave you to judge, my lord, the trouble 
of mind I felt at the reduction of this van- 
guard to 250 men, which I was obliged to send 
like what is called in the army a forlorn hope, 
when dispatched to explore a work. On the 
other hand, I should proceed at a snail's pace 
could I continue my operations only with the 
assistance derived from the sea, the inconveni- 
ences of which I understood. In fine, my 
lord, if there be any merit in doing anything 
contrary to the prudence of a person of my age, 
who has not the reputation of being devoid of 
that virtue, the enterprise in question would be 
entitled to very great credit; but necessity 
having constrained me to it, I do not adopt it, 
and attribute its success to singular good for- 
tune which I would not for all the world at- 
tempt again. 

" The discovery I have made of the harbor 
of Presque Isle, which is regarded as the finest 
spot ill nature, has determined me to send a 
royal assistant pilot to search around the Niag- 
ara rapids for some place where a bark could 
remain to take in its load. Nothing would be 
of greater advantage in the saving of transport, 
and the security of the property of the new 
posts and of Detroit; but it is necessary to find 
a good bottom, so that the anchors may hold ; 
for it could safely winter at Presque Isle, where 
it would be as it were in a box. I impatiently 
await the return of this pilot, and I would be 
much flattered could I be able to announce to 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



you in my latest dispatclies, that I have ordered 
the construction of this vessel. 

" I must not leave you ignorant, my lord, 
how much I am pleased with Sieur Marin, the 
commander of the detachment, and jNIajor I'ean. 
The former, who has an experienced capacity, 
manages the Indians as he pleases ; and he has, 
at his age, the same zeal and activity as any 
young officer that may enter the service. The 
second is endowed with all the talent imagin- 
able for detail and ix'sources, and knows no 
other occupation than that of accomplishing the 
object he is intrusted with. He alone had 
charge of dispatching all the canoes and bat- 
teaux, and acquitted himself of that duty, with 
great order. Chevalier Le jNIercier, to whom I 
assigned the duties of engineer, and who is also 
intrusted with the distribution of the provisions, 
is an officer possessing the rarest talent. Sieur 
Marin expre-sses himself to me in the highest 
terms of all those who are under his orders, and 
who vie with each other in diligence. 

" I am, with the most profound respect, my 
lord, your most humble and most obedient 
servant, " Du Quesne." 

In addition to the account given of the 
doings of the French in this quarter that is con- 
tained in these letters from Du Quesne, we 
have a very full and apparently authentic nar- 
rative of their operations in Chautauqua county, 
and in Pennsylvania in the year 1753, in an 
affidavit made by Stephen Coffin, before Sir 
William Johnson, January 10, 1754. Stephen 
Coffin was taken prisoner by the French and 
Indians in 1747, and detained in Lower Canada 
until January, 1752, when he was allowed to 
join the command of Barbeen in this expedition 
to the Ohio river. On the return of the French 
forces in the fall of that year, the troops became 
fatigued from rowing all night upon Lake On- 
tario, and were ordered to put ashore within a 
mile of the mouth of the Oswego river for 
breakfast, when Coffin and a Frenchman es- 
caped to the English fort of Oswego, and after- 



wards made his affidavit before Sir William 
Johnson, of which the following is a full copy : 
" Stephen Coffin of full age, being duly 
sworn, dejioseth and saith, that he was taken 
prisoner by the French and Indians of Canada 
at Menis, in the year 1747, under thecomm?.nd 
of Major Noble, from whence he was brought 
to an Indian village called Octagouche, about 
fifteen leagues to the westward of Chebucto, 
where he was kept three weeks prisoner, from 
thence was carried to a French settlement called 
Beau-basin, where the French had a wooden fort, 
and garrisoned with twenty-five men, remained 
there two months ; from thence they took him 
to Gaspey, a considei-able fishing place in the 
Gulf of St. Lawrence near to the entrance of 
the river ; there are about 300 families settled 
there, they kept him there working near four 
years, then he was brought to a place called 
Ramonski, inhabited by about twenty-five 
French families, from which place he sailed 
two years to, and from Quebec, in a sloop car- 
rying beaver and furs, salmon, etc., to 
Quebec, and in return, brought back brandy, 
dry goods, etc. During the time of deponent's 
residing at Quebec, he says it was commonly 
talked or reported, that they, the French, in- 
tended to settle as many families as they could 
to the westward, to make up the loss of two 
of their towns sunk in the West Indias by an 
earthquake. The deponent further saith, that 
the navigation up the river St. Lawrence, is 
very dangerous, particularly so at the Isle aux 
Coudres, and the Isle of Orleans, the North 
side of the former is the best for navigation, 
th? south side being very rapid and rocky, and 
the channel not above two hundred yards wide, 
about six fathoms water; whereas in the north 
channel there is fifteen fathoms, at the north- 
east end of the latter begins sand banks, which 
extend a league down said river ; the channel is 
between both banks, and pretty near the middle 
of the river, from thence to the town of 
Quebec good navigation, being fifteen tiithom all 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



the wa^'. The dcpoueut says, there is no pos- 
>iib;lity of going up said river, without the tide 
serves, or a strong northeast wind, espeeially at 
the two foremeutioned ishinds. In September 
1752, the deponent was in Quebec, and en- 
tleavoring to agree with some Indians, to con- 
vey iiim to his own country, New England, 
which the Indians acquainted the governor of, 
who immediately ordered him to jail where he 
lay three months; at the time of his releasement 
the French were preparing for a march to Belle 
Riviere or Ohio, where he offered his service, 
but was rejected by the Governor General Du 
Quesne ; he the said General setting out for 
Montreal about the .3d of January, 1753, to 
view and forward the forces, the deponent ap- 
plied to Major Ramsay, for liberty to go with 
the army to Oliio, who told him he would ask 
the Lieutenant Du Roy, who agreed to it, upon 
which he was equi[)ped as a soldier, and sent 
with a detachment of three hundred men to 
Montreal, uudercommand of Monsieur Barbeen, 
who set off' immediately with said command, by 
land and ice, for Lal<e Erie ; they on their 
way stopped a couple of days to refresh them- 
selves at Cadaraghquie fort; also at Toronto, 
on the north side of Lake Ontario ; then at 
Niagara fort for fifteen days ; from thence set 
off by water, being April, and arrived at 
Chadakoin (now Barcelona, Chautauqua county, 
New York) on Lake Erie, where they were 
ordered to fell timber, and prepare for building 
a fort there, according to the governor's instruc- 
tion ; l)ut Monsieur Morang coming up with 
five hundred men and twenty Indians, put a 
stop to the erecting of a fort at that place, l)y 
reason of his not liking the situation, and the 
river of Chadakoin being too shallow to carry 
any craft with provisions to Belle River. The 
deponent says, there arose a warm debate 
between Messrs. Barbeen and Morang thereon, 
the first insisting on building a fort there, 
agreeable to his instructions, otherwise on 
Morang giving him an instrument in writing 



to satisfy the governor on that point, which 
Morang did, and then ordered Monsieur Mcrcie 
who was both commissary and engineer to go along 
said lake and look for a good situation ; which 
he found, and returned in three days, it being 
fifteen leagues to th.e southwest of Chadokoin ; 
they were then all ordered to repair hither ; 
when they arrived, there were about twenty 
Indians fishing in the lake, who immediately 
quit it on seeing the French ; they fell to work 
and built a square fort, of chestnut logs, squared 
and lapped over each other, to the length of 
fifteen feet ; it is about one hundred and twenty- 
feet square, a log house in each square, a gate 
at the southward and another to the northward, 
not one port hole cut in any part of it; when 
finished they called it Foi-t La Presque Isle. 

The Indians who came from Canada with 
them returned very much out of temper, owing, 
as it is said among the army, to Morang's 
dogged behavior and ill usage of them ; but 
they, the Indians, said at Oswego it was owing 
to the French's misleading of them by telling 
them falsehoods, which, they said, they had 
now found out, and left them. As soon as the 
fort was finished, they marched southward, cut- 
ting a wagon road through a fine level country, 
twenty-one miles to the River Le Banif (leav- 
ing Captain Depotiney with a hundred men to 
garrison the fort at La Presque Isle) ; they fell 
to work cutting timber boards, etc., for another 
fort, while Mons. Morang ordered Mons. Bite, 
with fifty men, to go to a place called by the 
Indians Ganagaralehare, on the banks of Belle 
river, where tiie river Le Boeuf empties into 
it. In the mean time Moi-ang had got large 
boats or batteaux made to carry down the bag- 
gage and provisions to said place. Mons. Bite, 
on coming to said Indian place, was asked 
what he wanted or intended ; he, upon answer- 
ing it was their father, the governor of Can- 
ada's intention to build a trading-house for 
them and all their brethren's couveniency, was 
told by the Indians that the lands were theirs, 



SKETCH OF TUE EARLY HISTORY 



and they would not have them biiiid ii])on it. 
He said Mr. Bite, returning, met two English- 
men, traders, with their horses and goods, 
whom they bound and brought prisoners to 
Morang, who ordered them to Canada iu irons. 
He said Bite reported to Morang the situation 
was good, but the water in the river La Bceuf 
too low at that time to carry down any craft 
with provisions, etc. A few da^'s after, the 
deponent says that about one hundred Indians 
called by the French 'Loos came to the fort at 
the river I^e Bceuf to see what the French were 
doing ; that Mods. Morang treated them very 
kindly, and then asked them to carry down 
some stores to the Belle river on horseback for 
payment, which he immediately advanced them 
on their undertaking to do it. They set off 
with full loads, but never delivered them to the 
French, which incensed them very much, being 
not only a loss, but a great disappointment. 

Morang, a man of very peevish, choleric 
disposition, meeting with these and other crosses, 
and finding the season of the year too fiir ad- 
vanced to build the third fort, called all his 
officers together, and told them that as he had 
engaged and firmly promised the governor to 
finish the three forts that season, and not being 
able to fulfil the same, was both afraid and 
ashamed to return to Canada, being sensible he 
had now forfeited the governor's favor forever; 
wherefore, rather than to live in disgrace, he 
begged they would take him (as he then sat in 
a carriage made for him, being very sick some 
time), and seat him in the middle of the fort, 
and then set fire to it, and let him perish in 
the flames, which was rejected by the officers, 
who, the deponent says, had not the least re- 
gard for him, as he had behaved very ill to 
them all in general. The deponent further 
saith that about eight days before he left fort 
Presque Isle, Chev. De Crake arrived express 
from Canada in a birch canoe, worked by ten 
men, with orders (as deponent afterwards heard) 
from Governor Du Quesne to Morang to make 



all the preparations possible again the spring 
of the year to build two forts at Chadakoin, — 
one of them by Lake Erie, and the other at the 
end of the carrying-place at Lake Chadakoin, 
which carrying-place is fifteen miles from one 
lake to the other. He said chevalier brought 
for Mons. Morang a cross of St. Louis, which 
the rest of the officers would not allow him to 
take until the governor was acquainted with 
his conduct and behavior. The chevalier re- 
turned immediately to Canada, after which the 
deponent saith, when the fort of River Le 
B(euf was finished (which is built of wood 
stockaded triangular-wise, and has two log- 
houses inside), Monsieur Morang ordered the 
l)arty to return to Canada for the winter 
season, except three hundred men, which he 
kept to garrison both forts and pi'epare ma- 
terials against the spring for the building 
of other forts. He also sent Jean Coeur, 
an officer and interpreter, to stay the winter 
among the Indians at Ohio, in order to pre- 
vail with them not to allow the building of 
forts on their lands, but also persuade them, if 
possible, to join the French interest against the 
English. 

The deponent further saith, that on the 28th 
of October last, he set off for Canada, under 
the command of Captain Deman, who had 
command of twenty-two batteauxs, with 
twenty men in each batteaux ; the remainder 
being seven hundred and sixty men, followed in 
a few days, during which time J\Ions. Peon with 
two hundred men, cut a wagon road over the 
carrying place from Lake Erie to Lake Chada- 
koin (Chautauqua) being fifteen miles, viewed 
tiie situation which proved to their liking, so 
set off November 3d for Niagara, where we 
arrived, the 6th, it is a very poor rotten old 
wooden fort, with twenty-five men in it, they 
talked of rebuilding it next summer. "We left 
fifty men here to build batteaux for the army 
again this spring, also a store house for the 
provisions stores, &c., and staid here two days, 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUSTY. 



tlieii set off for Canada; ail hands being fa- 
tigued with rowing all night ordered to put 
ashore to breakfast, within a mile of Oswego 
garrison, at which time the deponent saith, that 
he with a Frenchman slipped off, and got to the 
fort, where they both were concealed, until the 
army passed ; from thenee he came here. The 
deponent further saith, that besides the three 
hundred men with which he went up first, 
under the command of jNIonsieur Earbeen, and 
the five hundred men Morang brought up 
afterwards, there came at different times with 
stores, &c., seven hundred more, which made 
in all one thousand five hundred men ; three 
hundred of which remained to garrison the 
two forts, fifty at Niagara, the rest all returned 
to Canada, and talked of going up again this 
winter, so, as to be there the beginning of 
April ; they had two six pounders and seven 
four pounders, which they intended to have 
planted in the fort at Ganagarah, which was to 
have been called the Governor's Fort, but as 
that was not built, they left the guns in the 
Fort Le Bceuff, where Morang commands. 
Further deponent saith not." 

"Sworn before me this 10th day of January, 
1754. Wm. Johnson." 

his 
"Stephen X Coffin 
mark." 

This Portage road was cut by the French 
from Lake Erie to Chautauqua lake, more than 
twenty years before the battle of Lexington, 
and was the first work performed by civilized 
hands within the limits of Chautauqua county, 
of which we are informed. It was known by 
the early settlers of the county, as the old Port- 
age or French road, and was one of the first 
highways of the county over which, in early 
days,much merchandise, including large amounts 
of salt from Onondago county, w'ere annually 
transported to Pittsburgh, and places on the 
river below. 

The Portage road, commenced on the west 



l)ank of tlie Chautauqua creek, a little distance 
from its mouth, in the town of Wcstfield. 
Thence it passed up, on the west side of the 
creek, crossing the present Erie road at the old 
McHenry tavern, where the historical monu- 
ment stands, to a point above the woolen factory, 
about a mile from Westfield, here the road 
crossed the creek ; still further on it crossed the 
present road leading from Mayville to West- 
field, and continued most of the distance for the 
remainder of the way, on the east side of the 
present road, and terminated at the foot of Main 
street in Mayville. The original track and remains 
of the old log bridges were plainly to be seen as 
late as the year 1817, and even traces of this road 
remain to this day. He informed the writer 
of this sketch, that he passed over this Port- 
age road as early as July, 1800, that he followed 
it from the mouth of Chautauqua creek, three 
miles up its west bank, and thence over the hills 
to Chautauqua Lake. That the road then had 
the appearance of having been used in former 
times. That the under brush had been cut out ; 
and where this road crossed the Chautauqua 
creek, about three miles from its mouth, the 
banks upou each side had been dug away, to 
admit a passage across the stream. Towards 
Mayville, and near the summit of the hills, at 
a low wet place, a causeway had been constructed 
of logs. Over this point the present highway 
from Mayville to Westfield now passes. At 
the foot of Main street in Mayville, where the 
Portage road terminated, was a circular piece of 
mason work of stone, laid in sand and mortar, 
three or four feet high, and three or four feet 
in diameter. It was constructed as Judge Pea- 
cock conjectured, for the purpose of cooking 
food. A piece of mason work, precisely like this 
in every respect, he saw standing at the other 
end of the Portage, at the mouth of the Chau- 
tauqua creek, opposite Barcelona. The mason 
work was seen as late as 1802 by William Bell, 
who, for over seventy years resided in Westfield. 
Sir William Johnson, in 1861, journeyed to 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



Detroit by the com maud of Gen. Amherst, to 
establisli a treaty with tiie Ottawa Confederacy, 
to regulate the trade at the several posts in the 
Indian country. On his return, he coasted 
along the south shore of Lake Erie. In his 
journal of this journey is the following refer- 
ence to this Portage, with other interesting par- 
ticulars : 

"Wednesday, October 1st, (17G1), embarked 
(at Presque Isle) at 7 o'clock, with the wind 
strong ahead — continued so all day, notwith- 
standing it improved all day, and got to Jad- 
aghue creek and Carrying place, which is a fine 
harbor and encampment. It is very dangerous 
from Prestpie Isle here, being a prodigious steep, 
rocky bank all the way, except two or three 
creeks and small beaches, where are very beau- 
tiful streams of water or springs which tumble 
down the rocks. We came about forty miles 
this day. The fire was burning where Captain 
Cochran (the officer who commanded at Presque 
Isle) I suppose encamped last night. Here the 
French had a baking place, and here tliey had 
meetings, and ussembled the Indians when first 
going to Ohio, and bought this place of them. 
Toonadawanusky, the river we stopped yester- 
day as is so called. 

"Friday 2d. A very stormy morning, wind 
not fair ; however sent olf my two baggage 
boats, and ordered them to stop about thirty 
miles off in a river (probably Cattaraugus creek). 
The Seneca Indian tells me we may get this day 
to the end of the lake. I embarked at eight 
o'clock with all the rest and got about thirty 
miles, when a very great storm of wind and 
rain arose, and obliged us to put into a little 
creek (probably Eighteen Mile creek) between 
the high rocky banks. The wind turned north- 
west, and it rained very hard. We passed the 
Mohawks in a bay about four miles from here. 
Some of our boats are put into other places as 
well as they can. i\Iy bedding is on board the 
birch canoe of mine, with the Indian somewhere 
ahead. The lake turns very greatly to the 



north-east, and looks like a low land. From 
Presque Isle here it is all high land, except a 
very few spots where boats may land. In the 
evening sent Oneida to the Mohawk encamp- 
ment, to learn what news here." 

When information reached Governor Din- 
widdle, of Virginia, of these proceedings by 
the French, he determined to ascertain their 
purpose, and to induce them to abandon their 
claim upon the valley of the Ohio. He accord- 
ingly dispatched George Washington, then but 
twenty-two years of age, who set out from 
Williamsburgh, in Virginia, on the 30di day 
of October, 1753, and arrived at the place where 
Pittsburgh now stands, about three weeks 
afterwards. He then proceeded to Venango, 
where he arrived on the 4th of December, and 
had an interview with the celebrated Capt. 
Joucaire, but obtained no satisfaction. From 
Veuango he pushed on up the French Creek, 
to the post the French had established at Le 
Boeuf, now Waterford, where he arrived on the 
11th of December, 1753. The fort he found 
situated on the west fork of French Creek. It 
(ionsisted of four houses, forming a square, de- 
fended by bastions made of palisades twelve 
feet high, pierced by cannon and small arms. 
Within the bastions were a guard house and 
other buildings. Outside were stables, a smith 
forge, and a log house for soldiers. The Indian 
name for the place was Casa\\ago. Washington 
found that the French were preparing at this 
place many pine boats and bark canoes to be 
ready in the spring, to descend and destroy the 
English posts on the Ohio river. Here Wash- 
ington, over one hundred and twenty years ago, 
spent five anxious days, within but fourteen 
miles from the town of French Creek, in Chau- 
tauqua county, negotiating with the French 
commandant, St. Pierre. Having finished his 
business with the French, Washington set out 
on the 16th of December to return. His long 
journey through the wilderness was beset by 
many difficulties and dangers. French Creek and 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



the Allegheny i-iver were swoileu and full of 
floating ice; the snows were deep, and the cold 
intense. He arrived at Williamshnrgh, Janu- 
ary 16, 1754, having performed a toilsome and 
perilous journey of eight hinidred miles, in two 
and one-half months. 

The same year occurred the first bloodshed of 
the war. AVashinglon, in command of a few 
colonists, defeated the French under Monsieur 
Jummonvill in a small battle in the forests of 
Pennsvlvania, and was himself defeated a little 
later at Fort Necessity. The next year, in July, 
occurred the memorable defeat of the well- 
disciplined English army under Bi-addock by 
the Indians and little band of gallant Freueh- 
meii. The French forces engaged in this affair 
passed over Lake Erie along the shore of Chau- 
tauqua county, on their march from Canada to 
Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburgh). The train of 
artillery taken from Braddock was transported 
back along this route, and used in August of 
the succeeding year by Montcalui in the siege of 
Oswego. D' Aubrey, in 1759, also conducted 
from the posts of Venango and Prcsque Isle a 
large force of French soldiers to i-elieve Fort 
Niagara, then besieged by the English under 
Sir William Johnson, Prideaux, the general in 
command, having been killed early in the siege. 
A little later the French, under D' Aubrey, and 
the Indians who joined him, were defeated in 
Niagara county. New York, and five hundred 
of their number slain. Charles Lee, who after- 
wards became a prominent American general, 
was at the siege of Niagara, and after the siege 
passed along the shores of Chautauqua on a 
military errand down the Allegheny to Fort Du 
Quesne. 

The first military expedition of the English 
over Lake Erie was made immediately after the 
surrender by the French of their possessions in 
America. It was dispatched to take possession 
of Detroit, Michillimackinack, and otiier French 
posts that had been surrendered. Major Rogers, 
long celebrated for his skill in border war, led 
38 



the expedition. He embarked in November, 
1760, at the foot uf Lake Erie, with two luni- 
dred rangers in fifteen whale boats, and coasted 
along the southern shore of the lake. < )u 
arriving at Erie, Rogers set out for Pittsburgh. 
He descended French creek and the Allegheny 
river in a canoe. Having obtained reinforce- 
ments, he proceeded on his way to Detroit, 
which was surrendered to him immediately on 
his arrival. 

PoNTiAc's War. — At the close of the French 
and Indian war, as soon as the English had 
j)ossessed themselves of the forts and posts that 
had been built and established by the French, 
a conspiracy was formed by the Indian tribes 
of the West to seize these outposts and dispos- 
sess the English. The moving spirit of this 
confederation of Indian tribes was Pontiac, an 
Ottawa chief of great abilities. The Delawares, 
Shawnees, Wyandots, Ojibways and other tribes 
of the West joined the League. It taxed the 
great influence of Sir William Johnson to the 
utmost to prevent the Six Nations from also 
joining in the conspiracy. The English posts 
were all to be attacked on the same day, their 
garrisons to be massacred, and also all the 
people of the border settlements. So well 
planned was the attack, that nine posts in the 
west were surprised and captured in a single 
day, and the most of the garrisons tomahawked 
and scalped. 

It may be interesting to know that this 
contest between the Indians and white men 
brought scenes of savage warfare close to the 
borders of this county. At Pres(jue Isle (now 
Erie, Pa.) in the shadows of the forest, and less 
than twenty miles away from the limits of this 
county, occurred one of those desperate strug- 
gles between Indians and white men, which so 
frequently occurred in the pioneer history of this 
country. In June, 1 763, Ensign Christie was 
the commanding officer at Presque Isle. On 
the third day of that month, Lieutenant Cuyler, 
of the Queen's company of Rangers, arrived 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY lIISTOnY 



there on his way to Fort Niagara, with the 
remnant of liis force, whicit had been surprised 
and defeated by the Indians while coasting 
along tiie north shore of Lake Erie on tlieir 
way witii provisions and ammunition for the 
Englisii garrison at Detroit. Ensign Christie 
kept six of Cuyler's men to astist in defending 
an anticijiated attack by tiie Indians upon his 
post, whicli increased his garrison to twenty- 
seven men. Fort Presque Isle stood on the 
shore of Lake Erie, where is now the site of 
the present city of Erie. A strong block house 
built of large logs stood in the angle of the fort. 

Early in the morning of the 15th of June 
two hundred Indians from those assembled at 
Detroit aj^peared and commenced the assault. 
The garrison, when the attack commenced, with- 
drew into the block house. The Indians, from 
under cover of the bank of the lake and a ridge 
that extended along a small stream that ran into 
the lake near the fort, continued the attack all 
day, firing into every loop-hole of the bastion, 
and endeavoring to set it on fire by shooting 
burning arrows against its roof and sides, whicli 
the garrison would extinguish with water kept 
in barrels within the works. Some of the In- 
dians managed to get into the fort, which en- 
abled them to carry on a more effectual fire 
against the block house, while others attempted 
to undermine it. The garrison made a stubborn 
defence, either killing or wounding such of 
the Indians as exposed themselves. The water 
in the bastion being nearly exhausted, the 
soldiers commenced to dig a passage under- 
ground to the well, which stood in an exposed 
place. Darkness came at last, but the Indians 
kept up a fire all night from intrenchments 
which they had constructed. 

The next day the Indians set fire to the com- 
manding officer's house, which stood near the 
block house. The flames soon reached the bas- 
tion of the block house, which at last took fire. 
The garrison, however, succeeded in extinguish- 
ing it with water from the well, which they had 



reached by means of the underground passage. 
The firing coutinued until midnight of the 
second day, when the garrison was warned that 
j)reparations had been completed to set the 
block house on fire from above and below and 
their surrender was demanded, and it was 
promised that if they yielded their lives would 
be spared. Christie being satisfied that he and 
his men could not prevent the burning of tiie 
block house, surrendered wiih the understand- 
ing that the lives of the garrison should l>e 
spared^ and that they might retire unmolested to 
the nearest post. The Indians kept them for 
awhile near Presque Isle and adopted some of 
their prisoners into their tribe, shaving off their 
hair, painting and bedecking them as Indian 
warriors. They finally carried their prisoners 
to Detroit. Christie, however, succeeded in 
making his escape. One soldier, Benjaniin 
Gray, also made his escape at the time of the 
surrender, and made his way to Fort Pitt and 
first told the story of the siege of Fort Presque 
Isle. It is said that another soldier also made 
his escape. 

The Indians, late in the morning of the 18th 
of June, next appeared before the post at Lc 
Bojuf (now Waterford, Pa.), distant fourteen 
miles west of the town of French Creek, in 
Chautauqua county. Its garrison consisted of 
eleven privates, two corporals and its com- 
mander, Ensign Price, a gallant young officer. 
The Indians at first endeavored to gain admit- 
tance by artifice, but fiiiled. Late in the day 
they commenced the attack, shooting burning 
arrows again.st the sides and roof of the block- 
house. The men several times succeeded in ex- 
tinguishing the fire. At length the flames so 
spread that they could not master them. They 
all got out through a narrow window in the 
rear of the block-house, unobserved by the In- 
dians ; covered by the darkness of the night, 
they managed to escape into the forest, where 
they wandered several days half-starved. Finally 
all but two reached Fort Pitt. These two i)rob- 



OF CIIAUTAU(iVA COUNTY. 



ably perished in the woods. On their way Price 
and his men passed Venango (now Franklin), 
where they fonnd only smoking fires, in which 
lay the half-l)iirned hodics of its murdered gar- 
rison. The Indians, who in this case were Sen- 
ecas, had succeeded in gaining admittance into 
the fort at A'^enango, when they burned it to 
the ground and massacred all its garrison, leav- 
ing none to tell the story of its fall. The few 
facts known respecting the destruction of this 
jjost were afterwards gatliered from ati Indian 
who was present at its capture, and narrated 
them to Sir William Johnson. Lieutenant 
Gordon, its commanding officer, was tortured 
over a slow fire for several nights, until lie 
died. 

While the Indians were prosecuting their 
campaign along this frontier, they murdered 
many scattered settlers of western Pennsylvania, 
and other settlers only saved themselves by flee- 
ing to the nearest forts. Meantime Pontiac was 
prosecuting with great energy tlie siege of De- 
troit. For more than a year was it besieged, 
during which time the garrison suffered greatly. 
On the 10th day of August, 1764, General 
Bradstreet, at the head of three tliousand men, 
set out in boats from the foot of Lake Erie, on 
their way to relieve Detroit. Their route was 
along the southern shore of Lake Erie. On the 
10th and 11th of August, 1764, they rowed 
along the coast of Chautaucpia county. Israel 
Putnam accompanied the expedition as a colonel 
of a regiment of Connecticut troops. Arriving 
at Deti-oit, Bradstreet raise<l the siege, and on 
the 10th of October set out on his rettn-n. Eight 
or ten miles west of Cleveland a portion of the 
boats were wrecked, and about one iiundred and 
fifty of his force, provincials and Indians, were 
compelled to make their way to Fort Niagara, 
along the southern shore of Lake Erie, on foot. 
Their route led through the lake towns of the 
county of Chautauqua. After many days of 
hardship, fording creeks and rivers, suffering 
from cold and hunger, they reached the end of 



their journey. Many of liie provincials per- 
ished in the woods. 

Pontiac's war was the last groat attempt made 
by the Indians to redeem tiiis country from the 
dominion of the white man, and at its close 
comparative peace for many years prevailed, and 
no event of impoi'tance occurred in these regions 
until the Pevolution. 

RrovoLUTioNAKV War. — No event occurred 
during the early years of the war of tlie Revo- 
lution relating to Chautauqua county of suffi- 
cient importance which would entitle it to be re- 
corded. The scene of the contest during tho.se 
years was far distant from the then remote re- 
gions in which this county is situated. In 177!), 
however, tiie 11th of Augn.st, Colonel Daniel 
Broadhead set out from Pittsburgh at the head 
of six hundred and five militia and volunteers, 
and advanced up the Allegheny river to destroy 
the Seneca towns situated upon its upper waters, 
and to act in conjunction with General Sullivan, 
who was marching from the east against the 
Indian towns on the Genesee. About five miles 
below the mouth of the Broken Straw, an ad- 
vance party of his command, consisting of fif- 
teen white men and eight Delaware Indians, 
under the command of Lieut. Harding, fell in 
with thirty or forty Indian warriors coming 
down the river in seven canoes. The Indians 
landed and stripped off their shirts; a sharp 
contest ensued ; the Indians were defeated, and 
five of their number were killed, and several 
wounded ; and all their canoes and contents fell 
into the hands of Col. Broadhead. Lieut. Hard- 
ing had three men wtunided, including one of 
the Delaware Indians. Colonel Broadhead's 
command continued to mai'ch up the river as 
far as the Indian village of Buck-a-loons, on 
the flats near Irvineton, at the mouth of the 
Broken Straw, in Warren county. The Indians 
were driven from their village, and retreated to 
the hills in the rear. The town was destroyed, 
and a breastwork of trees thrown up. A gar- 
rison of forty men was left to guard the provi^- 



706 



SKKTCII OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



sions, and tlie remaindt'i of the force proceeded 
to tlie Indian town of Conewago, which was 
found to liave been deserted eigliteen months 
hefore. Conewago was burnt, and the troop? 
niardietl still further up the river, past Kinjua 
to Gohroonwago, a place about four miles below 
the southern boundary of thb State of New- 
York Here they found a painted image or 
war-post, clothed in dog-skin. The troops re- 
mained there tliree days, burning this and other 
towns in the vicinity, destroying the extensive 
corntields they found there. Col. Broadhead 
believed, from the great quantity of corn found, 
and from the number of new houses which were 
built, and being built by square and round 
logs, and of framed timbers, that the whole 
Seneca and Munsey nations intended to collect 
there. Gohroonwago was situated where, some 
years afterwards, Cornplanter made his resi- 
dence, and where an Indian village grew up, 
called De-o-no-sa-da-ga, meaning in Engiisii 
burnt houses. 

Colonel Broadhead makes no mention of 
having advanced beyond these Indian towns. 
Mrs. Mary Jammison, who is usually accurate, 
states, in her narrative, that he ascended to 
Olean Point, destroying all the Indian villages 
on the Allegheny river. In Cattaraugus codn- 
ty there was at this time, at the mouth of Cold 
Spring creek, the village of Che-na-shun-ga- 
tau ; at the mouth of Little Valley creek, the 
village of Buck-tooth ; at the mouth of Great 
Valley creek, Killbuckstown ; and in the town 
of Carrollton, Tu-ne-nu-gwan, all of which 
were destroyed, if any detachment of Colonel 
Broadhead's command reached Olean Point. 
The latter place is situated upon the Allegheny 
river, in the southeast part of Cattaraugus 
county, New York, and is distant less than 
thirty miles from Canada, an Indian town of 
the Genesee river, and le.ss than sixty miles 
from the larger Indian towns destroyed by 
General Sullivan. Colonel Broadhead arrived 
at Fort Pitt, on his return, September 14, 1779, 



having burned ten Indian villages, containing 
one hundred and sixty-tive houses, having de- 
stroyed more than five hundred acres of Indian 
corn and taken three thousand dollars worth of 
furs and otiier plunder, and having himself lost 
neither man nor beast. 

The last hostile expedition of the Revolu- 
tion in the north was planned to revenge the 
injuries inflicted by Broadhead and Sullivan. 
A large force of British and Indians left Nia- 
agara in 1782, to attack Pittsburgh, and pro- 
ceeded as far as Chautauqua Lake, upon which 
they embarked in canoes. The expedition was 
abandoned on account of the reputed repairs 
and strength of Fort Pitt. A portion of this 
force, led, it is believed, by the Chief Kyasret- 
tea, in July of that year besieged Hannastown, 
once a famous but now almost forgotten place 
in western Pennsylvania. They killed and 
carried many of its inhabitants into captivity, 
and burned the place to the ground, and now 
not a stone or mound of earth marks the spot 
where it stood. There occurred many thrilling 
incidents, and almost the last blood shed of the 
war of the Revolution. In 1822 the remains 
of a row of i)iles were discovered, extending 
across the bed of the outlet of Chautauqua Lake, 
placed there, it is believed, by this war party to 
raise the water of the lake sufficiently to create 
a flood, to waft their boats down the river 
against Pittsburgh, or by some previous expe- 
dition of the French in the year before. 

Washington's Chautauqua Lake Cor- 
respondence. — This last, as well as other im- 
portant events, connected with the history of 
the county, of which we have given some ac- 
count in the preceding pages of this sketch, are 
referred to in a very interesting correspondence 
carried on after the close of the war, between 
General Wa.shington and General William Ir- 
vine, who was then in command of Pittsburgh. 
Many iutere.sting particulars are therein con- 
tained. No synopsis or abstracts from their cor- 
respondence conld be as interesting and instruct- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTY. 



ing as the letters themselves ; we will thorefore 
give a copy of the letters in full. Communica- 
tion between the waters of Lake Erie and the 
Ohio river, iiad been a subject of iiKjuiry with 
certain distinguished gentlemen, and (ien. 
Washington, for information upon that subject, 
addressed a letter to ({en. Irvine, dated Janu- 
ary 1", 1788, inquiring of him: — 1. As to the 
face of the country between the source of canoe 
navigation of the Cuyahoga, which empties 
itself into Lake Eric, and tiie Big Beaver, and 
between the Cuyahoga and the Muskingum. 
2. As to the distance between the waters of 
the Cuyahoga and each of the two rivers above 
mentioned. ."5. Whetlier it would be practica- 
ble, and not expensive, to cut a canal between 
the Cuyahoga and either of the above rivers, so 
as to open a communication between the waters 
of Lake Erie and the Ohio. 4. Whether there 
is any more direct, practicable and easy com- 
munication than these, between the waters of 
Lake Erie and the Ohio, by which the fur and 
peltry of the upper country can be transferred. 
In answer to this letter, Gen. Irvine replied as 
follows : 

New Yokk, Jan. 27, 1788. 

" Sir : — I have been honored by your letter 
of the 11th instant. I need not tell you how 
much pleasure it would give rae to answer your 
queries to your satisfaction ; but I am persuaded 
that no observation short of an actual survey, 
will enable you to gratify your correspondents 
abroad, (particularly in relation to your third 
party,) with such accuracy as to state anything 
jrositively. I will, however, relate to you such 
facts as have come within my own knowledge, 
as well as accounts of persons whom I think 
are to be confided in. 

" From a place called Mahoning, on the Big 
Beaver, to the head of the Falls of Cuyahoga, 
it is about thirty miles. Although the county 
is hilly, it is not mountainous. The jirincipal 
elevation is called Beach Ridge, which is not 
high, though extensive, being several miles ! 



over, with a flat and moist country on the sum- 
mit, and in some places inclining to be marshy. 
The difficulty of traveling is much increased l)y 
the beech roots with whicii the timber is heavily 
incumbered. The Cuyahoga about the (treat 
Falls is rapid and rocky, and is interrupted by 
several lesser falls, on the branch which heads 
toward the Big Beaver, called tiie Mahoning. 
This information I had from an intelligent per- 
son then loading a sloop at the mouth of the 
Cuyidioga for Detroit. He added that an old 
Indian assured him that it was only fifteen 
miles across from the Mahoning, to a navigable 
creek a few miles east of the Cuyahoga; that 
he had employed the Indian to clear a road, and 
when that was done he intended to explore the 
country himself. I presume this .service was no 
performed, as this gentleman and his iiorses, 
were all destroyed and his .store-hou.se burned 
by the Indians. Cajitain Brady, a partisan 
officer, informed me tiiat the sources of the Big 
Beaver, Muskingum, and a large deep creek 
which empties into Lake Erie, fifteen or twenty 
miles above Cuyahoga, are within a few miles 
of each other (perhaps four or five), and tiie 
country level. Several other persons of credi- 
bility and information have a.ssured me that 
the portage between jNIuskingum and the waters 
falling into the lake in wet seasons, does not 
exceed fifteen miles; some say two, but I be- 
lieve the first distance is the safest to credit. 

" At Mahoning, and for many miles above and 
below, I found the course of the Big Beaver to 
be east and west, from which I concluded this 
stream to be nearest to tlie main branch of the 
Cu3'ahoga; and on comparing the several 
accounts, I am led to think that the shortest 
communicition between the waters of Beaver, 
Muskingum and Lake Erie, will be east and 
west of Cuyahoga. 

" I have also been informed by a gentleman, 
that the sources of Grand river and a branch 
of the Beaver, called Siienango, are not twelve 
miles apart; the country hilly. I know the 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



Shenango to be a boatable stream at its conflueuce 
with the Beaver tweuty miles from the Oiiio. 

" I dropped down tiie Beaver from Maho- 
ning to tiie Great Falls (about seven miles from 
the Ohio) in a canoe, on the first day of July, 
1784, without the least difficulty. At this 
season all the western waters are remarkably 
low ; and although some ripples appear, there 
is nothing to cause any material obstruction. 
The falls at first view appear impracticable at 
low water, indeed, too difficult at any season ; 
nevertheless, they have been passed at all sea- 
sons. I met two men in a flat-bottomed boat 
a few miles above the falls, who had carried 
their cargo half a mile on shore, and then 
worked up their empty boat. They set with 
poles the rest of the way to Mahoning. The 
boat carried one and a half tons ; but in some 
seasons there will I)e water enough for loads of 
five tons. Canoes, it is said, have ascended 
twenty-five miles above the Mahoning, which 
certainly must be near one branch of the 
Muskingum, as it continues iu a westerly 
course ; and the most ea.sterly branch of that 
river, it is agreed by all who have been iu that 
quarter, approaches very near to the waters 
falling into the lake; all agree, likewise, that 
the rivers north of the dividing ridge are deep 
and smooth, the country being level. 

" Following the Indian path, which generally 
keeps in the low ground along the river, the 
distance from the mouth of the Big Beaver to 
Mahoning, is about fifty miles; which, from 
the computed distance to Cuyahoga, gives 
eighty miles in all. But I am certain a much 
better road will be found by keeping along the 
ground which divides the waters of the Big and 
Little Beavers. 

"But this digression I must bid your ])ardon 
for. To your further query, I think I shall be 
able to afford you more satisfaction, as I can 
point out a more practit'al)le and easy commu- 
nication by which the articles of trade you 
mention, can be traiisiiorlcil from Iv-ike Erie 



than by any other hitherto mentioned route ; 
at least until canals are cut. This is by a 
branch of the Allegheny which is navigable 
by boats of considerable burden to within eight 
miles of Lake Erie. I examined a greater part 
of the communication myself, and such parts as 
I did not, was done by persons before and subse- 
(ptent to my being there, whose accounts can 
scarce be doubted. 

"From Fort Pitt to Venango by land, on the 
Indian and French path, is computed to be 
ninety miles ; by water it is said to be one-third 
more. But as you know the country so far, I 
will forbear giving a more particular account 
of it, but proceed to inform you, that I set out 
and traveled by land from Venango, though 
frequently on the beach or within high water 
mark, (the country being in many places impas- 
sable for a horse,) to a confluence of a branch of 
the river called Coniwango, which is about 
sixty-five miles from French Creek. The 
general course of the Allegheny between these 
two creeks is northeast. The course of the 
Coniwango is very near due north ; it is about 

yards wide. It is upwards of 

yards, thirty miles from its confluence with the 
Allegheny at a fork. It is deep and not very 
rapid. To the C'oniwango fork of the Allegheny 
the navigation is rather better than from Ven- 
ango to Fort Pitt. I traveled about twenty- 
five miles a day. Two Indians pushing a 
loaded canoe, and encamped with me every 
night. As the Coniwango is crooked, I think 
it must be forty miles from the Allegany to its 
fork by water. One of the forks continues in a 
northern direction about seven miles to a beau- 
tiful lake. The lake is noticed on Ilutchin's 
map by the name of Jadagne. The map is 
badly executed. It extends, from tlie best 
information I could obtain, to within nine 
miles of Lake Erie ; it is from one to two mileS 
broad, and deep enough for navigation. I was 
taken sick, which prevented my journey over 
to Lake Eric. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA CO UN TV. 



"The following account I had from a chief of 
the Seneca tribe, as well as from a white man 
named Matthews, a Virginian, who says he was 
taken prisoner by the Indians at Kanawha, in 
1777. He has lived with the Indians since 
that time. As far as I could judge he appeared 
to be well acquainted with tiieir part of the 
county. I employed him as interpreter. He 
states that from the upper end of Jadaqua 
lake, it is not more than nine miles along the 
[)ath or road to Lake Erie, and that there was 
formerly a wagon road between the two lakes. 

" The Indian related tliat he was about four- 
teen years old when the French went first to 
establish a post at Fort Pitt; that he accompan- 
ied an uncle, who was a chief warrior, on 
that occasion, who attended (he French ; that 
the head of Lake Jadaqua was the spot where 
the detachment embarked ; that they fell dowu 
to Fort Duquesne without any obstruction, in 
large canoes, with all the artillery, stores, pro- 
visions, etc. He added that French creek was j 
made the medium of communication afterwards; 
why, he could not tell, but always wondered at 
it, as he expressed himself, kuowing the other 
to be so much better. The Seneca related many : 
things to corroborate and convince me of its 
truth. He states that he was constantly em- 
ployed by the British during the late war, and 
had the rank of captain ; and that he comman- 
ded the party that was defeated on the Allegheny 
by Colonel Broadhead; that in the year 1782, 
a detachment composed of 300 British and 500 
Indians was formed, and actually embarked in 
canoes on Lake Jadaqua, with twelve pieces of 
artillery, with an avowed intention of attacking 
Fort Pitt. This expedition, he says, was laid 
aside, in conseipience of the reported repairs 
and strength of Fort Pitt, carried by a spy j 
from the neighborhood of the fort. They then } 
contented themselves with the usual mode of 
warfare, by sending small parties to the frontier, i 
one of which burned Hannastowu. I remem- 
ber very well, in August, 1782, we picked up I 



at Fort Pitt a number of canoes which had 
drifted down the river ; and I received repeated 
accounts in June and July, from a Canadian 
who deserted to me, as well as from some 
friendly Indians, of this armament; but I 
never knew before then where they had assem- 
bled. 

"Both Matthews and tiie Seneca desired to 
conduct me, as a further proof of their veracity, 
to the spot on the shore of Lake Jadaqua, 
wiiere lies one of the four-pounders left by the 
French. Major Finiey, who has been in that 
country since I was, informed me that he had 
seen the gun. Matthews was very desirous that 
I should exj)lore the East fork of the Coni- 
wango; but ray sickness prevented me. His 
account is it that is navigable about thirty miles 
up from the junction of the north and west 
branch, to a swamp which is about half a mile 
wide ; that on the north side of this swamp a 
large creek has its source called ' Cattarauge ' 
(Cattaraugus), which falls into Lake Erie, forty 
miles from the foot of this lake ; that he has 
several times been of parties who crossed over, 
carrying the canoes across the swamps. He 
added that the Cattarauge watered much the 
finest country between Buffalo and Presque Isle. 

" A letter has been published lately in a 
Philadelphia newspaper, written by one of the 
gentlemen emploj-ed in running the boundary 
line between New York and Pennsylvania, 
which fully supports these accounts. As well as 
I can remember, his words are: 'We pushed up 
a large branch of the Allegheny called Chata- 
ghque (so he spells the name), which is from 
one-half mile to two or three wide, and near 
twenty long. The country is level and land 
good, to a great extent on both sides. We as- 
eeuded the dividing ridge between the two lakes. 
From this place a mo.st delightful prospect was 
open before ns.' He then dwells on the scene 
before him and future prospects, not to the 
present purpose; but concludes by saying that 
the waters of Lake Erie canuot be brought to 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



the Ohio, as the suiuiuit of the dividing ridge 
is 700 feet higher than Lake Erie. ' We trav- 
eletl,' he pontinued, 'along tlie Indian path to the 
hike, whicli is only nine miles though very 
crook etl. A good wagon road may be made, 
which will not exceed seven miles as the hill is 
not steep.' 

"I regret that this detail has been extended 
to .«o great a length, for I fear that it will rather 
weary than afford you satisfaction. Being 
obliged to blend information of others with that 
which came within ray own observation in some 
degree renders it unavoidable. 

" I have the honor to be with great respect, 
" Your most obedient servant, 

" William Irvine." 

This letter was copied by Dr. AVilliam A. 
Irvine, from the original lent to his father, Cal- 
lender Irvine, by Judge Washington ; and it 
contains perhaps the first written description 
extant of Chautauijua Lake and outlet. 

General Wa-«hington answered this letter from 
General Irvine, as follows : 

" MorxT Vernon, 18 February, 1788. 

"Sir: — I have to acknowledge the receipt of 
vour favor of the 27th ult., and to thank you 
for the information contained in it. As a com- 
munication between the waters of Lake Erie 
and those of Ohio is a matter which promises 
great utility, and as every step towards the in- 
vestigation of it may be consideretl as promoting 
the general interest of our country, I need make 
no apology to you for any trouble that I have 
given upon the subject. 

" I am fully sensible that no account can be 
sufficiently accurate to hazard any operations 
u]X)n, without an actual survey. My object in 
wishing a solution of the queries proposal to 
you, was that I might be enabletl to return 
auswei^s, in .some degree satisfactory, to several 
gentlemen of distinction in foreign countries, 
who have appealed to me for information on the 
subject, in behalf of othei"s who wish to engage 



in the fur trade, and at the same time gratify 
my own curiosity, and assist me in forming a 
judgment of the practicability of opening com- 
munication should it even be seriously in con- 
templation. 

" 1. Could a channel once be openetl to con- 
vey the fur and peltry from the lakes into the 
eastern country, its advantages would be so 
obvious as to induce an opinion, that it would 
in a short time become the channel of convey- 
ance for much the greatest part of the commo- 
dities brought from thence. 

" 2. The trade which has been carried on 
between New York and that quarter, is subject 
to great inconvenience, from the length of the 
communication, number of portages, and, at 
seasons, from ice ; yet it ha.s, notwithstanding, 
been prosecuted with success. 

"I shall feel myself much obliged by au_v 
further information that you may find time 
and inclination to communicate to me on this 
head. I am, sir, with great esteem, your most 
obeilieut, etc. "George Washington." 

(reneral Irvine afterwards wrote to General 
Washington as follows : — 

" New York, October 5, 1788. 

" Sir : I do myself the honor to enclose a 
sketch of the waters of the Allegheny, which 
approach near to Lake Erie. It is taken from 
an actual survey made by the persons who ran 
the line between the states of Xew York and 
Pennsylvania. These gentlemen Siiy, that the 
remaining branch of the Allegheny falls in 
Pennsylvania, and that there is only seven or 
eight miles of land carriage between it and the 
head branch of Susquehanna, called Tioga, 
which is navigable for large boats at most sea- 
sous. The navigation of the Caniwago, I 
know, is much preferable to French creek. 

" I have the honor to be with the highest 
respect, sir, your excellency's most obeilient and 
humble servant." 

" William Irvine."' 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUXTY. 



This letter, the writer of this sketch for the 
first time caused to be publishetl. It is found 
bound in a vohime of the Washington papers, 
and is entered in aa index of those papers 
made by Rev. Jared Sparivs. It was probably 
written to Gen. AVashington by the direction of 
Gen. Irvine. Accompanying this letter was an 
accurate map of " Chautaugh " Lake and 
" Conewaugo " river ; also the Cliautauqua 
creek portage, from Lake Erie to Chautauqua 
Lake, and also the portage to Le Bauif, and 
other localities. Washington replied to Gen. 
Irvine, as follows : 

" MoL'NT Verxox, October .^l, 1788. 

" Dear Sir : The letter with which you 
favored me, dated tiie 6th iust., enclosing a 
sketch of watei^s near the line which separates 
your state from New York, came duly to liand, 
for which I offer you my acknowletlgments 
and thanks. 

" The extensive iiilanil navigation with which 
this country abounds, and the ea-^y communica- 
tion which many of the rivers aflbrd, with the 
amazing territory to the westward of us, will 
certainly be jiroductive of infinite ad%-antage to 
the Atlantic states, if the legislatures of those 
through which they pnss, have liberality and 
public spirit enough to improve tliem. For my 
part, I wish sincerely that every door to the 
country may be set wide open, that the com- 
mercial intercourse with it may be rendered as 
free and easy as possible. This, in my judg- 
ment, is the best, if not the only cement that 
can bind those people to us for any length of 
time, and we shall, I think, be deficient in 
foresight and wisdom if we neglect the means 
to effect it. Our interest is so much in unison 
with the policy of the measure, that nothing 
but that ill-timed and misapplied parsimony, 
and contracted way of thinking, which inter- 
mingles so much in all our public councils, can 
counteract it. 

" If the Chautauqua Lake, at the head of the 



Connewango river, approximates I^ake Erie as 
nearly as it is laid down in the draft you sent 
me, it presents a very short portage indeed 
between the two, and access to all those above 
the latter. I am, &c. 

" Gkorge Washixgtox." 

Holland Pirchase. — Thesouthern bound- 
ary of the State of New York, the western jior- 
tion of which constitutes the southern boundarv 
of Chautauqua county, was run by David 
Rittenhouse and Andrew Ellicott and others, 
commissioners, in 1785, 1786 and 1787. The 
western boundary of the state, whicli forms also 
the western boundary of the county, was run in 
1788 and 1789, by Andrew Ellicott, the sur- 
veyor-general of the United States. An initial 
monument was erected by him near the shore 
of Lake Erie, August 3, 17fl0. The variation 
of the needle was marked upon this monument 
as having then been 2o' west. The declination 
of the needle at the same point in 1890 is 3° 
55' west — a change in its declination of just 
3°30' in just a century. Tiiis line is the me- 
ridian of the west end of Lake Ontario. 

Immediately prior to 1788 the State of Mas- 
sachusetts held and owned the pre-emption right 
or fee of the land, subject to the title of the 
Indians, of all that part of the State of New 
York lying west of a line beginning on the 
northern boundary line of Pennsylvania, eightv- 
two miles west of the northeast corner of the 
last-mentioned State, and running thence due 
north through Seneca lake to Lake Ontario, 
excepting a mile in breadth along the east bank 
of the Niagara river. There was about six 
millions of acres of the lands owned by ifassa- 
cl'.nsetts. All of the territory included in the 
county of Chautauqua was consequently a part 
of the lands there owned by that State. In that 
year the State of Massachusetts sold to Oliver 
Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham about two mil- 
lions six hundi'ed thousand acres of the eastern 
part of this land. In 1791 the State of Massa- 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



chusetts conveyed all the lands now included 
within the limits of Chautauqua county, and 
other lands, to Rol)ert Morris. In 1792 Robert 
Morris conveyed tiie lauds now embraced within 
thelimitsof Chautauquaeounty, and other lands, 
tocertain persons who were in fact trustees. These 
lands were purchased with the funds of certain 
gentlemen in Holland, and held by the grantees 
for their benefit. Being aliens, tliey could not 
by the laws of the State purdiase and hold real 
estate in tiieir own names. Finally these lands 
were conveyed by the trustees to the Holland 
Company, or ratlier to individuals in their own 
names, comprising tiie (Company. The hinds 
purchased by the HoiUmd Company comprised 
all of the western counties of the State of New 
York, and are known as the " Holland I'ur- 
chase." 

The Indian title to these lands having been 
extinguished by a treaty, made with them iu 
September, 1 797, at (ienesee, on the Genesee 
river, the Holland Company prepared to sur- 
vey them, and offer them for sale and settle- 
ment. Joseph Ellicott was employed to per- 
form this service. The survey was commenced 
in 1798, by running the eastern boundary of the 
" Purcjhase," which extended from the north 
line of the State of Pennsylvania to Lake 
Ontario. By reason of the variation and un- 
certainty of the magnetic needle, this line was 
run by an instrument with a telescope, and 
without a needle, but constructed so as to afford 
au accurate manner of reversing, made for the 
purpose by Benjamin Ellicott, (the brother of 
Josepli Ellicott) which possessed the peculiari- 
ties and properties of what was then known as 
the "transit" instrument, (used to observe the 
transit of the heavenly bodies). This instru- 
ment so constructed by Ijllicott, is believed to be 
the progenitor of the modern transits; an 
American instrument much used in American 
surveys, and more practical and expeditious in 
most surveys than the theodolite. 

The line thus run, known as the Transit line, 



constitutes the eastern boundary of the Holland 
purchase. It was a true meridian line, extend- 
ing north from the corner monument, estab- 
lished by the transit instrument, and astronom- 
ical observations to Lake Ontario. The lands 
of the Holland purchase were surveyed from 
this base line into townships and were situated 
iu ranges, running from south to north. The 
townships in each i-ange of townships, begin- 
ning at number one at the south, rising regular- 
ly in number to the north. The ranges in like 
manner, were numbered from the east, com- 
mencing at number one and ending with the 
fifteenth range. The county of Chautauqua 
comprises all of the townships of the 10th, 
11th, 12th, l;3th, 14th and 15th ranges. The 
townships were subdivided generally into six- 
ty-four lots, each of about three-fourths of a 
mile square, and consequently each lot contained 
about three hundred and sixty acres. The lots 
and the townships practically coidd not be laid 
off exactly uniform in shape and area. 

During the years 1799 and 1800, the sur- 
veyors and their assistants in diflerent parties, 
under the direction of Joseph Ellicott, camped 
in the dense forests that covered all of western 
New York, and prosecuted the survey of lands 
into townships until it was finished. The 
townships were afterwards surveyed by differ- 
ent parties into lots. The lands comprising the 
county of Chautauqua were among the later 
ones surveyed. 

As soon as the surveys were completed set- 
tlers began to appear at different points upon 
the Purchase, and to take up lands for settle- 
ment. Before proceeding to give a history in 
detail, of the settlement of Chautauqua county 
by the settlers who purchased lands of the Hol- 
land company, it will be necessary to give some 
account of such attempts at settlement, as were 
made immediatly previous to such purchase. 

Pioneer Settlement. — As a result of 
Sullivan and Broadhead's expeditions against 
the Indians in 1779, and the destruction of 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COr^NTY. 



tlieir towns, and of the products of their fields 
wliich was accomplished as their harvests were 
ripening, the Indians of the Genesee and Alle- 
gheny rivers were witliout shelter and withont 
food. The winter of 1779 and 1780, was one 
of unexampled severity. Such deep snows, 
and such ice, had not been known in the mem- 
ory of the oldest natives. Deer and turkios 
died in the woods for want of food by hun- 
dreds. Great numbers of Indians perished 
during the winter of cold and starvation. To 
escape general destruction, the Indians fled to 
Fort Niagara for shelter and relief There, to 
add to their desolation a fatal disease induced 
by unusual exposure swept them off in great 
numbers. As the Indians had freely shed their 
blood during the war, and now had suffered 
almost annihilation for their faithful adherence 
to the cause of the king, the British authorities 
could not without gross ingratitude omit to pro- 
vide for their relief. Large numbers of Indians 
had gathered around the fort, and along the 
river Niagara, and during the winter had fed 
from the British stores. To relieve themselves 
from this burden, the British Goveriunent en- 
couraged the Indians to establish themselves at 
convenient places, and obtain support by culti- 
vating the land. 

In Mayor June, 1780, they first permanently 
located themselves upon Buffalo creek, near 
Buffalo, and in 1780 and 1781, wiiile the Revo- 
lution was still in progress, a portion of them 
made the first settlement upon the Cattaraugus 
creek. When the Indian title to the lands of 
the Holland Land Company was extinguished 
in 1797, by the treaty made at Genesee, a 
reservation was made to the Indians of 425 
square miles in extent, lying on both sides of 
the Cattaraugus creek, near its mouth, embracing 
substantially the territory so settled by them. 
That part of the reservation that is situated in 
the county of Chautauqua, is incluiled in the 
town of Hanover. The establishment of these 
Indians along the border of the county was an 



approach towards settlement. They were 
further advanced in civilization than has been 
generally understood. Jiefore they were ex- 
])elled l)y the Americans from the Genesee and 
Upper Allegany, they lived by the cultivation 
of the soil, as well as by the chase. They dwelt 
in permanent villages, composed of comfortable 
houses, some of wliich were framed and painted, 
and even well fiu'uished. They had extensive 
fields of corn, gardens and orchards of apples, 
pears and even peaches ; one of which destroyed 
i)y{icneral Sullivan, contained one thousand 
five hundred trees. Having been reduced to 
want by the destructiou of their villages and 
crops, by the forces of Sullivan and Broadhead, 
they were compelled to dispense with many of 
the comforts and conveniences that they had 
formerly enjoyed, when they had established 
themselves in their new homes along the Catta- 
raugus and Allegheny, yet, they built log houses 
and began to make a few clearings for their 
crops. 

Deacon Hiudes Chamberlain, an early pioneer 
of Genesee comity, visited one of their villages 
on the Cattaraugus creek in 1792, and passed 
through Chautauqua county to Erie, Pennsyl- 
vania. As his narrative contains inter,esting 
facts concerning Buffalo and Erie, and particu- 
larly relating to the then unfre([uented, solitary 
region now known as Chautauqua county, we 
will insert it here: — 

"In 1792 I started from Scottsville with 
Jesse Beach and Reuben Heath ; went up 
Allen's creek, striking the Indian trail from 
Canawagus, where Le Roy now is. There was 
a beautifid Indian camping ground — tame grass 
had got in ; we staid all night. Pursuing the 
trail the next morning, we passed the Great 
Bend of the Tonawanda, and encamped at night 
at Dunham's Grove, and the next night near 
Buffalo. We saw one white man, Poudery, at 
Tonawanda village. We arrived at the mouth 
of Buffalo creek the next morning. There was 
but one white man there, I think ; his name 



SKETCH OF THE EAIU.Y HISTORY 



was Ninue, an Indian trader. His building 
stood first as you descend from tiie liigli ground. 
He liad rum, wliiskey, Indian knives, trinkets, 
etc. His lioiise was full of Indians; tiiey 
looked at us with a great deal of curiosity. 
We had but a poor night's rest; the Indians 
were in and out all night getting liquor. 

" Next day we went up the beach of the lake 
to the mouth of tlie Cattaraugus creek, where 
we encamped ; a wolf came down near our 
camp. We had seen many deer on our route 
during the day. The ne.xt morning we went up 
to the Indian village, found Black Joe's house, 
but he was absent ; he had, however, seen our 
track upon the beacli of the lake, and hurried 
home tosee white jjeople who were traversing the 
wilderness. The Indians stared at us ; Joe gave 
us room Avliere we should not be annoyed by 
Indian curiosity, and we staid with him over 
night. All he had to spare us in the way of 
food was some dried venison. He had liqui)r, 
Indian goods an<l bought furs. Joe treated us 
with so much civility that we staid with him till 
near noon. There was at least an hundred 
Indians and squaws gathered to see us. Among 
the rest, tiiere was sitting in Joe's house an old 
squaw and a young, delicate looking white girl 
with her, dressed like a squaw. I endeavored 
to find out something about her history, but 
could not. I think she had lost the use of our 
language. Slie seemed not inclined to be 
noticed. 

" With an Indian guide that Joe selected for 
us, we started upon the Indian trail for Presque 
Isle (Erie). Wayne was then fighting the In- 
dians. Our Indian guide often pointed to the 
west, saying, bad Indians there. 

" Between Cattaraugus and Erie, I shot a 
black snake, a racer, with a white ring around 
his neck. He was in a tree twelve feet from 
the ground, his body wound around the tree. 
He measured .seven feet and three inches. 

" At Presque Isle, we found neither whites 
nor Indians; all was solitary. There were 



some old French brick buildings, wells, block- 
hou.ses, etc., going to decay; eight or ten acres 
cleared land. On the peninsula, there was an 
old brick-house, forty or fifty feet square; the 
peninsula was covered with cranberries. 

" After .staying there one night we went over 
to Lo Bceuf, about sixteen miles distant, pursu- 
ing an old French road. Trees had grown up 
in it, but the track was distinct. Near Le 
BoHif we came upon a company of men who 
were cutting out the road to Presque Isle ; a 
part of them were soldiers and a part Pennsyl- 
vanians. At [je Boeuf there was a garri.son of 
soldiers — about one hundred, there were several 
white families there and a store of goods. 

'' Myself and companions were in pursuit of 
'and. By a law of Penn.sylvania, such as built 
a log-house, and cleared a few acres of land ac- 
quired a pre-emptive right ; the right to pur- 
cha.se at £5 per one hundred acres. We each 
of us made a location near Pre.sque Isle. 

" On our return to Presque Isle, from Le 
Bfpuf, we found there Col. Setli Reed and his 
family. They had just arrived. We stopped 
and helped him build some huts ; set up crotches; 
laid poles across and covered with bark of the 
cucumber tree. At first the Colonel had no 
floors ; afterwards he indulged in the luxury of 
floors made by laying down strips of bark. 
James Baggs and Giles Si.ssion came on with 
Col. Reed. I remained for a considerable of 
time in his employ. It was not long before 
eight or ten other families came in. 

" On our return we staid at Buffalo over 
night with Waine. There was at the time a 
great gathering of hunting parties of Indians 
tliere. Waine took from them all their knives 
and tomahawks, and then selling them liquors, 
they had a great carousal." 

During the French and Indian wars, and the 
war of the Revolution, white men, and occa- 
sionally a white woman, were made prisoners 
by the Indians, and were almost invariably well 
treated by them if they adopted them into their 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



tribes, luitable instances (if wliieli wei'e the cap- 
tives, Horatio Jones, Jasper Parisli and I\Iarv 
Jeiimiison. The wiiite girl tliat Deacon Chani- 
berlin saw at the numth of tlie Caitaraiigus un- 
doubtedly had a similar history. The prisoners 
so taken sometimes intermarried with the In- 
dians ; consequently, of those who settled along 
the Cattaraugus, many had white blood in their 
veins. Often traders and other white men, to 
whom the unrestrained and careless life of the 
Indians was attractive, voluntarily took up their 
residence among them, and adopted their modes 
of life. Of the persons of this character was 
Amos Settle, or Sawtel. He was born in Ver- 
mont. In his early life he moved to Chenango 
county. New York, and afterwards for a time, it 
is quite probable, lived with the Indians. It is 
believed that in 1797, when he was about 
twenty-three years of age, he located within the 
limits of Chautauqua, then Ontario county, on 
the rich bottom lauds near the Cattaraugus creek, 
about one and one-half miles from its mouth, 
upon lands subsequently laid out by the Hol- 
land Land Company, and numbered as lot Gl 
of Cattaraugus village, and not far from the 
Indian settlements along the creek. It is said 
tiiat he had a shanty or cabin there in 1707, in 
which he lived alone, whether with tlie inten- 
tion of becoming a regular settler there is not 
certainly known. It is probable that he made 
but little if auy improvements, for the year fol- 
lowing we find him in the employment of the 
Holland Land Company. He continued in its 
employ during the years 1798 and 1799. He 
was an axman under Amzi Atwater, a principal 
surveyor. While surveying as such he assisted 
in running what is now the line between Chau- 
tauqua and Cattaraugus counties. In the fall 
of the year 1799 Sottle went to Ohio, then a 
part of the northwestern teiTitory, where he 
served for a while in a similar capacity in the 
surveys of that region. During the year 1800 
it is probaljle that no white man was domiciled 
within the limits of the county. Sottle remained 



away from Chautauqua perhaps n((t later than 
1801 or 1802, and then returned to the Catta- 
raugus bottom, accompanied by William CJ. 
Sidney, who built a small log house for the 
entertainment of travelers, and ferried emigrants 
across the creek. No ])urchase of lands, how- 
ever, was made by either of them. 

About this time an effectual settlement of the 
county was Ijeing made thirty miles away, in its 
northwestern part. In the year 1801 John 
McMalian made a contract with the Holland 
Land Company for the purchase of 22,000 
acres of land in the town of Westfield, for 
which he agreed to pay |55,000, or $2.50 per 
acre. The site upon which is built the village 
of Westfield was included in this purchase. 
The same year Colonel James McMahan, his 
brother, ])urchased within the limits of this 
tract a lot a short di.stance west of the village of 
Westfield, at the Old Cross Roads, so-called 
from the fact of its having been the point where 
the rude road or trail between Buffalo and Erie 
was crossed by the old I'ortage road that had 
been cut out by the French more than half a 
centui-y before. He also i)urchased a little more 
than 4000 acres in the town of Rijiley. 

Colonel James McMahan was born in Nor- 
thumberland county, in Pennsylvania, in March, 
17(i8. His father was born in Ireland. Pre- 
vious to 1795, he had surveyed in the region 
near Lake Erie. For six months each year 
that he .surveyed there, he would see no white 
persons, ex(-ept his assistants. He was survey- 
ing there in 1794, when Wayne defeated the 
Indians in the decisive battle on the Maumee 
river. During this war the frontiers of Penn- 
sylvania suffered from the incursions of the 
Indians, their hostile visits extending to the 
country along the borders of Chautaucjua 
county. One of McMahan's chain-bearers was 
shot and scalped by the Indians as he and his 
men were returning to their canq), near the 
m'jutii of tlie Broken Straw. Col. IVIcMahan, 
having in 1795, explored some parts of the 



.'SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



county, with a view to a resideuce, came again 
in 1801, to finally select lands foJ' a residence. 
Besides the land above mentioned, purchased 
by him at the Old Cross Roads, he purchased 
4000 acres in what is now the town of Ripley. 

Colonel McMahan was accompanied in his 
journey in 1801, by Andrew Straub, a I'eim- 
sylvania German. In that year Straub built a 
log house a little east of the village of West- 
field, ou what was known as Straub's creek. 
He made clearings and resided there for many 
years. Stones from his fire-place, and other 
relics of his house, have been found in later 
years. Straub had no family and did not at 
that time obtain any title to his lands. 

Settlement continued. 1802. Previous 
to the year 1802, the region that is now Chau- 
taucpia county, was the town of Northumber- 
land, Ontario county. Ontario county then in- 
cluded all of western New York. On the .30th 
of March, 1802, by an act of tlie legislature, 
the county of Genesee was erected from Onta- 
rio. It embraced substantially all of the State 
lying west of the Genesee river, and the county 
of Steuben. What is now Chautauqua county, 
was made by this act to be included in the town 
of Batavia, in the county of Genesee. 

In the spring of 1802, Col. James McMahan 
cleared, planted and sowed ten acres of land, 
and built a log house. A little later in 1802, 
Edward McHenry, of Northumberland county, 
Pennsylvania, at the solicitation of James Mc- 
Mahan, came with his family and settled at 
the Old Cross Roads, upon an adjoining tract, 
and commenced soon after to keep a house of 
entertainment for emigrants travelling west- 
ward. A wagon road was opened this year 
from BulTalo as far west as the Chautauqua 
creek by General Paine, who was in the em- 
ploy of the State of Connecticut, to enable emi- 
grants to reach the " Western Reserve " in 
Ohio, the land there being owned by the State 
of Connecticut. 

A few months after WcHenry's arrival at 



the Old Cross road, on the 28tli of August, 
1802, his son John McHenry was born. This 
is an event of interest, as he was the first white 
child born within the limits of the county. In 
the fall of the same year, and after the arrival 
of McHenry, McMahan removed his family in- 
to the log house above mentioned, that he had 
previously built. Still later, the same year, 
David Kincaid settletl north of McHenry on 
lot 14. 

Thus \\as commenced the settlement of West- 
field. The first substantial improvement made 
in the county was made by McMahan. His, 
was the first improvement of any description, 
made by a person having a legal right to the 
soil upon which it was made, although Sottle, 
Sidney, Straub, and McHenry were perhaps all 
domiciled in the county, prior to the arrival of 
the family of McMahan in the fall of 1802. 

The silence of the forests that everywhere 
covered Chautauqua county from time im- 
memorial, for the first time was now broken, 
and the long and savage reign of wild beast and 
Indian came to an end, and a permanent settle- 
ment effected. Yet this settlement was at this 
time isolated by a long stretch of forest from 
its nearest neighbors. The openings in the 
woods that at that time had been made by the 
ax of the settler, were mere specks in the great 
wilderness that covered this western region. 
The nearest habitations of white men east of the 
Old Cross Roads, with the exception of the 
cabin of Sottle and Avery at Cattaraugus 
creek, was the little collection of houses at New 
Amsterdam, now the city of Buffalo, over sixty 
miles away, while to the west, the nearest 
settlements were in the county of Erie, in the 
state of Penn.sylvania. The nearest settlers to 
the south, were a few scattering families at AVar- 
ren, in the state of Pennsylvania. 

1803. In 1803, the settlers came in rapidly 
at, and near the Old Cross Roads. Arthur 
Bell in January, Christopher Didl in June, 
James Montgomery in July, and \\^m. Cnl- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



bertson, (Jeorgeand Joliii Degeer, and Jeiriiiiali 
George. 

An event of iniportanee oecnned tliis year, 
a sad accident, by wliieli tlie little community 
at the Ooss Roads was deprived of one of its 
earliest fonnders. Mr. McHenry and two 
others, departed from the mouth of Chautauqua 
creek, (now Barcelona) upon Lake Erie, in a 
small l)oat in a voyage to the settlement at 
Erie, to obtain a supply of provisions for bis 
tavern, at tiie Cross Roads. Upon their way, 
a storm arose which upset the boat and 
McHenry was drowned. His two companions 
saved themselves by clinging to the bottom of 
tiie boat. The body of McHenry was never re- 
covered. This wiLs the first death of a white 
person residing iu the county. Joseph Badger 
who was attending a meeting of the Erie 
Presbytery, at Colt's Station in Pennsylvania, 
came to the Cross Roads and took ciiarge of the 
funeral services, and preached the first funeral 
sermon in the county. The widow McHenry, 
continued to keep the tavern at the Cross Roads 
after the death of her husband. 

Charles Avery, it is quite probable, lived at 
" Cattaraugus Village," as the Cattaraugus 
Bottoms were called, during this year, and per- 
haps at an earlier date. Others also are believed 
to have lived there before Avery came. There is, 
however, no record of any purchase of land by 
any one prior to the close of 180.'5, and no clear 
account has been preserved of the residence of 
persons there before the close of that year, un- 
less it was those of Sottle and Sidney, so that, 
up to the end of the year 1803, no other settle- 
ments had been made in the county of Chau- 
tauqua, except that at the Old Cross Roads, 
which has since grown into the large and 
wealthy village of Westfield, now one of the 
most beautiful in western New York, and that 
at Cattaraugus, which had been surveyed into 
village lots by the Holland company, with the 
belief, in view of its situation upon the Cattar- 
augus creek, that it might be made a great 



manul'acturiiig place, and become of much im- 
portance as the county developed. No other 
])laccs were regarded of such consequence by 
the company, as to entitle them to be surveyed 
into village lots, except Barcelona and May- 
ville. Cattaraugus is now represented by the 
village of Irving, llpjier Irving was formerly 
known as La (Jrange. 

To the towns of Westfield and Hanover be- 
longs the distinction of being the first settled in 
the county. Of the other villages of Hanover, 
Silver Creek was settled in 1804 or 180;"). 
David Dickinson, Abel Cleveland and John 
E. Howard were the earliest settlers. Captain 
Jehiel Moore built a saw-mill in 1808 at Eor- 
estville, and afterwards a grist-mill. In 1809 
he moved his family there. This constituted 
tiic first settlemenl of that village. Barcelona, 
in the town of AVestfield, w:us first .settled by 
John McrMahan, the brother of James Mc- 
Mahan, nwr the mouth of the Chautauqua 
creek, upon a tract selected by John. Barce- 
lona, in early years, was a place of some im- 
portance. It was made a port of entry, a light 
house w^as erected, and a steamboat built for 
the transportation of freight and 2)assenger.s, 
and for awhile it was a place of considerable 
trade. 

1S()4. — Although at the beginning of the 
year 1804 there were no settlements made in 
the county, other than those made at the Old 
Cross Roads and at Cattaraugus village, before 
its close settlements had been commenced in 
nearly every town lying north of the Ridge. 
A few more settlers came that year to the Old 
Cross Roads. John McMahan built the first 
grist-mill erected in the county ; it was built 
one-fourth of a mile above the mouth of the 
Chautauqua creek. At that time the nearest 
mills at which the peo])lc could obtain grinding 
were at Erie, Penn.sylvania, and Black Rock, 
on the Niagara river. Mr. Dickinson .soon 
erected a .saw-mill at Silver Creek. To its saw 
gate was attached a pestle, by which corn was 



SKETCH OF rUE EARLY IlfSTORY 



pounded for food iu a mortar, made by digging 
and burning out the eud of a log. John Mc- 
Muhau al.so, a little later than the building of 
the grist-mill, and in 1804, built the first saw- 
mill erected in the county. 

This year Charles Avery and William Sid- 
ney purchased lands at Cattaraugus village. 
Sidney kept the ferry at the creek, and Avery 
kept a small assortment of goods for trade with 
the Indians. This year Caroline, daughter of 
William Sidney, was born. She was the first 
wliitc child born at Cattaraugus village, and 
her father was the first person to die there. 

The settlement at the Old Cross Roads and 
at Cattaraugus creek were soon followed by that 
at Fredonia, which at first was called Canada- 
way, deriving its name from the stream which 
has its source among the hills of Charlotte and 
Arkwright, and that brawls through dark 
chasms past the pleasant village of Fredonia to 
Lake Erie. 

The Indians who resorted there during the 
hunting season (the remains of their bark-cov- 
ered cabins were to be seen along the flats 
around Fredonia by the first comere) gave it the 
beautiful name Ga-na-da-wa-o, which means, in 
the Seneca tongue, " running through the hem- 
locks," iu allusion to the sombre evergreens that 
border its banks, casting their deep shade 
over its wild and rocky passage. The early 
settlers used the less musical pronunciation, 
Canadaway. At Ganadawao, or Canadaway, as 
the white men called it, the settlement of the 
town of Pom fret was made about 1804. 

Thomas McClintock was born iu Northum- 
berland county, Pennsylvania, in 1768. He 
emigrated to Erie county, Pennsylvania, iu 
1798 or 1799. In 1804 he built a cabin at 
Canadaway, upon land that he had located in 
December of thv year before. 

David Eason was also Ijorn in Northumber- 
land county in 1771. He became the first 
sheriff of the county in 1811, and in 1823 or 
1824 a member of tiie State Senate. He also 



built a log cabin at Canadaway, about the same 
time that McClintock came. He was then un- 
married. These were the only persons residing 
in Pomfret in the year 1804. Fredonia grew 
up where this settlement was made, and soon 
became the largest village in tlie county. It 
held its importance for many 3'ears. It was 
early the leading educational village. In 1817 
the Chautauqua Gazctk, the first newspaper of 
the county, was published here. Here, in 1824, 
the P"'redonia Academy, the first institution of 
learning in the county, higher than the com- 
mon school, was established. The Fredonia 
Academy was for many years one of the best 
known and most important schools in western 
New York. Jlany citizens remember with 
gratitude the stimulus for the acquisition of 
knowledge that they received at this institution 
of learning, and some eminent and distinguished 
men and women laid the foundations of their 
knowledge here. The first term of this school 
commenced October 1, 1826. The venerable 
Austin Smith, now of Westfield, long a leading 
lawyer and respected citizen of the county, was 
its first principal. In 1868 the Fredonia 
Academy was merged in the well-known Nor- 
mal and Training school. 

Sheridan was settled this 3'ear by Francis 
Webber and others. 

The town of Ripley was first settled this 
year by Alexander Cochran, a native of Ire- 
land. He took up his residence about a mile 
west of Qui ucy. 

The town of Ciiautiuiqua, wiiich lies at the 
head of Chautauqua Lake, and joins the North- 
ern with the Southern towns of the county, was 
also first settled in 1804 by Dr. Ale.xander Mc- 
lutyre. He erected a log hut near the steam- 
boat landing, at Mayville. He, in early life, 
was captured by the Indians, who cut oft' the 
veins of his ears. He resided with them 
many years, and acquired their habits, and 
claimed to have derived his skill in the healing 
art from his intercourse with them. Judge 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



Wm. Peacock settled at Mayville in 1810, as ^ 
the first agent of the Holland Land Company, 
for the sale of its lands in Chautauqua coun- 
ty and a part of Cattaraugus. Chautauqua was ! 
organized as a county in 1811, and Mayville 
was designated as its county-seat by Isaac 
Sutherland, Jonas Williams and Asa Ransom, 
commissioners appointed for that purpose, and 
since then has been the capital of the county. 
The house of John Scott, in Mayville, was 
designated as the place for holding the first 
courts, until the court house should be built. 
In 1815 a court house and jail was com- 
pleted. It was a two-story frame building ; 
the lower story contained two cells for crim- 
inals, and one for debtors. It cost the county 
about $1500. The present court house and 
jail were erected about the year 1835. The 
village of Chautauqua, the seat of the Chau- 
tauqua Assembly, and of the Famous Semin- 
ary school, and Point Chautauqua, the cele- 
brated summer resort, are situated in this 
town. 

On the 11th of April, 1804, by an act of the 
Legislature, the town of Batavia, which included 
within its limits all of the present comity of 
Chautauqua, was divided into four towns, viz. : 
Batavia, Erie, Willink and Chautauqua. Pre- 
vious to this date the voters residing within the 
present limits of the county of Chautauqua, de- 
siring to vote at a general election or at town- 
meetings, were obliged to go to Batavia, a dis- 
tance of nearly one hundred miles, by forest 
paths. How many, if any, availed themselves 
of this privilege, we are not informed. The 
act provided that the first town-meeting should 
be held at the house of the widow McHenry. 
The town of Erie, by the provisions of this law, 
included, with other territory, the following 
towns of Chautauqua county, to wit : Carroll, 
Poland, Ellington, Cherry Creek, Villanova 
and a jjart of Hanover. The remaining towns 
constituted the town of Chautauqua. 

1805. — The year 1805 brought many set- 
39 



tiers to the town of Pomfret. In February of 
that year came Zattu Cushing with his family. 
He was born at Plymouth, Mass., in 1770. 
He was a sliip-builder, and had been employed 
in 1798 or 1799 to superintend the building of 
the ship "Good Intent" at Presque Isle, near 
Erie. On his return to the East, he passed 
along the shore of Chautauqua Lake, through 
the forests of Chautauqua county. He was 
pleased with the country, and selected for pur- 
chase the land at Canadaway, which is now the 
site of the village of Fredonia. Upon his ar- 
rival there, he found the land that he had 
chosen was occupied by Thomas McClintock, 
the first settler. He afterwards purchased this 
land of McClintock, who removed to the town 
of Westfield. Mr. Cushing was a respected 
and leading man of the county. He was ap- 
pointed its first judge, and served as such for 
thirteen years. He was the grandfather of the 
intrepid Alonzo H. Cushing, who fell at Get- 
tysburg, and William B. Cushing, the hero of 
many exploits, chief of which was the destruc- 
tion of the " Albemarle," and whicli have 
placed his name beside the names of Paul 
Jones and Perry in the roll of honor. 

Later in the same year that Judge Cushing 
became a settler of the county, there came to 
what is now Pomfret, Eliphalet and Augustus 
Burnham, Samuel Davis, Samuel Perry, Sam- 
uel Green, Benjamin Barrett and Benjamin 
Barnes, and settled along the Canadaway. 

The town of Dunkirk was first settled this 
year by Seth Cole, of Oneida county, at the 
mouth of the Canadaway creek. Cole came 
with his family, accompanying Judge Cushing 
from the East. 

The town of Portland was also first settled 
in 1805 by Captain James Dean, from near 
Meadville, Pa. He built his shanty near the 
Lake Shore and Michigan Southern railroad, 
near the village of Centerville. 

This year, for the first time, settlement was 
made in the region lying south of the ridge. 



SKETCH OF THE EAliLY HISTORY 



Until the year 1805 that part of the county 
lying south of the ridge had remained an un- 
broken wilderness. No white man had taken 
up his residence there, and it was little ex- 
plored, except by the surveyors who had run 
the township lines. The nearest approacii of 
settlement to this region was that made by a 
few scattered families at Warren, in the State 
of Pennsylvania, and that made by Dr. Mcln- 
tyre at the head of the lake. A rude woods- 
road had been cut about the year 1804 from 
the Pennsylvania line to the shore of Chautau- 
qua Lake, near the mouth of Goose Creek in 
Harmony, which was called the Miles road. 
The pine and other valuable timber that 
covered a large portion of the lands in the 
southern part of the county, was brought to 
the notice of the more hardy pioneers and 
enterprising men of the more settled regions 
of the east, by the surveyors and explorers that 
traversed it. The Allegheny and Conewango, 
and their tributaries, afforded the facilities of 
transporting the lumber to Pittsburgh and still 
more southern markets, and invited a settlement 
of this region. 

Dr. Thomas R. Kennedy, of Meadville, Pa., 
who had married a niece of Joseph Ellicott, 
with a view to engaging in the business of manu- 
facturing and transporting lumber for sale, pur- 
chased of the Holland Land Company 3000 
acres of unsurveyed lands, which included what 
is now the village of Kennedy, in the town of 
Poland, commenced the erection of a saw-mill, 
the material for the erection of which, and pro- 
visions for the hands, were brought in boats up 
the Allegheny and Conewango rivers. The mill 
was raised in October, 1805, by men from 
Warren, Pennsylvania. Tliis was the first be- 
ginning of a settlement south of the Ridge, and 
the first commencement of the lumber business 
that was so extensively carried on for three- 
quarters of a century in this county. 

180C). — The year 1806 witnessed the settle- 
ment of the county at many new points south 



of the Ridge. William Wilson that year built 
a log-house upon tiie outlet of Chautauqua Lake, 
and James Culbertson settled the same year, it 
is said, at the confluence of the outlet of Ciiau- 
tauqua Lake with the Cassadaga Creek. These 
were the first settlements made in the town of 
Ellicott. 

Tliis year William Prendergast settled on the 
west side of Chautauqua Lake, in the town of 
Chautauqua. Of his thirteen sons and daugh- 
ters nearly all of them became residents of the 
county. The sons who came, without exception 
were prominent and influential citizens, liolding 
during many years important official positions. 
Considering the wealth, number and respecta- 
bility of this family, and of its descendants, it 
was perhaps tiie most important and influential 
in the county during the early years of its his- 
tory. The circumstances attending the coming 
of the Prendergasts to the county are quite in- 
teresting. He emigrated from Van Rensselaer 
county in the spring of 1805, with the intention 
of locating in the State of Tennessee. Mr. 
Prendergast and his four sons and five daugh- 
ters, his sons-in-law and grandchildren and 
slave Tom, in all twenty-nine persons, in four 
canvas-covered wagons, some drawn by four 
horses, set out on their journey, and traveled in 
this way through Pennsylvania as far as Wheel- 
ing, when they embarked on a flat-boat and de- 
scended the river to Louisville ; they traveled 
thence to a point near Nashville, the place of 
their intended location, but were dissatisfied 
with the country and the people, and at once 
turned back and traveled in their wagons 
through Kentucky, Ohio and Pennsylvania, to 
Erie, where they arrived in the fall of 1805. 
Here they resolved to settle around Chautauqua 
Lake, which some of their number had visited 
a few years before. The father and the most of 
the party passed the winter in Canada, but re- 
turned during the year 1806 and settled near 
Chautauqua, on the west side of the lake, not 
far from the Chautauqua Assembly Grounds. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTY. 



Several of the family took separate tracts of 
land near each other, which iu tlie aggregate 
amounted to over 3000 acres. 

William Bemus, who was born at Bemiis 
Heights, Saratoga connty, New York ; a son- 
in-law of William Prendergast, was one of his 
companions iu the journey of the family to 
Tennessee. He this year, (1806) settled in the 
town of Ellery, on the east side of Chautauqua 
Lake at Beraus Point. He, and Jeremiaii 
Griffith, who located further down the lake, 
were the first settlers of the town of Ellery. 

This year, Thomas Bemus, the son of Wil- 
liam Bemus above mentioned, became the first 
settler of the town of Harmony. He settled 
at the Narrows, on lot 54, opposite his father's 
passessions at Bemus Point. He built a cabin 
and commenced clearing. Jonathan Cheney 
settled iu the northeast part of the town, the 
next year. The town of Harmony, which is 
the largest in the county, was before this event 
a dense wilderness, scarcely visited by white 
men. Aside from the settlers above mentioned, 
no others came in, until several years later. 

North of the Ridge, during the year 1806, 
settlement proceeded rapidly. That year Cap- 
tain John Mack came to Cattaraugus village, 
and purchased the Sidney claim, including the 
primitive tavern, and ferry, of the widow 
Sidney ; the husband having died a short time 
before. Mack was an enterprising man, with i 
some pecuniary means. He constructed a 
larger, and safer conveyance for tlie transporta- 
tion of teams across the Cattaraugus creek, and 
provided better conveniences for the accommo- 
dation of travelers. He kept the property for 
many years, and was well-known to the early 
settlers. A large portion of the pioneers of 
the county had been conducted into it over his 
ferry, and had been first entertained within its 
limits, at his house. He may be said to have 
been for many years the gate keeper of the 
county. 

The close of 180(3 witnessed a large increase 



in the popiihition of the county. A post route 
was estaldished between Buffalo Creek and 
Presque Isle, and a post-office at the Cross 
Roads, with James McMahan as postmaster, 
and another near the present town of Sheridan, 
with Orsamus Holmes as postmaster. In 1806, 
for the first time, mails were carried over the 
route once in two weeks, by John Metcalf, on 
foot — at first, it is said, in a pocket handker- 
chief, and afterwards in a hand-bag. John Mc- 
Mahan this year represented the town of Chau- 
tau(jua, which then comprised the whole county, 
as its supervisor at the meeting of the Board of 
Supervisors for Genesee county, at Batavia. 

1807. — In 1807 a settlement was made iu 
the northeast part of the town of Arkwright, 
by Abiram Orton, afterwards for several years 
associate justice of the county, and also by Ben- 
jamin Perry and Augustus Burnham. 

Settlement was also made of the town of 
Kiantone, by Joseph Akin, on the Stillwater 
Creek. 

This year Elijah Risley, Sr., settled at Cau- 
adaway. He was a soldier of the Revolution. 
He has many descendants residing in the county ; 
among them have been many of the most hon- 
orable and influential of its citizens. 

Tills year a general election was for the first 
time held in the county, at which si.xty-nine 
votes were polled for governor, of which Daniel 
D. Tompkins received forty-one and Morgan 
Lewis received twenty-eight votes. 

John McMahan this year represented the 
town of Chautauqua at Batavia, on the Board 
of Supervisors of the county of Genesee. 

1808. — In 1808 the Legislature divided the 
county of Genesee into the counties of Genesee, 
Niagara, Cattaraugus and Chautauqua, giving 
to the county of Chautauqua its present bound- 
aries. It was, however, provided by this act 
that Chautauqua should remain a part of Niag- 
ara for judicial and municipal purposes until it 
should contain five hundred taxable inhabitants, 
qualified to vote for members of Assembly, to 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



be determined by the Board of Supervisors of 
Niagara, from tlie assessment roll for Chautau- 
qua. The Legislature at the same time created 
the new town of Pomfret, which comprised the 
present towns of Hanover, Yillanova, Cherry 
Creek, Ellington, Poland, Carroll, Kiantone, 
Gerrv, Charlotte, Arkwright, Sheridan, Pomfret, 
Dunkirk and a part of Busti, and also the cities 
of Dunkirk and Jamestown. The remaining 
towns of the county constituted the town of 
Chautauqua. A town-meeting was held this 
year, at the house of Elisha j\Iann, which was 
opened by prayer by the Rev. John Spencer, 
the early missionary. Philo Ortoa was elected 
supervisor of the new town of Pomfret ; John 
S. Bellows, town clerk ; Richard AVilliams, 
Justin Hinman and John E. Howard, assessors ; 
Samuel Berry, Abiram Orton and John Mack, 
commissioners of highways; Zattu Cushing 
and Orsamus Holmes, overseers of the poor, 
and George W. Pierce, constable and collector. 

Two supervisors from Chautauqua this year 
met with the board of supervisors of Niagara 
county, at the village of Buffalo. 

Philo Orton, the first supervisor of the town 
of Pomfret, was born in the town of Tyringham, 
Massachusetts, September 9, 1778. He settled 
at Canadaway in 1806. He was a practical 
surveyor. He was supervisor of Pomfret eleven 
years, served as county judge many years, and 
was once chosen presidential elector. 

Arthur Bell, the supervisor of the town of 
Chautauqua, was born at Paxton, Dauphin 
countv. Pa. He served three years in the war 
yf the Revolution. 

In 1808 a store was opened at Canadaway 
by Elijah Risley, Jr., and another at Cattaraugus 
village. 

IgQj). — 111 1809 Joel Tyler settled in Carroll, 
and probably Isaac Walton and Charles Boyles 
also. This year, or the following, George W. 
Fenton became a resident of the town. His 
sou, Reuben E. Fenton, was twice elected gov- 
ernor of the State of New York, and afterwards 



cliosen United States senator from that State. 
Governor Feuton was born in the town of Car- 
roll, July 4, 1819. 

Charlotte was settled in the spring of 1809 
by John and Daniel Pickett, and Arva O. Aus- 
tin, in the northwestern part, and a little later 
in the year by Robert W. Seaven, at Charlotte 
Center. Major Samuel Sinclair,' cousin of Jona- 
than Cilley, a member of Congress from Maine, 
killed in a celebrated duel at Bladensburg by 
Graves, and nephew of Gen. Joseph Cilley, of 
revolutionary fame, in 1809 erected the body of 
a log house at Sinclairville, and the next year 
founded that village. From him it derives its 
name. Madison Burnell, a distinguished lawyer 
of western New York, was born in this town. 

Stockton was probably settled in 1809, but 
i we have not the record sufficiently accurate to 
certainly desiguate the names of its settlers of 
that year. 

In 1809 Thomas Prendergast, a son of Wil- 
liam Prendergast, represented the town of 
Chautauqua, and Philo Orton represented the 
town of Pomfret on the Niagara board of super- 
visors. 

1810. — The town of Busti was settled by 
John L. Frank, on lot 61, and Uriah Bently in 
the north part of the town. ]Many others came 
the succeeding year. George Stoneman, a dis- 
tinguished general in the war of the Rebellion, 
and afterwards governor of California, was born 
in this town. 

This year the town of Gerry was settled by 
Stephen Jones and Amos Atkins. They settled 
in the northern part of the town, near Sinclair- 
ville. William Alversou, Hezekiah Myers, 
Hezekiah Catlin and Porter Phelps, in 1815, 
made the first settlement near the village of 
Gerry. Major General John M. Scofield, the 
commanding officer of the armies of the United 
States, was born in this town, near the village 
of Sinclairville. 

Villanova was settled in 1810, by David 
Whipple, John Kent and Eli Arnold. 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUyTV. 



Tliese two cities, Dunkirk and Jamestown, 
were also settled during this year. 

The City of Dunkirk. — The towu of Dun- 
kirk was settled at the mouth of tiie Canadaway 
creek, by Setli Cole, in 1805, and Timothy 
Goulding came a few years later and settled 
about a mile west of Dunkirk Harbor. But 
few settlers came to this town for the first 
twenty years, and no one settled upon the present 
site of the city of Dunkirk until about four or 
five years after Cole came there. 

The first settlement made in the city of Dun- 
kirk, it is believed, was in the year 1810, by 
Solomon Chadwick. He came to Dunkirk 
Harbor with his family, from Madison county, 
New York, in February of that year. He was 
born in Weston. Massachusetts, about the year 
1778, and died at Perrysburgh, Cattaraugus 
county. New York, aged about eighty-seven 
years. Luther Goulding, Daniel Pier and Wil- 
liam Gaylord came soon after Chadwick. In 
1810 the first vessel was brought into the harbor 
by Samuel Perry. No towu, however, grew up 
until many years later. It was known as Chad- 
wick bay. 

In 1816 and 1817 a company composed of 
Isaiah and John Townsend, De Witt Clinton 
and William Thorn, bought a large tract of 
land now included in the present site of the 
city, and in 1818, at an expense of about §20,- 
000, built a wharf and ware-house at the foot of 
Center street, and erected a hotel and other' 
buildings. It was now given the name Dun- 
kirk, at the suggestion of Elisha Jenkins, who 
was interested in this company, and who had 
previously been the Secretary of State of the 
State of New York. It was so called from a 
harbor of that name on the coast of France, 
which it was supposed to resemble, where Wil- 
liam Jenkins had once resided. 

In 1825 this company sold out one half of 
its interest to AValter Smith, one of the most en- 
terprising and energetic citizens that has ever 
lived in the county, and the most efficient pro- 



moter of the interests of Dunkirk in its early 
years. The village of Dunkirk then had only 
about fifty inhabitants. In 1827, the first ex- 
jjcnditure of public money was made by way 
of facilitating navigation and improvement of 
the harbor. The sum of $4,000 was appropri- 
ated by Congress for the construction of a light- 
house, and $3,000 the next year for the 
construction of a breakwater. Dunkirk now 
rapidly increased in poi)ulation,and is supposed 
to have had one thousand inhabitants in 1830. 

In 1833, Mr. Smith sold out his half interest 
to men in the city of New York, and bought 
the other half interest of the company. This 
year, the New York and Erie Eailroad 
company was organized. In 1834 it was sur- 
veyed and Dunkirk was fixed as the termina- 
tion of the road upon Lake Erie. Many years 
of doubt and despondency pas.sed before the 
road was completed. In the meantime, Dun- 
kirk made slow progress in the increase of its 
population and material prosperity. Yet in 
1827, it was incorporated as a village, and the 
same year the Dunkirk academy was incorpo- 
rated. Calamities befell Dunkirk, which even 
grew out of the bright prospects that seemed to 
lie before it. The effect of the land speculations, 
rife throughout the country, upon Dunkirk, is 
thus described in the often cjuoted comments of 
Judge E. F. Warren, in his Historical Sketches 
of Chautauqua county : — 

''The speculations in real estate, which were 
at their height during this period, and which 
have resulted in such incalculable injury to the 
interests of the whole people, affected the village 
of Dunkirk more seriously than any other point 
in the county. The termination of the New 
York and Erie railroad at this place, pointed it 
out to those most deeply affected with the con- 
tagion, as a spot on which operations of the 
kind might be carried on, for a while at least, 
with success. The rage for corner lots and 
eligible sites, was rife, and ran to so high apitch, 
that men of all pursuits, farmers, mechanics. 



724 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



merchants, lawyers, and even ministers of the 
gospel, embarked upon the wild sea, without 
rudder or ballast, with nothing to propel them 
but a whirlwind, that soon scattered them in 
broken fragments upon a lee shore. 

"The general result has been a stagnation of 
trade, depreciation in the prices of all kinds of 
property, the ruin and entire prostration of 
many families who had been in prosperous cir- 
cumstances, and on the high road to competence 
and even independence, and the hopeless bank- 
ruptcy of thousands of others. Though affected 
to a greater degree, this village was not alone 
in its madness. Most of the other villages were 
more or less influenced by the mauia that 
swept over the land, and suffered in proportion 
to the extent of their operations." 

About fourteen miles of the New York and 
Erie Railroad had been graded eastward from 
Dunkirk, and about eight miles of rails had 
been laid, when the work was abandoned. 
Years of depression followed, in which Dun- 
kirk neither increased in wealth, nor in popu- 
lation. Even many of its buildings weot par- 
tially into decay. Work was at last resumed, 
and the great undertaking finally consummated 
by the opening of the road to Dunkirk, May 
14,1851. This, at the time, was the greatest 
railroad enterprise that had ever been under- 
taken. 44.3i miles of railroad had been built, 
then the longest in the world. 

The completion of the railroad was a subject 
of general rejoicing by all the people of the 
county, as well as by the citizens of Dunkirk. 
Its completion was celebrated at Dunkirk by 
15,000 people, a great number to assemble in 
that, then sparsely settled region. It was an 
event of national importance, and many of the 
most distinguished men of the country, honored 
the occasion with their presence, among whom 
were Millard Fillmore, then President of the 
United States; Daniel Webster, Secretary of 
State; William A. Graham, Secretary of Navy ; 
Nathan K. Hall, Postmaster-General; John 



J. Crittenden, Attorney-general ; Washington 
Hunt, Governor of the State of New York ; 
Ex-Gov. AVm. L. Marcy, Senators W, H. Sew- 
ard and Hamilton Fish, also Stephen A. Doug- 
las, Daniel S. Dickenson, Christopher Morgan, 
Lieut.-Gov. G. AV. Patterson, and many other 
eminent citizens of the country. 

The future prosperity of Dunkirk was now 
assured. Since then it has suffered many ser- 
ious mishaps. For a period of time it trans- 
acted much lake business, but the withdrawal 
of the Erie line of steamers many years ago, 
and the discontinuance of the freight transfer 
business of the road, diminished its importance 
as a lake port, and the many fires that occurred, 
in former years, materially injured its pros- 
pects. It has, however, survived this series of 
disasters, and has steadily, although at times 
slowly, increased in wealth and population. 
The completion of the Bufflilo and State Line 
railroad in 1852, the Dunkirk, Warren and 
Pittsburgh road in 1871, and the later lines of 
roads through the city, has made it the pri nci- 
pal railroad town of the county. It also sup- 
jrorts many thriving and important manufac- 
turing establishments. Its vitality is evidenced 
by the energy with which, in the past, it has 
overcome the many misfortunes that have be- 
fallen it. 

It is the first city to be incorporated in the 
county. It now has water works, electric 
lights, and is soon to be connected with the 
neighboring village of Fredonia by electric 
cars. Its population by the census of 1890 was 
! 141(3. 

The City of Jamestown. — The city of 
Jamestown is three miles .squai-e, and contains 
nine square miles of territory. It is situated 
on both sides of the outlet to Chautauqua Lake. 
It is built upon drift-hills and in the vallies 
between them. The drift-hills are composed 
of masses of debris, piled up by glaciers, which 
once moved from the north in a southerly 
direction pushing beneath tiiem the earthy 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



matter, loosened and gathered mainly from the 
hills to the northward. As the glacier moved 
southward it filled up the channel of the old 
outlet to Chautauqua Lake, extending on a 
line north of the cemetery and nearly along the 
course of Moon's creek towards Falconers. As 
the glacier moved on southward of tliis old 
channel, it bore with it the mass of sand, 
gravel and stones that compose the hills that 
form the site of the town, and gradually 
crowded the outlet southward until at the 
close of the ice period its course was where we 
find it now. Its channel bent somewhat in the 
form of a loop, indicates that it has been taken 
out of its original course by the glacier. The 
outlet running in this new channel through 
long epochs of time, has steadily worn a passage 
through the drift down to the natural rock 
beneath it, lowering the waters of the lake as it 
deepened, until now, it occupies its compara- 
tively narrow limits. 

If James Prendergast, the founder of James- 
town, had been seeking a fine prospect for a 
residence or a pleasing situation for a city solely, 
he certainly would not have chosen tiiis site 
when he first visited it. An irregular grou|) 
of rough unsymmetrical hills, covered witii som- 
bre and ragged jjines, a dark and gloomy mo_ 
rass extending between it and the lake, where 
the voice of the frog, and the owl, and of the 
prowling wolf >vere nightly to be heard, were 
neither inviting to the eye or pleasing to tlie 
ear. These apparent defects have become in 
fact, howevei-, circumstances of real utility. The 
irregularity of surface offers facilities for drain- 
age and contributes to the health of the city, and 
renders the situation airy and cool in summer 
time without increasing its winter exposure. 
In process of time the improving hand of man 
will turn these heights and depressions into 
account, and secure artistic effects. The ragged 
ridges will become sightly prospects. The 
seeming deformities, objects of beauty, and 
Jamestown will become an unique and pictur- 



esque town far more beautiful and interesting 
than a city on a ))!ain. 

It is possible that La Salle visited tiie site of 
Jamestown in 1081 or 1682. His ancient 
biographer, describes him as going westward 
from Onondaga in the Spring of one or the 
other of those years, and finding about fifteen 
days afterwards "a little lake six or seven miles 
(liens) south of Lake Erie, the mouth of which 
opened to the southeastward." 

De Celoron and his companions, we learn 
from his journal, on the 24th of July, 1749, 
entered the outlet from the lake ; the water be- 
ing low, in order to lighten his canoes, he was 
ol)Iiged to send the greater part of their loading 
three-fourths of a French league by land, so 
that the distance accomplished that day by 
water, did not exceed a half a Frencii league. 
He encamped for the night, undoubtedly with- 
in the northwestern limits of the site of the 
city. On the morning of the next day, a coun- 
cil was held to decide what should be done, in 
view of the evident signs of Indians in the vi- 
cinity. Lieut. Joucaire was sent with some 
friendly Indians, bearing belts of wamjnim to 
conciliate the enemy and De Celoron resumed 
his difficult voyage over the rapids of the out- 
let. 

Other evidences exist of the presence of civi- 
lized men in the region around Jamestown, be- 
fore the advent of the pioneers of the Holland 
purchase. In 1822, William Bemus, in at- 
tempting to deepen the channel of the outlet, 
discovered a row of piles, averaging four inches 
in diameter, and from two and one-half to 
three and one-half feet in length, driven firmly 
in the earth across the bed of the stream. Ax 
marks were plainly visible on each of the four 
sides of these piles, the wood of which was 
sound. The tops of these piles were worn 
smooth and did not appear, when discosered, to 
reach above the bed of the stream. 

James Prendergast was the first person to oc- 
cuj^}' the present .site of Jamestown, after the 



726 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY JIISTORY 



county was open to settlement. He was the i 
son of William Prendergast, of whom we have 
before given some account, and who settled on 
the west side of Chautauqua lake, in the town 
of Chautauqua. Late in the summer of 1806, ' 
while exploring the forest in search of some 
horses that had strayed from his father's prem- 
ises, he visited the site of Jamestown. He re- 
mained there one or two days examining the 
locality, encamping at night within the present [ 
limits of the city. He was much pleased with 
the situation, and the advantages offered by the 
rapid outlet for the feeding of mills, and he re- 
solved to purchase the land there and found a 
settlement. It was not until several years 
later that he was able to consummate his pur- 
pose. He caused, however, a thousand acres of 
land to be purchased, for which was paid at the 
time $2000 in cash. The purchase included 
laud on each side of the outlet ; the steamboat 
landing at Jamestown being near the center of 
the tract. 

In the fall of 1810, he caused John Blowers 
who was in his employ, to build a log house to 
be occupied by Blowers and his family. The 
house was completed, and Blowers moved into 
it before Christmas of that year. This was the 
first building erected in Jamestown, and Blow- 
ers became its first inhabitant, late in 1810. 

In the spring of 1811, a large one and one- 
half-story log house was erected upon the out- 
let, within the city limits for Mr. Prendergast 
and his family. That year a dam was built by 
William Prendergast, across the outlet, a grist- 
mill was commenced, and a saw-mill -completed, 
but it did not commence sawing until about the 
first of February, 1812. 

At the court of sessions held in June, 1812, 
an indictment was found against Mr. Prender- 
gast for overflowing lands adjacent to Chautau- 
qua lake by the erection of his dam ; the 
indictment was pressed to trial, and he was fined 
fifteen dollars, notwithstanding he had removed 
his dam. Besides beinjr obliired to remove iiis 



dam and pay damages occasioned by the over- 
flowing of lands, and the expense occasioned by 
the rebuilding of the dam and mills, he lost his 
house and the most of its valuable contents by 
fire. He, however, after the fire, and in 1812, 
erected another house, into which he and Cap- 
tain Forbes moved their families in December, 
1812. These families, and that of the Blowers 
were the only residents, and the house last men- 
tioned, and that built by Blowers in 1810, were 
the only houses at the close of the year 1812 in 
Jamestown. 

In 1813 Blowers opened the first tavern in 
Jamestown, which he kept in his log house, and 
Mr. Prendergast purchased about 550 acres more 
of land in Jamestown, and completed a saw- 
mill, consisting of two single saws and a gang 
of sixteen saws. The first bridge over the 
Outlet was commenced in 1813, and completed 
in 1814. During the last war with England 
but little improvement was made at the Rapids, 
as it was then called, but in 1814 several fami- 
lies besides those above mentioned were residing 
in Jamestown, and a considerable number of 
new buildings erected, and the grist-mill finished 
this year. Mr. Prendergast, however, was the 
owner of all the real estate at the Rapids, which 
the assessors valued at §2976. His tax for that 
year was |38.98. 

In 1815 Judge Prendergast erected an acade- 
mic building of two stories on the west side of 
Main street, near Fifth street. That year a 
large tavern was also erected in Jamestown, at 
the southeast corner of Main and Third streets, 
which was afterwards owned and kept for many 
years by Elisha Allen, the father of Colonel 
j A. F. Allen ; other buildings were erected that 
1 year, and some new residents came in, among 
them Dr. Laban Hazeltine and Dr. Elial G. 
Foote, both afterwards prominent physicians and 
distinguished citizens of Jamestown, and Abner 
Hazeltine, who was an eminent lawyer and 
i much-respected citizen of the county. The 
Chautauqua manufacturing company was iucor- 



OF CHAUTAUQUA COUNTY. 



porated this year witli Judge Prendergast as its 
agent and executive officer. The village now 
began to be called Jamestown in honor of its 
founder, Judge James Prendergast, although 
the titles of " Ellicotts " and " The Ilapids " 
were sometimes used. 

We have now given something of an account 
of the early settlement of Jamestown, briefly 
tracing its history to the period, at which it 
became entitled to be considered a village, 
and receive a name. It is the design of this 
book to give only the history of the early set- 
tlement of the county, and of the towns and 
cities that compose it, leaving the reader to gain 
the knowle<lge of its subsequent history, from 
the preceding biographical sketches of its enter- 
prising and influential citizens, who have spent 
their lives in it, and have themselves contributed 
to make its history ; a novel method, which in 
certain respects has an advantage over a general ' 
historical narrative. Moreover, the develop- 
ment of Jamestown from an energetic little vil- 
lage, located in the midst of pine forests and 
lumber enterprises, into an active and progress- 
ive city, having great promise for the future, in- 
volves more than an ordinary amount of detail, 
and a narrative of events of such importance, as 
not to be compressed into the limits allotted 
to this writing. The names of the many lead- 
ing and influential men, that have been con- 
cerned in promoting the progress and prosperity 
of Jamestown ; many of whom are living, and 
many more have passed away, could be scarcely 
crowded into a sketch like this, much less, could 
a just history of the interesting events and cir- 
cumstances of its rise from a village of saw- 
mills, and sturdy lumbermen, to a fine city, 
equipped with the latest modern improvements. 
The facts regarding Jamestown, however, should 
be patiently gathered before it is too late, care- 
fully arranged, and faitiifully and fully written. 
The progress of Jamestown is not due to the 
enterprise of its citizens alone. Its growth has 
been a natural one, the logical result of the ad- 



vantages of its situation. Judge James Prender- 
gast, Col. James McMahan, and Judge Zattu 
Gushing, three leading pioneers in different and 
distinct parts of the county, besides having 
broader and more comprehensive views, as to the 
direction in which the development of the 
county would tend, were possessed also, of more 
means than most of the early settlers, and could 
therefore proceed with more deliberation and 
care in choosing the spot at which to stake their 
fortunes. Col. McMahan, was a surveyor quite 
familiar with this western wilderness. He had 
traversed the county from its southern limits to 
Lake Erie, as early as 1795, with a view to a 
location and finally chose the beautiful farm- 
ing lands adjacent to Westfield, as presenting 
the mo.st favorable prospect. Undoubtedly 
visions of commerce upon the great Lake, not 
far from the scene of his venture, influenced 
him in his choice. Judge Cushing, also passed 
through the county in 1798 or 1799, on his 
way to Presque Isle to superintend the building 
of the ship "Good Intent," and again on his re- 
turn East. He selected his home on the Caua- 
daway, in the fine lands around Fredonia, as of- 
fering the greatest promise, to one who would 
choose a home on the frontier. He was no 
doubt influenced in his choice, by similar con- 
siderations to those that governed Col. McMahan. 
Judge Prendergast, who as early as 1794 or 
1795, traveled extensively in the southwest, 
having visited the Spanish country of northern 
Louisiana, and again in 1805 journeyed through 
Pennsylvania to Tennessee, with a view to set- 
tlement in that State, and had last explored the 
region around Chautauqua Lake, and along the 
Conewango, saw in tiie magnificent forests of 
southern Chautauqua, a source of wealth. He 
saw also, a prospect of its immediate realization, 
in the Allegheny and its tributaries, which of- 
fered the facilities for the transportation of the 
lumber manufactured at their sources, to the 
great market, which he perceived was destined 
to grow up in the valley of the Mississippi. 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



He undoubtedly was also influenced in his 
choice of a location by the facilities for manu- 
facturing offered by the excellent water-power 
at the foot of the lake, which seemed then even 
better than now. For the forests which then 
covered all the region that supplied the lake 
with water, shielded the surface from evapora- 
tion, rendering the discharge more copious and 
constant than in late years. The result of his 
venture seems to have justified his choice. 
Lumbering was in early years the leading 
industry of Jamestown, as it was of all the 
southeastern part of the county. Although 
the prices obtained were exceedingly small for 
the excellent quality of pine which rafted from 
this region down the rivers, for much of it, 
" not more than it cost to cut the logs, manu- 
facture the lumber, and run it to market," yet 
it brought all the cash that came to the settlers. 
The only resource of most of the pioneers in 
other parts of the county for many years, was 
from the sale of black salts, made from 
ashes gathered in the fallow where the timber 
was burned. It was the only product in many 
of the towns, that could be sold for cash or 
even exchanged for goods and groceries. Lum- 
bering then, as grape culture now, was what 
brought money to the county. It early called 
attention to Jamestown and established the 
foundations for its jirosperity. As the develop- 
ment of its other manufacturing industries 
which have been the chief cause of the later 
growth and present importance of Jamestown, 
came after the pine forests had been swept 
away, its history does not belong to the pioneer 
period, but to that of later years. No attempt 
therefore will be made in the limited space 
allotted to this sketch to trace the progress of 
these industries from the time the first tannery 
was started, and the little wool carding machine 
was erected in 1815, down to the extensive 
Alpaca mills of the present time. 

The effect of the extensive manufacturing 
iiit&i'ests to promote the growth of Jamestown 



may be briefly shown by a few comprehensive 
statistics. March 6, 1827, Jamestown was in- 
corporated as a village, being the first village 
incorporated in the county. The steamer Chau- 
tauqua was built at Jamestown and was the 
first steamboat launched upon the lake. She 
made her trial trip July 4, 1828. This was the 
beginning of a substantial navigation of the lake. 

The population of Jamestown by the census 
of 1840 was 1212; thirty years later, 1870, it 
had increased to 5337, in 1880 it was 9357, and 
in 1890, 1(3,038, maintaining about the same 
rate of increase during the last ten years as in 
the previous decade. It was incorporated as a 
city in 1886. It has now electric street cars, 
and lights ; gas aud water-works, and all things 
belonging to a modern city. 

Org.vnization of the County. — ^Matthew 
Prendergast, a son of William, afterwards a 
judge of the county, represented the town of 
Chautauqua, and Philo Orton represented the 
town of Porafret upon the Board of Supervisors 
for the year 1810, the last year that the county 
was represented in Niagara county, for at the 
meeting of the Board of Supervisors there it 
was ascertained from the assessment rolls that 
Chautauqua county contained five hundred 
voters for members of Assembly, which entitled 
the county to be fully organized, which was ac- 
complished by the appointment of county 
officers on the 9th day of February, 1811. The 
following officers were duly appointed, viz.: 

First Judge. — Zattu Cushing. Associate 
Judges — Matthew Prendergast, Philo Orton, 
Jonathan Thompson, William Alexander. 

Assistant Justices. — Henry Abell, William 
Gould, John Dexter, Abiram Orton. 

Justices of the Peace. — Jeremiah Potter, 
John Silsbee, Abijah Bennett, Asa Spear, Jus- 
tus Hinsman, Benjamin Barrett, Daniel Pratt, 
Selah Pickett. 

Clerk.— So\m E. :\IarshalI. Sheriff— DAxkl 
Eason. Surrogate — Squire White. Coroners — 
Daniel G. Gould, Philo Hopson. 



OF CIIAUTAVQUA COUNTY. 



Up to this time Chautauqua had no separate i 
existence as a county. The settlers that had 
established their homes there were scattered 
nearly over its whole extent. Only narrow 
clearings had been made at wide intervals in 
the dense wilderness that everywhere covered I 
the county. No thoroughfares of ti-avel by 
land or water extended into it, and its people 
seemed to be shut out from comraunicatiou with 
the populated parts of the county, and had no 
voice in the general government of the State ; 
as a consequence a sense of solitude up to this 
time had oppressed them, which was in a measure 
removed by being permitted to have a voice in 
public affairs. The evidence of future pros- 
perity began to appear in the industry and 
energy of the settlers, in the widening of their 
clearings and in the increase of their improve- 
ments. By the United States census taken in 
the year 1810 the population of the county was 
2381. Eight years before there was scarcely 
an inhabitant in the county. 

Towns Subsequently Settled. — The only 
remaining towns of the county in which settle- 
ment had not been commenced were six. Of 
these French Creek was first settled in 1812, 
Ellington about 1814, Cherry Creek and Mina 
about 1815, Clymer in 1820 and Sherman in 
1823, and was the last settled town in the 
county. 

Conclusion. — We have now completed the 
account of the princi])al events relating to Chau- 
tauqua county prior to its occupation by the 
pioneers of the Holland purchase, and have 
also given a history of its early settlement, 
bringing it down to the complete organization of 
the county in 1811, and this is all that was 
intended by this historical sketch. Although 
Chautauqua county was completely organized in 
1811, and settlements substantially effected, its 
pioneer history did not end, however, until the 
completion of the Erie canal. 

Emigration from the east, during the first 
years of tiie history of the county, first pressed 



towards the western reserve, passing by the 
Holland purchase, the lands of which had not 
yet been put into market. "When these lands 
were offered for sale (as the Holland Land com- 
pany sold theirs for ^2.50 and $3.50 per acre on 
a credit, while western lands were sold at a less 
price for cash), those who possessed the ready 
means and were able to pay at once for their 
farms, sought more attractive homes in the fertile 
prairies and flowery openings of Ohio and the 
west, consequently the first settlers of the Holland 
purchase, and those particularly of the county 
of Chautauqua, were the poorest class of people 
— men who often expended their last dollar to 
procure the article for their land. Chautauqua 
county then was densely covered with a majestic 
forest of the largest growth, which cast its dark 
shadows everywhere, over hills and valleys, and 
along the streams and borders of the lakes. No- 
where in northern latitudes could be found trees 
so tall and large, and none could behold without 
awe and pleasure, the grandeur and grace of 
these mighty woods, yet a home here, to cope 
with and subdue them, promised a lifetime of toil 
and privation ; and no one felt invited hither 
but strong ai id hardy pioneers, men of the frontier 
who were accustomed to wield the axe and 
handle the rifle ; who could grapple with the 
forest and rough it in the wilderness, and think 
it ease; who could reap the thin harvest and 
live upon the coarse and often scanty fare of 
the woods and call it plenty ; consequently the 
i first settlers of this county were mostly from 
i the back-woods region, at the western verge of 
settlement. They brought with them strong 
arms, stout hearts and a thorough knowledge 
of the expedients of life in the woods. They 
were a body of picked young men, possessing 
vigorous bodies and practical minds. Among 
their number were often men of marked ability, 
whose talents would honor any station. Al- 
though the most of them possessed but little of 
the learning of books and schools, not a few 
were cultivated and accomplished men iv.d 



SKETCH OF THE EARLY HISTORY 



women of refinement and education, whose at- 
tainments were such as to prepare them to 
adorn any society. The most of the early set- 
tlers were, however, educated in a true sense ; 
they possessed that learning, which, in the sit- 
uations in which it was their fortune to be east, 
best fitted them for a life of usefulness, and en- 
abled them to contribute their full share in the 
great works of progress and improvement allot- 
ted to them. They were skillful adepts in their 
calling ; accomplished masters in wood-craft, 
and in all that pertained to the formidable task 
of preparing the way for the westward expan- 
sion of civilization and population. 

A further history of the pioneer period of 
the county, as well as of the important events 
that have transpired since then, down to the 
present time, it is not our purpose here to re- 
late, after the manner of the general historian, 
and we shall be obliged at this time to omit the 
names, even, of leading pioneers and honored 
citizens who have acted a prominent part in the 
history of the count}'. Able works have been 
written, and valuable contributions made, to- 
wards the History of the County of Chautau- 
qua, among them the concise and excellent little 
pioneer vrork of the Hon. E. G. Warren, and 
chiefly the valuable and fully prepared History 
by Andrew Young, in which he received the 
invaluable assistance of Dr. E. T. Foote, to whom 
the county owes a great debt of gratitude for 
preserving its history ; the local contribution 
of Dr. H. C. Taylor, in his complete and excel- 
lent History of Portland ; the History of 
Jamestown, by the able f)en of Dr. G. W. Hazel- 
tine, and also the valuable contributions of J. 
L. Bugbee and Samuel A. Brown. 

It is the purpose of this work, in place of a 
general history of Chautauqua county, subse- 
quent to its organization, which has in a great 



measure been written by others, to substitute 
sketches of its citizens, many of them represen- 
tative men of the county, who have partici- 
pated in its leading events, some, it may be, not 
distinguished beyond the ordinary walks of 
life, but all, it is believed, are worthy citizens, 
from the records of whose lives in their various 
spheres, a better knowledge of the real condi- 
tion and history of the county, can be ob- 
tained than from an ordinary historical nar- 
rative. 

Biography often most vividly presents his- 
torical facts. It has been well said that: ''Bi- 
ography is history by induction." As history 
is the synthesis of Biography, so Biography is 
the analysis of History. The old idea that the 
history of a country is contained in the record 
of its kings and its conquests, is being sup- 
planted. The real history of a country is the 
history of its people — their fortunes, conditions 
and customs, the common people of a nation, 
their mental and moral status — are what give 
it character and mould its destinies. Its rulers, 
the leaders of its armies, and its wars, are really 
trivial circumstances. Even forms of govern- 
ment are but a reflex of the character of the 
common people. History therefore is made up 
of the biographies of the masses, and is best ex- 
pressed in the life-records of its energetic and 
enterprising citizens. 

The facts contained in these biographical 
sketches, it is believed, will have their value 
hereafter, in permanently preserving the records 
of leading citizens, and in aiding the future 
historian of the county to complete an orderly 
and authentic record of events transpiring sub- 
sequent to the organization of the county, and 
furnish valuable data for all parts of such hi.s- 
tory, and it would be the desire of the writer of 
tiiis sketch to aid in such a work. 



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